368 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



grow must be kept free from weeds, as they not only choke the lilies, but 

 keep the water cold and too stagnant for the promotion of good growth. 

 Aphides, green and black, will sometimes be found troublesome, and must 

 be washed off with hose or syringe or the leaves dusted with tobacco 

 powder to rid them of these pests. As a rule plants generally outgrow 

 these troubles, and have more to fear from rats and water-fowl at all 

 times. It is impossible to grow Nymphaeas in any water to which swans, 

 ducks, or other water-fowl have access. The water- or moor-hen is also 

 very destructive, both to foliage and flowers, pecking them to pieces and 

 even carrying them off to build their nests. The water-rat and common 

 brown rat will sometimes attack and eat both rhizomes and flower-buds ; 

 therefore a sharp look-out must be kept for these pests or they may do 

 considerable damage before one is aware of their presence. From some 

 unknown cause the root-stock, or rhizome, of Nymphaeas will sometimes 

 develop into a flat fasciated-lrke form, and when growth begins a dense 

 cluster of small leaves, without the sign of a flower, will be the result. 

 So far I have been unable to find any means to prevent it, but when 

 such growth is noticed it is best to lift the plant and cut the rhizome 

 into very small pieces, leaving two or three leaves attached, plant thickly 

 in shallow baskets, and in a few years the majority of them will make 

 flowering plants. 



Though we have already such a large number of beautiful hybrid 

 water-lilies, of all sizes and nearly all colours, white, yellow, rose, salmon, 

 peach, flesh, rose purple, and red, in all shades to deepest crimson, there 

 is no doubt that we have by no means come to the end of their develop- 

 ment, and before long we shall be hearing of a hardy blue-flowering 

 Nymphaea, which at present we are without. The difficulty of obtaining 

 the blue colouring in the hardy plant is that the blue kinds are natives 

 of the tropics ; but there seems good reason to suppose that this 

 difficulty will be got over, for there are also blue Nymphaeas from the Cape 

 and Australia which will no doubt play their part in the production of 

 new garden varieties. 



