CULTURE OF AQUATICS. 
109 
will not grow in any other temperature, yet the kinds marked for the greenhouse 
will thrive well in the stove, and the hardy ones in the greenhouse ; the situations 
however we have marked for them we consider the best for their success. 
Although we shall defer entering at large upon the subject of forming fountains 
and ponds for aquatic plants to another opportunity, yet a few hints here may not 
he without their use. 
1. All fountains, ponds, or cisterns made in stoves, conservatories, or 
greenhouses, should be either lined with sheet lead or Roman cement ; the first 
answers the best, because the latter is likely to be broken by taking out water for 
the various purposes of the house ; but fountains, &c. in the open air may be 
rendered secure by clay, if it is not convenient to go to the expense of lead or 
cement. 
2. All fountains and cisterns require a reservoir to supply them by means of 
leaden pipes, but a pond may be supplied by common under-ground drains, made of 
stones or any other convenient material. 
3. The reservoir intending to produce a jet, must be situate on a sufficient 
elevation to play the intended fountain, and not at too great a distance — for two 
reasons ; first, because the expense of piping would be great, and the pipes are 
liable to burst from the great pressure ; and, secondly, because the shorter the 
distance, the less power will be lost by friction, and the more lively the jet will 
play. 
4. Water may generally be calculated to lose from six to nine inches of power 
in every hundred yards of pipe, from friction, inclination, and interruptions ■ so 
that if a reservoir be situated two hundred yards from the fountain it supplies, and 
be on ground twenty feet higher, the jet will be from eighteen feet six inches to 
nineteen feet high, according to the bore of the pipe and other local circumstances. 
5. If the reservoir be not very far distant, the pipes should be of an uniform 
bore, always four times as large as the jet they are intended to produce ; thus, if the 
pipe be two inches bore, the perforation through which the jet passes must not 
exceed half an inch. But if the reservoir be situated at several hundred yards 
distant from the fountain, the upper half of the pipe may be an inch wider in the 
bore than the lower half which communicates with the fountain ; this gives a 
greater liveliness to the water at the end : also air pipes are necessary ; but as the 
subject will probably ere long be treated of at length, we shall say no more on 
it at the present time, but proceed to the culture of the various plants mentioned 
above. 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE CULTURE. 
1. Propagation. — All the above-mentioned aquatics are perennial harbaceous 
plants, and may for the most part be increased by division of the roots, and, when 
that cannot be accomplished, by seeds. 
2. The seeds should, if possible, be sown immediately after being gathered, as 
in general they soon lose their vitality, although those of the Nelumbium are an 
exception, continuing good for many years. 
