266 
NYMPHiEA RUBRA. 
it is yet a scarce plant and rarely flowered, is probably in a great measure owing 
to the facts of its being a stove species, and the little regard paid to the cultivation 
of aquatics. 
The want of success in the management of stove species of Water-plants, is a 
common complaint even amongst the few interested in them ; and mainly con- 
sequent, we believe, on the neglect of a very simple condition. It must be 
evident to all who have any conception of a tropical climate, that a degree 
of warmth will be communicated to a still or only slightly agitated water, far 
surpassing in degree that produced by mere contact with the atmosphere of an 
ordinary stove. To enable tropical aquatics, then, to flourish with the desired 
vigour, this desideratum must be overcome ; and in limited collections, where an 
aquarium separate from the miscellaneous stove is impracticable, the most con- 
venient practice will be to place the tank or tub in which the plants are grown 
immediately over the heating apparatus. Perhaps the tank-system of heating 
affords the greatest facility of commanding a genial warmth. 
A quantity of loamy earth should be spread in the bottom of the tub or tank 
for the roots to fix themselves in ; and in the winter season the water should be 
drained off to its surface. But the earth should be constantly kept in a somewhat 
lutulent state, and must on no account be ever suffered to become quite dry. 
Our embellishment was obtained through the courtesy of Mr. Knight, from a 
specimen which flowered last August, in a small wooden cistern, in one of tlie 
stoves of that gentleman at the Exotic Nursery, Chelsea. 
