IDG 
STOVE AND GREENHOUSE AQUATICS. 
frequent renewal ; the youngest parts are the 
most vigorous, and absorb all the strength of 
the plant, and if the old plants are pruned 
close back, trusting to the old root -stock to 
send forth fresh shoots and leaves, they gene- 
rally grow but weakly, and sometimes will die 
away altogether. Some of the vigorous-root- 
ing points of the shoots should, therefore, in 
these cases be placed in pots, and they will 
form good plants ; this applies to providing 
plants at the end of one season, for blooming 
during the following one. 
The details of the kind of treatment re- 
quired by these plants will be best understood 
by describing rather minutely the most suc- 
cessful practice in cultivating some of the 
kinds ; for example the Nymjmceas, and .ZVe- 
himbium speciosum. One mode of culture, 
practised by Mr. C. Duff at Eaton Hall, and 
described by him in the Transactions of the 
Horticultural Society, was as follows : — In 
December, when the leaves were decayed, the 
bulbs or tubers of Nyv/vphcea rubra were 
taken out of the stone cisterns in which they 
had been growing for years, and were put into 
pots according to their size, the pots being 
plunged in water to within an inch of their 
rim; they remained in this situation in the 
pine stove till the plants began to show leaves 
in the April or May following ; they were then 
planted in cisterns and in glazed earthenware 
pots, in which were the following soils ; in the 
bottom four inches of strong clay made solid, 
above this six inches of light mellow loam, 
and at top an inch or two of sand to keep the 
water clean. The cisterns were of Yorkshire 
flags, and were of the following dimensions — 
three feet long, one foot eight inches broad, 
and one foot four inches deep ; they were 
placed upon the end flues of the pine pits, 
where the fire entered and escaped, and they 
were elevated with bricks to within eight or 
twelve inches of the glass. The glazed pots 
were from fourteen to eighteen inches in 
breadth and depth, and were similarly placed, 
except a few that were plunged in the corners 
of the melon pits ; they were kept constantly 
full of water, and it frequently was made to 
run over, in order that the water might be 
kept pure.^The temperature of the pits was 
seldom under 80°, and in sunshine often above 
100° Fahrenheit ; no air was admitted at the 
lights immediately above the plants. As the 
plants increased in growth they put out many 
runners, which were pinched off close to the 
tubers ; when the roots reached the clay the 
leaves got very strong, raising themselves on 
the sides of the cisterns. Under the same 
treatment Nymphcea ccerulea, and N. odorata 
flowered freely, and Nelumbium speciosum, in 
.1 glazed pot, plunged in leaves in the same pit, 
flowered abundantly, and ripened seed. 
The Nymphasas, with the exception of N. 
stellata, which is better treated like an annual, 
die down after flowering, and form bulbs or 
tubers in the soil ; in the autumn these should 
be examined, the smaller ones removed, and 
the larger ones planted singly for flowering. 
The Nelumbium speciosum was formerly 
very successfully grown by the late Mr. Kent 
of Clapton ; his plan was to raise the plants 
annually from seeds — which, by the by, have 
been known to grow when kept for sixty years 
— and to grow them in large tubs, with a few 
inches depth of water over the surface of the 
mould, placed in the tan-bed of the stove. The 
seed should be sown in March or April ; it is 
prepared for the operation by filing a small 
hole in the shell, at the end opposite the point; 
it is then to be put into a basin of water kept 
warm, and will have made a leaf in about ten 
days, when it may be removed to the situation 
where it is to flower. Some cultivators re- 
commend the houses to be left open at night 
(the night temperature of hot-houses should 
always be kept cooler than by day) when the 
weather is not cold; and towards the middle 
of September to remove the plants to the open 
air, and allow them to stand there till the 
following spring. Another cultivator, the late 
Mr. Stew r art of Valleyfield, adopted a very 
different course to that generally followed, with 
good success, which affords another proof of 
the fact which those familiar with the manage- 
ment of plants often have occasion to observe, 
namely, that the successful culture of plants is 
by no means constricted within the narrow 
limits of a single routine course of treatment; 
in other words, there is more than one success- 
ful way of growing most, if not all plants, 
provided certain principles are kept sight of. 
Mr. Stewart's plan was to grow them in a tub, 
plunged in the corner of a pine pit, in a tem- 
perature during summer from 65 to 90, or even 
100 degrees, but in winter seldom above 60 de- 
grees. During winter the plants received little 
water, the supply being gradually diminished 
from the time of flowering until they became 
almost dry, in which state they remained 
during winter ; in spring, the amount of water 
was increased, and as soon as the foliage had 
grown above the surface, the old earth was 
carefully removed from the roots, and replaced 
with strong rich loam. After this the tub 
was kept nearly full of water, to allow the 
leaves to float, and was thus maintained until 
they had risen eighteen or twenty inches in 
height ; the water was then reduced by allow- 
ing it gradually to escape through the staves of 
the tubs, the top hoop being purposely slack- 
ened, until it was lowered nearly to the surface 
of the mould. Fresh water was supplied 
every evening, and allowed thus to drain off 
during the growth and flowering of the plants ; 
