STOVE AND GREENHOUSE AQUATICS. 
197 
and as the leaves and flowers died away 
gradually, so was the water reduced till the 
tub became nearly dry. 
* All the larger growing kinds require treat- 
ment similar to that here detailed of the 
Nymphasas and Nelumbium ; but the true 
stove species are much more difficult to cul- 
tivate than those kinds which only require 
a greenhouse, chiefly in consequence of the 
degree of heat which it is essential should be 
kept up at the roots, while they are growing; 
this ought never to be below 70 degrees, and 
even 80 and 90 degrees may be given them 
with advantage; but this treatment must not 
be incessant, it is during their growing season 
only that they require this degree of heat; 
while they are dormant they should be kept 
much cooler, and nearly or quite dry. Suffi- 
ciently frequent changes of the water, to keep 
it sweet and pure, are essential to success. The 
smaller kinds require treatment similar to the 
larger ones, only adapted to their size. 
Attempts have been made to grow some of 
the tender species in reservoirs of water in the 
open air, but warmed to a comfortable tem- 
perature for the roots ; and in some instances 
this has been successful. There is no doubt, 
that all these plants would thrive very well in 
a structure where the water was kept at a 
tolerable degree of heat, and the atmosphere 
of an intermediate temperature. Where there 
are divisions in the cistern — as there should 
be — the water in some should be warmed for 
the more tender kinds, and others either much 
less heated, or not at all, to suit the hardier 
kinds. Under this arrangement, even some of 
the perfectly hardy ones might be introduced 
among the tender ones, so as to render a 
collection more perfect and complete, and the 
house better filled with this particular class of 
plants ; and if the water in which they were 
placed were not heated, they would accommo- 
date themselves to their situation, so as not to 
suffer injury from the increased temperature 
of the atmosphere. In one of the cases where 
tender aquatics have been successfully grown 
out of doors, in cisterns of heated water, the 
plants experimented on were Nymphcea c&ru- 
lea and Limnocharis Humboldtii ; some of 
the plants had their roots enveloped by a lump 
of clay, and were just thrown into the water ; 
others were sunk in small baskets filled with 
clay ; the reservoir being puddled with clay 
at the bottom, the roots in both cases soon 
reached it and established themselves ; this 
was in May. For some weeks they did not grow 
at all, but by the middle of June the Limno- 
charis flowered, and the flowers continued to 
increase in number; by the middle of July 
one of the Nymphajas flowered ; another plant 
scarcely made any progress : the weather was 
cold. Early in August the Limnocharis 
covered four or five square yards, and by the 
middle of September it had covered at least 
sixty yards, and had five hundred flowers open 
in one day; this number was actually counted. 
The flowers of the Nymphasa lasted several 
days, while in the stove they last but one. 
For two months after the plants were 
placed in the reservoirs, the heat of the water 
varied at the surface from 60 to 100 degrees, 
and sometimes appeared uncomfortably hot for 
the plants, (it should be explained that this 
water proceeded from the engine-house of a 
factory) ; but an alteration was made in the 
conducting troughs, and the water was cooled 
15 or 20 degrees, and they then appeared to 
thrive better, and it was just after this that 
the Nymphsea first flowered. The Limno- 
charis continued to bloom till the end of Octo- 
ber. "What a fine object would be presented 
by a large sheet of water adorned with the 
flowers of Nymphcea ccerulea, rubra, rosea, 
pubescens, and Lotus. Who know r s, too, 
but that the splendid Nelumbium speciosum 
and luteum would succeed under this treat- 
ment ; while certainly the magnificent-leaved 
Euryale ferox would here find that room, 
which, although requisite to its perfection, it 
seldom meets with in our stoves." This latter 
remark still more forcibly applies to the Vic- 
toria regia. 
LIST OF TENDER AQUATICS. 
Actinocarpus minor (small) is a greenhouse 
perennial of small size, growing three or four 
inches high, and bearing pretty white star-like 
flowers, from May till August. It is a native 
of New South Wales, and belongs to the 
natural order Alismacea?; it should be potted 
in sandy loam and peat, with the pot just im- 
mersed in shallow water ; it is increased by 
seeds, or by division of the plant. 
Alisma cordifolia (heart-leaved) is a stove 
perennial, growing about two feet high, and 
producing white flowers in July and August. 
A native of the West Indies ; and belongs to 
the natural order Alismacea?. It should be 
potted in sandy loam and peat, and set in 
shallow water ; increased by seeds or by divi~ 
sion of the plant. 
Aponogeion. — There are four species, two 
of them reputed stove plants ; they are bulbous 
rooted, small-growing perennials, and very 
curious and ornamental. The stove species 
are : — A. monostachyon (simple-spiked) has 
oval leaves, and a small cylindrical spike of 
pink flowers, six inches high, produced from 
August to October ; a native of the East 
Indies. A. crispum (curled-leaved) a smaller 
species than the last, bearing white flowers 
from July to September ; a native of Ceylon. 
The greenhouse kinds are: — A. clistachyon, 
(two-spiked,) which has linear-oblong floating 
