204 ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 
since 1890. 
"Water 
Gardening. 
are so much alike as to require the eye of an expert to distinguish 
them. On the other hand, some are strikingly distinct, and all are 
beautiful. These hardy ferns fill a useful place in gardens ; their 
soft, luxuriant foliage makes a delightful furnishing in summer for 
places too shady for shrubs or ordinary herbaceous plants ; and 
if early flowering plants like cyclamens, snowdrops, Christmas roses 
have been planted amongst them, the dead, rich-brown fronds furnish 
an admirable setting for their flowers. In their cultivation the chief 
thing to remember is that they revel in abundant moisture. 
A great advance has been made in hardy water-gardening 
It is a long time since there has been so great 
an acquisition to garden plants as the hardy water- 
lilies with yellow, pink, and red flowers, raised by 
M. Latour-Marliac and his followers. Previous to their 
advent the only water-lilies that could be grown permanently in the 
open air were Nymfthaa alba, the North American N. tuberosa 
and N. odorata, and their varieties. Now we have Nymphaeas of 
every shade between pure white and rich crimson, and various tints 
of yellow as well. 
At Kew the botanical collection of hardy aquatics is crowded 
in a raised brick tank, built in 1879, the north end of the Herb 
Garden. There is not the smallest opportunity here for picturesque 
planting. The idea is to bring together for purposes of convenient 
study, either by the botanist or the gardener, as many types of water- 
plants as possible. But this tank is not big enough, and a really 
worthy water-garden is still a desideratum at Kew. A portion of 
the garden of the late Duke of Cambridge, which, by the favour 
of King Edward VII., is to be added eventually to Kew, will 
probably be utilised for this purpose. The cultivation of a large col- 
lection of aquatic plants is not so easy and simple as may appear. Of 
all plants they are, as a class, the most rampant and most spreading. 
A yearly overhauling, with a possible setting back and replanting, 
is essential, otherwise they soon grow together and get hopelessly 
mixed up. A piece of water which can be completely drained off 
when desired, is absolutely necessary. It should be large enough 
to allow each plant or group of plants to grow to such a size as will 
show its true character, and portions of it should be shallow enough 
to permit of the cultivation of bog-plants as well as pure aquatics. 
The Pond near the Palm House is unsuitable in several ways. 
