to occupy the entire Number. Seldom has any plant excited 
such attention in the botanical world; the interest being si)e- 
cially enhanced by the name it is privileged to Ijcar. If it could 
be said, in reference to the royal ancestor of Queen Victoria, 
the Consort of His Majesty, George III., that the Strelitzia was 
peculiarly appropriated to Her, because of the patronage which 
she gave to Botany, by improving and embelhshing the Royal 
Gardens of Kew, much more does the name of Victoria claim 
to be handed down to posterity on similar grounds; seeing 
that Her present Majesty has been graciously pleased to make 
these Gardens available to the public enjoyment, and even to 
endow them with a liberal provision for that especial purjiose. 
It is true that the Victoria has not yet produced its blossoms 
in England; but we have growing plants in the Royal Gardens 
of Kew, which germinated from seeds brought from Bolivia by 
Bridges. ^ These have hitherto made satisfactory progress; 
although we have our fears that the plant being po'ssibly 
annual and the season late (December), they may not survive 
the winter, or, at any rate, may not produce perfect flowers. 
IMany are the disappointments and delays of Science! It was 
not till after Tea had been used as a beverage for upwards of a 
century in England, that the shrub which produces it was brouMit 
alive to this couiitr}'. More than one botanist had embarked 
for the voyage to China, tiU lately a protracted and formidable 
undertaking, mainly in the hope of introducing a groi\ingTea-trec 
to our Greenhouses. No passage across the Desert, no Wao^horn- 
facihties, no steam-ship, assisted the traveUer in those*"days 
Ihe distance to and from Cliina, with the necessary time spent 
in that country, generally consumed nearly three years ' Once 
had the lea-tree been procured by Osbeck, a pupil of Linmeus, 
111 spite of the jealous care with which the Chinese forbade its 
exportation; and, wiien near the coast of England, a storm ensued, 
which destroyed the precious shrubs. Then, the plan of obtaining 
bernes was adopted and frustrated by the heat of the tropics, 
which spoiled the oily seeds a,nd prevented their germination. 
The Captain of a Swedish vessel hit upon a good scheme: having 
1 ' and often 
stinted himself of his daily allowance of water, for the sake of 
^e young plants; but just as the ship entered the English 
Channel an ^ijlucky rat attacked his cherished charge and de- 
voured them aU ! We have, however, no reason to despair of 
being able to raise the Victoria regia and of seeing it bloom in 
this county. The time is not long, since we first heard of this 
gorgeous ^Vater-Lily; and the faeflities of communicating with 
