432 



FOREIGN NOTICES. 



the lily blooms in a better month than November 

 to appreciate the justice of this description. 



Following the example set by Mr. Paxton, 

 there is no lover of flowers, who has a hot-house 

 at command, that may not hereafter be gratified 

 by the possession of this vegetable wonder. If it 

 should prove to be an annual, as some suppose, 

 the facility with which it seems ready to produce 

 seeds will ensure its permanence in the country. 

 But upon that point there is much room for doubt: 

 and Bridge? pronounces himself distinctly in favor 

 of its being a perennial. In the very interesting 

 account of it, to which we have already referred, 

 he says: 



" With the assistance of the Indians, we got 

 out of the water two entire plants, and, from their 

 appearance, I should say the Victoria is deci- 

 dedly perennial. Each plant had from twenty to 

 thirty foot-stalks of flowers and leaves, in all 

 stages; some nearly decayed to the base, others 

 half way down the stem, whilst others had just 

 lost the floating portion. The same was observed 

 in the petioles; some bearing the seed-vessel per. 

 feet, with ripe seed; others the expanded flower; 

 and near the crown or centre of the plant was 

 just issuing the tender flower bud. With a knife 

 we cut or trimmed the footstalk, when the trunk 

 (if I may use the comparison,) somewhat resem- 

 bled a Zamia, and in length was about eighteen 

 inches or two feet. At the base, and between 

 each footstalk, protrudes a mass or cluster of 

 fleshy, hollow roots, about the size of a straw, or 

 larger, and varying in colour from brown to 

 white, or nearly so; a succession of these roots is 

 formed, as the new leaves are thrown out from 

 the centre of the plant, Nature having made a 

 beautiful and wise provision for this plant, as in 

 all her other works. The base of the trunk, or 

 rather stem, situated in the soft mud, appears to 

 decompose in proportion as new leaves and flow- 

 ers issue from the centre, keeping the plant from 

 elevating itself above water, which, but for such 

 an arrangement, might be the case, from the ra- 

 pidity of its growth." If these statements can be 

 relied upon, the probability is, perhaps, in favor 

 of its not being an annual. 



That its natural habits are such as to render it 

 perfectly well suited to artificial management is 

 pointed out in a striking manner in another pas- 

 sage in this collector's letter to Sir William 

 Hooker. 



"The Victoria grows," he says, "in 4 — 6 

 feet of water, producing leaves and flowers, 

 which rapidly decay and give place to others. 

 From each plant there are seldom more than four 

 or five leaves on the surface; but even these, in 

 parts of the lake where the plants were numerous, 

 almost covered the surface of the water, one leaf 

 touching the other. The plant occupies almost 

 exclusively the water, with the exception of a 

 few floating aquatics of small dimensions, amongst 

 which I saw a beautiful JJtricularia. The blos- 

 soms rise six and eight inches above the surface, 



expanding first in the evening, when they are 

 pure white — changing finally (and by exposure to 

 the sun) to a most beautiful pink or rose colour ; 

 flowers may be seen, at the same time, partaking 

 of every tinge between the two hues, the recently 

 expanded being pure white, and the adult rosy, 

 almost sinking under water to ripen its seed and 

 produce a new race of plants when required. 

 The largest flowers I saw measured from ten 

 inches to one foot in diameter. From what I ob- 

 served of the nature and habits of this most inte- 

 resting plant, I conclude that it cannot and does 

 not exist in any of the rivers where the immense 

 rise and fall of 20 feet would leave it dry during 

 many months of the year, especially in the season 

 when there is no rain. The lagoons, being sub- 

 ject to little variation in the height of their wa- 

 ters, are the places where it grows in all its 

 beauty and. grandeur. The Victoria appears to 

 delight in parts of the lake fully exposed to the 

 sun, and I observed that it did not exist where the 

 trees overshaned the margins." 



For the present we have only to recommend the 

 plan on which it has been managed at Chats- 

 worth, as an example of the way in which all 

 other tropical aquatics should be grown by those 

 who wish to see them in perfection. A tank con- 

 taining Victoria, the Nymphaas rubra, ccerulea, 

 stellata, and ampla, the Nelumbiums of India, 

 some Sagittarias , Limnocharis , and Hydrocleys, 

 a Papyrus or two, with the Pontederas , would be 

 one of the most beautiful spectacles the eye could 

 rest upon. Gard. Chronicle. 



Plan of Striking Roses. — I have succeeded 

 well with striking roses in the following manner: 

 Take a pan one foot square by eight inches deep, 

 place in the bottom a few pieces of charcoal, and 

 over this lay about two inches of the same broken 

 very small ; then fill up with equal parts of leaf- 

 mould, peat, loam, and silver sand; mix the 

 whole well together, and press firmly. 



The proper time to select the cuttings I find to 

 be when the wood is approaching ripeness in Sep- 

 tember; choose a dull day for the operation, and 

 cut to a heel if possible; then insert the cuttings 

 with a small dibble, so that the heel of the cut- 

 ting may be near the charcoal at the bottom of 

 the pan; press each cutting firmly in the soil, 

 about an inch apart, and when the pan is full, 

 give a good watering, and sprinkle the surface 

 with silver sand and charcoal dust to the depth of 

 a quarter of an inch. Then plunge them in a 

 well glazed cold frame, amongst coal ashes, up 

 to their rims; give air occasionally throughout 

 the winter, and keep them clear of decayed leaves 

 and weeds. They will require a little water by 

 March, when they begin to grow. 



By the beginning of May they will be ready for 

 planting out eight inches apart in beds. Intro- 

 duce a piece of slate or tile under each, and fill 

 up with a handful of material similar to that they 

 were struck in. The soil should be rich and well 



