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VICTORIA REGIA HOUSE. SCHENLEY PARK. PITTSBURG. 



be attempted in the spring. Specimens 

 three to four feet high, well cut in, are the 

 safest to move. Some people use older 

 trees, and cut them to the ground, allow- 

 ing one shoot to come up, but smaller 

 ones as above indicated are preferable. 



M. A. 



Aquatics. 



TROPICAL WATER LILIES AT SCHENLEY PARK. 



Our illustration hasbeen engraved from 

 a photograph of a corner in the Victoria 

 regia house taken end of October. This 

 house is a curvilinear, iron frame, octag- 

 onal structure 50x50 feet. The tank 

 occupies the whole middle space except 

 room for a side bench, a concrete path- 

 way, and a narrow marginal belt of 

 earth; the top of the tank is on the ground 

 level, a mistake I think, for I would rather 

 have it about ten inches higher. The 

 basin is of concrete two to three feet deep 

 and it is provided with feed pipes for cold 

 and hot water, and overflow and drain 

 pipes. Fresh earth is used every year. 

 This year the soil consisted of rotted sod 

 and old cow- manure, say two-thirds of 

 the sod and one-third of the manure. 



The victorias were raised from seed 

 sown last January and the seedlings were 

 grown along in shallow tanks on the 

 bench of a warm greenhouse till April 

 when the tank was prepared for them 

 and two plants set out in it. These 

 plaits grew luxuriantly and one of them 



had its first open flower May 10, the 

 second bloom opened on May IS, and 

 ever since then till the last week in Octo- 

 ber we had one or two flowers open in 

 that tank all the time. The leaves grew 

 fine, and some of them measured 6 feet 9 

 inches across, in fact the pond has looked 

 so pretty all along that even now, Decem- 

 ber 26. it is one of the prettiest features 

 of the conservatories. 



Although the victorias have ceased 

 blooming and their big leaves are gone, 

 the we.-.lth of luxuriant plants around the 

 pond, the side vegetation running into the 

 water, and several nymphaeas still in 

 flower, give it a very pleasing effect 

 indeed; and both piants of the Victoria 

 have got quite a mat of pretty fresh 

 leaves floating on the water. 



By the way we have saved about a 

 pint of seed of the victoria, so if any of 

 our friends are short of it we shall take 

 pleasure in helping them. 



POINTS WORTH NOTING. 



The victoria likes warmth, but plenty 

 fresh air from the top of the house; it likes 

 sunshine, hence the glass should be clear; 

 it likes fresh water, hence we keep a little 

 stream from a faucet running into the 

 pond all the time; it loves rich soil and 

 this is why we used so much manure in 

 the compost, but don't use horse manure. 



The vegetation around the basin con- 

 sists of caladiums, colocasias, cyperus, cro- 

 tons, curculigo and in fact odds and ends 

 of most any tropical plants we had; they 

 were planted out into the border of 

 ground around the pond, and the heat 

 and water and hosing forced them into a 

 tropical luxuriance never seen in pot 



plants; tradescantiasand the likecarpeied 

 the ground, and limnocharis, pontederia 

 and the like ran into the water, covering 

 the stone curbing, but we never allowed 

 it to obliterate the water nor crowd out 

 the handsome lilies. A piece of clean 

 clear water in a pond is just as necessary 

 as is a sweep of open grass on a lawn. 



Another adjoining greenhouse, a curvil- 

 inear span roofed structure 84x30 feet, 

 was devoted to nympha;as, and the soil 

 and cultivation was much the same as in 

 the case of the Victoria. 



William Falconer. 



Orchids. 



THE VANILLA BEAN NOT A BEAN. 



The only orchid of economic value is the 

 vanilla, which derives its name from the 

 Spanish word "vainilla," signif\ing a lit- 

 tle sheath, in allusion to the shape of the 

 fruit. While the fruit of several of the 

 species may be used as flavoring material 

 the vanilla bean of commerce is from the 

 Vanilla planifolia. Its native home is 

 Mexico and tropical America. Popular 

 Science News states that "when the 

 plants were first introduced into the 

 West and East Indies they grew vigor- 

 ously and produced an abundance of 

 flowers, but no pods. It was discovered 

 that the particular moth which fertilized 

 the flowers in Mexico was absent from 

 its new home, and artificial pollination 

 was resorted to, afttr which the plants 

 produced abundantly." 



