222 



THE CANADIAN H0ETICULTUEI8T. 



in diameter ; they are green above and 

 red undbrneath, suggestive of the color 

 habit of the foliage of the Begonias, 

 especially B. sanguinea, though it 

 should be said that, as a rule, the 

 Water Lilies have the underside of 

 their leaves of a liver-red, or purplish. 

 These gigantic Lily-leaves, speaking 

 popularly, are, when full grown, round, 

 and with the edge turned up two inches 

 or more, look like immense floating tea- 

 trays. Large aquatic birds stand on 

 them by the hour, watching for fish to 

 pass by. But those great leaves are 

 ribbed in a most ingenious way, im- 

 parting immense strength ; so that with 

 a board properly arranged to distribute 

 the pressure, a prodigious weight can 

 be borne. I have some notes which I 

 think were made some thirty years ago, 

 from which we will extract, though the 

 figures seem incredible. It was stated 

 in Science pour Tous, that in the aqua- 

 rium of the Botanical Garden at Ghent, 

 the head gardener, M. van Houtte, was 

 interested to learn the force required 

 to immerse one of the floating leaves in 

 the water. One leaf supported a child ; 

 another was not submerged by the 

 weight of one of the gardeners. He was 

 led to experiment as to the limit of this 

 resistance — loading the surface of one 

 of the largest leaves with bricks. It 

 was found to bear a weight of 760 

 pounds avoirdupois — that is to say, 

 nearly equal to five men of average 

 weight. 



The first successful effort to bring the 

 Victoria regia into bloom in England 

 was in the world-famous botanical gar- 

 dens of the Duke of Devonshire, at 

 Cl'atsworth House. Joseph Paxton, 

 the Duke's head gardner, constructed 

 the great glass house for its accomoda- 

 tion, which took the name of its gor- 

 geous occupant. The hint for the con- 

 struction of this fairy-like building was 

 derived from a study of the structure 

 of the Victoria's leaf. 



We may, in passing, say that Mr. 

 Paxton designed the Crystal Palace for 

 the World's Fair in England, 1851, 

 built chiefly of glass and iron, all being 

 primarily due to his study of the leaf 

 mentioned. For this achievement he 

 was knighted, and thus became Sir 

 Joseph Paxton. 



The first flower of Victo7'ia regia in 

 England, was in November, 1849. The 

 event brought together a distinguished 

 concourse of visitors of the nobility and 

 literati. A novel event was the ap- 

 pearance, on the occasion, of little Miss 

 Annie Paxton, who, dressed in costume 

 of a fairy, took her place in one of the 

 tray-like leaves, and, like a Naiad of 

 the waters, presided as the fairy guar- 

 dian of this beautiful floral queen. 

 Such an event could not be less than 

 inspiring ; accordingly, the muse of the 

 famous Douglas W. Jerrold produced 

 the following : 



On unbent leaf, in fairy guise 



Reflected in the water, 

 Beloved, admired by heart and eyes, 



Stands Annie, Paxton's daughter. 



Accept a wish, my little maid, 



Begotten at the minute. 

 That scenes so bright may never fade, 



You still the fairy in it. 



That all your life, nor care, nor grief, 



May load the winged hours 

 With weight to bend a lily's leaf, 



But all around be flowers. 



It will astonish some to be told tliat 

 the Victoria regia was made to flower 

 in a tank in the open air by Mr. E. D. 

 Sturtevant, at Bordentown, N. J., last 

 August, the water being kept . at its 

 right temperature by pi|)es. I was one 

 of a small party invited to witness the 

 event, but was far away at the time. 

 An enthusiastic friend wrote me about 

 it, and what follows is mainly from his 

 letter : A t the first visit, the leaves 

 were six feet across, with a rim about 

 two inches high, and a bud just visible 

 in the depths. It was expected to 



