.MAY. 231 



what an edge to the leaves ! That there is tliis difference 

 there can be no doubt ; for Dr. Liiidley, when treating of the 

 earlier plants grown there, thus writes : — " It appears that 

 although skill has succeeded in compelling the Victoria Lily 

 to expose her blossoms to the gaze of England, there is still 

 something to improve," &c. " In one point more especially," 

 Schomburgh says, " that he has seen the rim thus formed, as 

 much as five and a half inches high ;" D'Orbigny speaks of 

 two inches. In the Chatsworth plant there is no rim, ex- 

 cepting when the leaves are very young. 



With the unusually clear weather of the summer of 1854, 

 the Salem plants possessed this edge, varying from three to 

 six inches in depth, and disappearing as the sun receded to 

 the South. The free circulation of the external air in the 

 lily house, which can only be permitted here during the hot 

 sunny weather of June, July, and August, has a tendency to 

 increase this ; whilst a dose, high temperature of the house 

 would cause the flattening out of the edge. The English 

 plant has constantly made a flower bud with every leaf, since 

 it began to blossom ; three only failing to expand, the 

 others blooming, in some measure, more or less complete. 

 Since spring commenced, the buds expand fully, and we have 

 a flower of diminished size, being about ten inches across, 

 every third or fourth day, with a gradual increase in size as 

 summer approaches. 



Two other Victoria plants, in a matured state, have been 

 carried through the winter at the North, one at the garden of 

 Mr. Lincoln, in Worcester, Mass., and one at Providence, R. I., 

 at the garden of Mr. Chapin. I am informed that the small- 

 est leaf grown on this plant measured three feet ; the least, 

 on Mr. Lincoln's, was twenty-two inches. Both plants are 

 increasing in size again, and have been flowering all winter ; 

 Mr. Chapin's in shallow, Mr. Lincoln's in deep water, and 

 both grown from seeds ripened at Mr. Cope's garden, near 

 Philadelphia. A young plant at each of these gardens (main- 

 tained near the surface} has been preserved alive through the 

 winter. Mr. Chapin's plant, as also that of mine, in shallow 

 water, has been less affected by the winter than those in 



