THE GENESEE FARMER 



287 



open air, than when growing in the hot-house aqua- 

 rium—the leaves becoming hypocrateriforni, a natu- 

 ral desideratum of much interest. 



The pond in which the plant is growing is heated 

 by hot water pipes, of which there are' two rows 

 placed at the bottom, communicating with a boiler 

 which heats, besides, a range of houses, the tempe- 

 rature being thereby kept at from 75 to 90 degrees 

 i Fahrenheit. There is a constant flow of clear water 

 into the pond, and a waste pipe to carry oif the su- 

 perabundance and keep the surface clear. A margin 

 of blue, j-ellow and white water-lilies, is placed 

 round the Victoria Regia, and tends to show well 

 their lovely and truly regal Sovereign in all her ma- 

 jesty. A temporary covering is placed over the plant 

 at night to protect it from storm and cutting winds. 

 The Victoria Regia has been an oliject of un- 

 ceasing interest from the moment of Sir Robert 

 ScHOMBURGK, iu 1837, finding this niagniiicent plant 

 in one of the rivers of British Guiana. In England 

 the Victoria Regia first flowered in 1849, and the 

 spectacle was engraved in the Illustrated London 

 JVews for Nov. 17. A leaf and flower of this plant, 

 it will be recollected, was presented to her Majesty 

 and Prince Albert, at Windsor, by Mr. Paxton; 

 and the train of circumstances by which this very 

 plant was mainly contiibutaiy to the success of the 

 great exhibition is so interesting as to merit recapit- 

 ulation. We give it in Mr. Paxton's own words: — 

 « Having in contemplation the erection of the great 

 conservatory at (Chatsworth) in its present form, it 

 was determined, in 1836, to erect a new curvilinear 

 hot-house, 60 feet in length and 26 feet in width, 

 with the elliptical roof on the ridge and furrow prin- 

 ciple, to be constructed entirely of M-ood, for the pur- 

 pose of exhibiting how roofs of this kind could be 

 supported. The plan adopted was this — the curved 

 rafters were composed of several boards securely 

 nailed together on templets of wood cut to the exact 

 curve; by this means a strength and firmness was 

 , obtained sufficient to support an enormous weight. — 

 .: This house was subsequently fitted up for the Victo- 

 1 ria Regia ; and it was here I invented a water 

 wheel to give motion to the water in which the plant 

 jrew; and here this singularly beautiful aquatic flow- 

 Bred for the first time in this country, . on November 

 3, 1849. You will observe that i%ature tvas the 

 •mgineer in this case. If you examine this, and 

 compare it with the drawings and models, you will 

 oerceive that nature has prodded it with longitudi- 

 lal and transverse girders and supporters, on the 

 jame principle that I, borrowing from it, have adopt- 

 id in this building." — Illustrated London JVetvs. 



It is estimated that the grape crop of Ohio and 

 Pierce Townships, in Clermont county, Ohio, reaches 

 )etween fifty and sixty thousand dollars annually. — 

 Last year is the only one which proved entirely suc- 

 ^essful in the culture of the grape, but the prospects 

 ire quite fair for the present season. Mr. Weir, the 

 argest grape grower in the vicinity of New Rich- 

 nond, infurms us that he made thirty-three hundred 

 gallons of the juice, in 1853. 



Candoe and open dealing are the honor of maa 



BLACK AND WHITE "BLACKBERRIES." 



The following article, relating to the A'ew Roch- 

 elle blackbenj, is probably mistaken iu calling a dis- 

 tinct species. Most likely it is merely a peculiar va- 

 riety, no niore dificient from the ordinary varieties 

 than a winter from a sunmier pear. It is well known 

 that in its wild state the fruit of the blackberry nat- 

 urally runs into varieties, a circumstance which p'oints 

 it out as hkely to be easily improved by a selection 

 of seedlings. On some bushes the fruit is found with 

 large grains and of an acid taste; on others it is long, 

 like a mulberry, with small grains and very sweet. — 

 We have seen a bush growing wild, with fruit quite 

 white when ripe. 



The blackberry is cultivated with success in the 

 neighborhood of Boston. In Illinois they transplant 

 the blackberry from the river bottoms to the gardens 

 on the uplands, where it produces abundantly. — TV*. 

 Y. Post. ' 



"New RocHELLE Blackberry. — We saw yesterday 

 a specimen of this delicious fruit — the larger circum- 

 ference of which sometimes reaches four inches, and 

 the smaller three. It is more delicate than the wild 

 variety in substance and flavor, and as a table fruit 

 we know of nothing in its season that surpasses it. — 

 It is not the ordinary wild blackberry improved by 

 cultivation, but a distant species, producing in its 

 natural state a much larger and more palatable fruit. 

 It was first discovered in 1834. near J\'etv Rochelle, 

 but not transplanted to the garden till three or four 

 years later, since Avhen it has continued to produce 

 profusely the remarkably large berry above described. 

 The })lants are for sale, at fifteen cents a hundred, by 

 Mr. Isaac Roosevelt, of Pelham, Westchester co." 

 — Jounal of Commerce. 



London Currants. — A writer in the Horticxdturist 

 speaks of the fine currants of the market-gardens 

 near London, which are grown in the following man- 

 ner: They are planted in rows, twenty or thirty feet 

 apart, and three or four feet apart in the rows; the 

 ground, which is naturally good, is highly manured, 

 and cropped between with vegetables. When the 

 plants commence bearing, they are pruned very hard; 

 the greater part of the young wood is thinned out, 

 and what is allowed to remain is shortened back to 

 two or three inches. By this means the trees are al- 

 ways kept short, never attaining a greater height than 

 two or three feet. These strong manured and well- 

 pruned trees produce magnificent fruit, and in great 

 abundance, well remunerating the market gardener 

 for his trouble. 



Diseased Apples. — A writer in the Maine Farmer 

 describes a new disease which has destroyed his ap- 

 ples for same years. When they are the size of robins' 

 eggs, a black mold seizes upon them and spreads over 

 them, stopping their growth. A few escape alto- 

 gether. We judge it to be some microscopic fungus; 

 but why does it attack this orchard and not others? 

 Have any of our readers ever seen the like ? — Farm- 

 er's Companion. 



He who would be wise must atrive to leanL 



