ROYAL WATER-LILY. G7 



crease of their varieties, is a department of horti- 

 culture which is by no means on the decline, yet, if 

 we read aright the general aspect of horticulture in 

 the present day, the introduction to our gardens of 

 totally new productions from other climes, and the 

 successful cultivation of such as have baffled the ex- 

 ertions of the cultivators of former times, are cha- 

 racteristic and unmistakeable features which daily 

 increase in importance. Aquatic plants generally are 

 beginning to receive more attention than they ever 

 before received from cultivators; and our opinion is 

 not the result of an over-sanguine enthusiasm, but 

 of a considerate observation of the present tendency 

 of horticultural taste, when we say that ere long the 

 exotic Aquarium and the open-air pond, for the cul- 

 ture of aquatics, will be considered indispensable ad- 

 juncts to every garden of any extent. 



The Victoria Regina has also flowered in the 

 Royal Gardens at Kew, where the first young plants 

 were raised, and whence they were derived by the 

 other cultivators. The previous failure in the culti- 

 vation of the Lily at Kew has been attributed to 

 various circumstances. . The bad quality of the water 

 with which the Aquarium was for a long time sup- 

 plied is, however, one of the most likely causes to 

 which the want of success has been assigned. Un- 

 der great care and judicious improvements in their 

 management, the plants at Kew have exhibited con- 

 siderable health and vigour, and produced blossoms 



