76 ROYAL WATER-LILY. 



aid of ornamental fowl. No doubt, some tropical 

 aquatic species, associated with the Lily in her na- 

 tive waters, or belonging to the same regions, may 

 be well adapted for the purpose; they would add 

 life and additional interest to the Victoria pond. It 

 has been ascertained that the proper average tem- 

 perature at which the water should be kept is about 

 eighty-five degrees. It is also of importance to give 

 fresh air at all times, when it can be safely done with- 

 out unduly lowering the temperature of the house. 

 So important does a due allowance of fresh air ap- 

 pear, that Mr Ivison attributes the finely-developed 

 leaves of the plant at Syon House, with their turned- 

 tip margins (a feature not at first observable), to the 

 freedom with which air was admitted on all proper 

 occasions. 



It is a curious fact connected with the Victoria, 

 and one which has important bearings on its cul- 

 tivation, that, although an aquatic plant, it will 

 not grow within the influence of the sea-breeze, 

 nor in water having the least admixture of saline 

 particles. Dr Campbell mentions that the native 

 station which he visited on the Essequibo is more 

 than a hundred miles from the sea; and Sir Eobert 

 Schomburgh records, that in his progress up the 

 Berbice, the farther up the river he proceeded, the 

 more gigantic and fully developed did the speci- 

 mens become. Attention ought, therefore, to be 

 given to the purity of the water used; and although 



