36 



CASSELL'S POPULAE GAEDENING. 



female, as it is sometimes lost. It is bright green in 

 colour, but in strong light turns nearly red. The 

 female flowers have long stalks, and . reach the 

 surface of the water, and are curiously pollenated by 

 the breaking away of the male flowers from the base 

 of the plant ; they then float to the surface and are 

 wafted to the females. It is a native of Southern 

 Europe, and is found in the Lakes of Ticino in 

 Switzerland. Another species is found in Australia. 

 Sydroeharideis, 



Victoria JRegia (the Eoyal Water-lily). — This is 

 well known as the most magnificent of aquatics, and 

 as forming one of the great attractions at Kew and 

 Eegent's Park every summer. Its immense foliage 

 and lovely gigantic flowers entitle it to all admira- 

 tion. The leaves are usually about six feet in 

 diameter — sometimes six feet eight inches — with a 

 bold tvinied-up margin, and the flowers measui-e 

 about one foot, or even fifteen inches in diameter. 

 They first open late in the afternoon, and are then 

 pui-e white, afterwards turning to a dark rose-colour 

 In order to secure seeds, the fruits when ripening 

 must be enclosed with canvas, and they require to be 

 kept in uncorked bottles of water. The best time 

 for sowing is about the 1st of January; if sown 

 earlier the plants suffer during the dark days of 

 winter, and success is attained only by growing the 

 plants without check from the first ; if they are sown 

 later than the above date, time is lost. The young 

 plants must be- shifted without injury to the roots 

 till they reach 24-sized pots, which will be about the 

 third week in Apiil, when they are ready for planting 

 out. A mound of soil is made in the centre of 

 the tank, reaching to about eight inches from the 

 highest level of the water, when the plant is 

 developed. Success equal to any I know has been 

 attained with about five cart-loads of soil, composed of 

 loam ten parts, horse and cow manure one part, and 

 peat and sand one part, but in the place of the peat 

 I should use leaf-mould. Richer soil than this, 

 however, is often used. At first the water should be 

 a little more than one inch above the crown of 

 the young plant, and as it grows the level of 

 the water is raised. It is convenient to raise young 

 plants every year, but the Victoria is not an annual, 

 and it has been made to flourish in Paris for three 

 years. The water should be kept at a temperature of 

 85°, and a fresh supply must be let in every day. 

 Air must be given freely, but with caution, in 

 order to avoid chill. This plant varies in some 

 particulars, and it would be interesting to get 

 seeds from various localities, as it is possible 

 that distinct fonns might be obtained. The 

 seeds are roasted and eaten. Native of the Amazon 

 basin, and of the rivers of Guiana and La Plata. 

 Nymphteaeece. 



MANUEING IN THEOEY AND 

 PEACTICE. 



By Johk J. Willis. 



PREVIOUS to the middle of last century, 

 chemistry as a science can hardly be said to 

 have had existence, so we may fairly conclude that, 

 prior to that date, horticulture as an art, whatever 

 assistance it may have received from other sources, 

 was prosecuted independently of any aid from 

 chemical science. During the last fifty or sixty 

 years, however, chemistry has applied much of its 

 force to the investigation of the constituent elements- 

 of the organised bodies of plants, and to am exami- 

 nation of the processes which go on in them during- 

 their life. Of what do these bodies consist ? Whence 

 do they acquire their component parts and their 

 sustenance ? What changes must the latter under- 

 go in the living organisms of the plants in order 

 to yield them nourishment and produce growth ? 

 Whence are we to draw our supply of those agents 

 which, according to our present ideas, are destined 

 to become the principal lever of horticulture ? 



These are some of the main inquiries which, by the 

 aid of modern chemical research, we shall endeavour 

 to answer, and from observations and experiments 

 made in the field and in the laboratory, to deduce 

 principles which may be more or less applicable to- 

 the requirements of the practical gardener. 



Such principles, we trust, will explain useful 

 practices and confirm their propriety. They will also 

 help to account for contradictory results, and will , 

 point out the circumstances under which this or that 

 practice may most prudently and most economically ; 

 be adopted. Armed with the knowledge of such 

 pi-inciples, the gardener will go among his plants as- 

 the physician goes to the bedside of his patient — 

 prepared to understand symptoms and appearances 

 more clearly than he has done before, and to adcfpt 

 his practice to circumstances which have never 

 before fallen under his observation. 



There is a saying, somewhat common among those 

 who afiect to despise or contemn chemistry as a help 

 to the horticulturist, to the efiect that " a chemist 

 would make a very poor gaxdener." Very possibly 

 this is true, but as well might it be said that an an- 

 atomist would make but a poor physician ; or that- any 

 man possessing one only of the several qualifications 

 necessary for any occupation in life would be but 

 poorly fitted for fulfilling the duties of that occupa- 

 tion. If a man is purely and simply a scientific 

 chemist, the chances are that he would most likely 

 make a very unprofitable business of gardening ; and 

 yet Lavoisier, who had certainly- no very minute 

 knowledge of the art of husbandry, by following ik 



