688 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOJI. 



carrots, and parsnips, wliloli it is desired to pre- 

 serve through tlie winter, are put into pits in a 

 dry soil and covered over with three or four feet 

 of mould. In this way also, apples and grain 

 in some countries are covered up in a dry sandy 

 soil, and are found to keep for a year. Roots, 

 hrocoli, celery, and other vegetables, may also 

 be preserved in an ice house during the win- 

 ter, by placing them in baskets with a little 

 straw between them and the ice. Before using 



them they should be slowly thawed in cold 

 water. 



Some fruits ai-e best preserved by pulling tlieni 

 off the tree before they are quite ripe. This is 

 the case with oranges imported into this coun- 

 try, but in this way the flavour of the fruit is 

 greatly lost. 



Grapes and other fi-uits have been preserved 

 ever winter in mild climates, by allowing them 

 to hang on the trees in their ripe state. 



VICTORIA REGIA, THE ROYAL WATER-LILY. 



The Victoria Eegia, or Great Water-Lily, has been 

 with equal taste and propriety dedicated to the Queen. 

 Sir Eobert Schomburgk found the plant in British 

 Guiana, when travelling for the Eoyal Geographical 

 Society of London, and his narrative of the discovery 

 is lively and interesting: — "It was on the 1st of 

 January, 1837, while contending with the difficulties 

 that nature interposed in different forms, to stem our 

 progress up the river Berbice (iat. 4*^ 30' N., Ion. 

 52° W.), that we anived at a part where the river 

 expanded and foi-med a currentless basin. Some 

 object on the southern extremity of this basin at- 

 tracted my attention, and I was unable to form an 

 idea what it could be ; but, animating the crew to 

 increase the rate of their paddling, we soon came 

 opposite the object which had raised my curiosity, 

 and, behold, a vegetable wonder! All calamities 

 were forgotten; 1 was a botanist, and felt myself 

 rewarded! There were gigantic leaves, five to six 

 feet across, flat, with a broad rim, light green above 



and vivid crimson below, floating upon the water; 

 while, in character with the wonderful foliage, I saw 

 luxuriant flowers, each consisting of numerous petals, 

 passing in alternate tints from pure white to rose 

 and pink. The smooth water was covered with the 

 blossoms ; and as I rowed from one to the other, I 

 always found something new to admire. The flower- 

 stalk is an moh thick near the calyx, and studded 

 with elastic prickles, about three-quarters of an inch 

 long. When expanded, the four-leaved calyx mea- 

 sures a foot in diameter, but is concealed by the ex- 

 pansion of the hundred-petalled corolla. Tliis beauti- 

 ful flower, when it first vmfolds, is white, with a pink 

 centre ; the colours spread as the bloom increases in 

 age; and, at a day old, the whole is rose-coloured. 

 As if to add to the charm of this noble water-hly, it 

 difiuses a sweet scent." 



The plant was first flowered m this country at 

 Chatsworth, by Mr. (now Sir Joseph) Paxton. 



^^?xT> 



