On Juno 22d, the first blossom appeared. It was white, and permeated the 

 atmosphere with a very decided pineapple scent 



By the latter part of August, the plant had developed eight leaves, the largest 

 being about four feet in diameter 



Gas Heating for Victorias Outdoors— By e. t. Harvey, 



A NOVEL SCHEME FOR GROWING THE GIGANTIC AMAZON WATER LILY IN ORDI- 

 NARY POOLS — REALLY EASY METHODS OF HANDLING THE TROPICAL RARITY 



Ohio 



TPHE Victoria has a wondrous individ- 

 -*- uality. The flower reposes on the 

 water like a true water lily and its bloom 

 the first night and the next morning is 

 not excelled for beauty and delicacy 

 by anything in the water lily line. It 

 looks very much like a gigantic, very 

 double N. odorata, but of more shining 

 texture. 



The flower is very coy and uncertain 

 about opening. The first indication is 

 by the round bud being borne well up upon 

 the top of the water and the calyx slightly 

 open to show a little white. If, for some 

 reason Madame Victoria should change 

 her mind and postpone her appearance for 

 a day, she retires into the water again to 

 come up the next day. As the flower 

 begins to open after sunset, the odor of 

 pineapple is very noticeable all about the 

 garden and gets stronger as the flower 

 is opening. From about nine o'clock 

 that evening until the following morning 

 about nine it is in full glory, but it seems 

 to be especially magnificent at night by 

 artificial light. The second night the 

 flower is quite as extraordinary, but no 

 longer delicate or even beautiful. After 

 that it closes up and sinks into the water 

 to grow and form seed, a prickly, shape- 

 less mass, something like an immense 

 thistle. 



My plant two years ago was so late in 

 blooming that it did not have time to ma- 

 ture its seed. It takes ten weeks or more 

 to do this. So last year I planted, with 

 considerable misgiving, the seed of the year 

 before. The first indication of germination 

 is a little thread-like filament that is 

 followed afterward by arrow shaped leaves. 

 The plant has to be transplanted several 

 times before the character leaves appear, 

 and it seems almost incredible that the 



delicate little seedling would grow into a 

 giant water lily that has a spread of over 

 twenty feet on the water. To any one 

 who has the facilities and patience, I 

 recommend starting from the seedling. 

 One period of growth is quite as interesting 

 as another. 



In January, iqoq, I got five seeds by 

 mail, and started them in a tank in my 

 greenhouse. I have two tanks, one of 

 copper and one of galvanized iron, three 

 feet square and one foot deep. Under 

 each is a small gas heating burner. The 

 tanks have wooden sides, and are partly 

 covered on the bottom, leaving just room 

 enough for the heater. The seeds took 

 just four weeks to germinate. One only 

 came up, and that was watched and tended 

 henceforth like a baby. When I came 

 home in the evening, the first thing to do 

 was to see if the temperature was right; 

 and that was also the first thing to be 

 looked at in the morning. I tried to keep 

 the water as near 85 degrees as possible, 

 but as we have natural gas here, it would 

 fluctuate in spite of all precaution. Some- 

 times I found the water so hot that it 

 seemed the plant must be cooked, but 

 the plant grew right along. The variety 

 was that known as Victoria Cruziana, or 

 Trickeri, which is said to require a lower 

 temperature than the Victoria Regia. 



About the time things began to be 

 springlike out of doors, my Victoria had 

 grown so as to nearly fill the tank. That 

 is, it had three or four leaves as large 

 as dinner plates. As I had quite a variety 

 of tender lilies in the same tank, it re- 

 sembled the young cowbird in the oriole's 

 nest that I have read about. I began 

 to study how to accommodate it in my 

 pond. 



My pond is entirely artificial, dug out 



344 



and cemented on sides and bottom, and, 

 like the greenhouse, has been added to 

 and changed very often. As a result it 

 has a number of partitions that are con- 

 cealed when the water is up to the level 

 of the outer rim. I would hardly recom- 

 mend the plan to one about to build a pond, 

 but it certainly has advantages. I think 

 it gives strength, for one thing; then 

 the dividing walls are useful to walk upon 

 when getting in among the plants, and 

 save wading on the bottom in deep water; 

 also, I can drain one section at a time, 

 and take good care of the fish. Gold 

 fish and sun fish are among the attrac- 

 tions of the pond, the latter being my 

 favorites. 



The north end of the pond was selected 

 for the Victoria for several reasons. This 

 part has almost a full sun exposure, and 

 could be better adapted to the required 

 conditions than any other place. It had 

 to be enlarged to give space to float the 

 big leaves, and the cement box in it that 

 had been used for the nympheas was 

 much too small and shallow. Also, to 

 be sure of success, some arrangemen was 

 necessary to keep the plant from getting 

 chilled the first few weeks after planting 

 out, as the weather is very uncertain here 

 and a cold snap would set the plant back 

 to far to recover that season. But the 

 real enthusiast is not discouraged by a 

 few difficulties, and planning and carry- 

 ing out a new idea is one of the joys 

 of 'gardening. 



As soon as the weather permitted, a shal- 

 low rim three feet wide and one foot deep 

 was added to the dimension of the circular 

 north end of the pond. Then a round 

 basin, six feet wide and four feet deep, was 

 made in the centre of that section, the 

 walls on a level with the other partitions, 



