May 1908. J 



469 



Miscellaneous. 



giving rise iu this way to other novel- 

 ties, some of which may be useful. 

 Tnen, again, any particular variation 

 may or may not be inherited ; and we can 

 only tell whether it is capable of inherit- 

 ance by actually breeding from it. If 

 an immune strain happens to exist, we 

 can usually combine its immunity with 

 the useful qualites of quite different 

 strains of the same plant. 



Now, if any real advance is going to be 

 made, you need to have a mau constant- 

 ly on the watch for novelties ; and in 

 this task he must have the assistance of 

 cultivators, small and great. Just as 

 you report any outbreak of disease to 

 the Government Mycologist or Entomo- 

 logist, as much for your neighbour's 

 benefit as your own (at least, whatever 

 the motive may be, that is the result), so 

 I would have you report the appeara nce 

 of any seedling or branch of any culti- 

 vated product, which, not being diseased, 

 looks different from its neighbours. 

 The novelty need not necessarily seem 

 to be an improvement on the old form. 

 A miserable sport may be useful, if it 

 is distinctly differeut from the type. 

 For by crossing we can probably break 

 the type and get a whole series of new 

 forms, some of which may quite possibly 

 be useful. Anything new, then, should 

 be reported to the expert on novelties. 

 I fear that in the case of the slower 

 growing products the results will come 

 to gladden the hearts of a future gen- 

 eration, though even in these I can give 

 you some practical hints which ought to 

 bear fruit almost immediately. Iu the 

 case of crops grown annually I hope 

 we may look for some improvement 

 within a comparatively small number 

 of years. And I hope to be able to 

 make some arrangement by which the 

 person who first calls attention to a 

 sport, or upon whose land it occurs, 

 may have first choice of any valuable 

 strain which may arise from it on the 

 Government experimental ground. 



R.H. LOCK. 



It is proposed bo follow up this paper 

 with a series of others which will appear 

 in the Tropical Agriculturist from time 

 to time, and will deal in rather greater 

 detail with certain of the points here 

 raised. 



VICTORIA REGIA : THE GIANT 

 WATER-LILY. 



(Illustrated.) 



By H. F. Macmillan. 



This is one of the most remarkable 

 productions of the vegetable kingdom. 

 It is indigenous to tropical South America, 

 chiefly Guiana, being found in marshes 

 and slow waters, more especially in 

 tributaries of the Amazon. This noble 

 plant was first discovered early in the 

 last century, the first record of it being 

 in 1801. In 1835, M. D'Orbigny, the 

 French traveller, wrote : — " I have found 

 one of the most beautiful flowers that 

 America can produce. The plant seems 

 to belong to the family Nymphceacaj, and 

 is certainly much allied to the Nuphar, 

 but its dimensions are gigantic- The 

 people of Guiana call it lrupe, deriving 

 this name from the shape of its leaves, 

 which resemble the broad dishes used in 

 the country, or the lids of their large 

 round baskets. A space, more than a 

 mile broad and nearly a mile long, is 

 covered with the large floating leaves, 

 each of which has a raised edge two 

 inches high- The foliage is smooth 

 above and furrowed below with number- 

 less regular compartments, formed by 

 the projecting, thick, hollow nerves, the 

 air in which keeps the leaf upon the 

 surface of the water. Leaf-etalks, flower- 

 stalks, and ribs of the leaves, are alike 

 cellular and covered with long prickles. 

 Amid this expanse of foliage rise the 

 broad flowers, upwards of a foot across, 

 and either white, pink, or purple ; always 

 double, and diffusing a delicious odour. 

 The fruit, which succeeds these flowers, 

 is spherical, and half the size, when ripe, 

 of the human head, full of roundish fari- 

 naceous seeds, which give to the plant 

 the name of Water-Maize (Mais del 

 Agua), for the Spaniards collect the 

 seeds, roast and eat them. I was never 

 weary of admiring this Colossus of the 

 Vegetable Kingdom, and reluctantly 

 persued my way the same evening to 

 Corrientes, after collecting specimens of 

 the flowers, fruits, and seeds." 



Sir William Hooker, writing of the 

 Victoria in the Botanical Magazine in 

 1847, said : " Seldom has any plant ex- 

 cited such attention in the botanical 

 world ; the interest being specially en- 

 hanced by the name it bears." But Sir 

 William had not then seen it in flower, 

 for not until 1819 did the Victoria Lily 

 blossom in England. The first flowep 

 produced was presented to Her Majesty, 

 Queen Victoria, in whose honour the 

 plant had previously been named by Dp, 

 Lindley, It was first introduced aug 



