168 
MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES 
Gardening, in fact, is an art; and whether that art is exemplified on a rood of ground, or on ten thousand acres, 
it matters little, providing the principles of that art characterize the execution of the improvements, and the details 
are worked out under the guidance of a mind embued with true taste. Let us explain what we mean by the 
application of principles, and the exercise of taste. The former determines the position of water, the line of 
approach, the arrangement of plantations, the aspect of the mansion, and the appropriate situation of rockwork, 
&c.; the latter gives the peculiar expression of the ideas intended to be exemplified, without any violation of 
consistency or propriety. 
“ He gains all points, who pleasingly confounds, 
Surprises, varies, and conceals the hounds; 
Calls in the country, catches opening glades, 
Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades; 
Now breaks, or now directs, the intending lines; 
Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs.” 
Pope. 
“ More cautiously will taste its stores reveal, 
Its greatest art is, aptly to conceal; 
To lead with secret guile the prying sight 
To where component parts may best unite, 
And form one beauteous well-connected whole, 
To.charm the eye, and captivate the soul.” 
Knight's Landscape. 
Nearly two hundred pages of the volume under review are occupied in describing the various kinds of trees 
and shrubs suitable for ornamental planting; to those, however, who have access to London's Arboretum Bri- 
tannicum , the descriptions of Mr. Downing, in a scientific point of view, will be valueless. 
The chapter on the “ Treatment of Water” will be read with interest; for, although it is a mere exposition 
of the principles of Price, Repton, Gilpin, and others, it is not encumbered with any individual peculiarities, 
and hence this part of the work may be perused with advantage. The chapter on “ Walks ,” also, is well worth 
consulting, although it more properly ought to have been styled, “ On the Approach Road and Ornamental 
Drives.” This is altogether treated with too much brevity; we consider it a subject of immense importance^ 
and one which has never yet been so elaborately discussed as its importance, in relation to landscape garden¬ 
ing, so manifestly demands. 
The remaining portion of the work is on rural architecture, chiefly borrowed from Loudon's Encyclopcedia 
of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture ; and an appendix, principally extracts from the Gardeners' Magazine. —R. G. 
Jllkrllirarntts Unlitra. 
The names of the Victoria, or Royal Water Lily. —Until quite recently this queen of the waters has very gener¬ 
ally received the name of Victoria regia ( Lindley ), which is that which we adopted at vol. i. p. 225. It appears, 
however, from an account just published by J. E. Gray, Esq., of the British Museum, (Ann. Mag. Mat. Hist .,) 
that V. Regina claims precedence, on the ground of priority, over Dr. Lindley’s name, regia. Sir R. (then Mr.) 
Schomburgk, who sent the first account, drawings, and specimens of the plant to England, proposed to name it 
Nymphsea Victoria. On its arrival here its distinctness from Nymphsea was recognised, and the name Victoria 
Regina was substituted by Mr. Gray, as a “simple act of friendship” towards an absent traveller, who had not the 
same means of comparison at Berbice which existed in London. Mr. Gray personally disclaims both generic and 
specific names, and considers them as belonging to Sir R. Schomburgk, “ for it was he who proposed that the plant 
should be dedicated to the Queen.” By a mistake of the engraver, the plate, published with the original accoimt, 
was lettered Victoria regalis ( Schomburgk ). The name V. regia, afterwards used by Dr. Lindley, and subsequently 
adopted extensively, is stated to be an error of the press in the index to the Athenaeum journal, in which an 
account of the plant had been published under the proper name of V. Regina, in a report of a meeting of the Bo¬ 
tanical Society of London, to which body the original descriptions and drawings were sent by Schomburgk. Thus 
the plant had received the following names:—Euryale amazonica ( Roeppig, 1832); Nymphsea Victoria (Schom¬ 
burgk, 1837); Victoria Regina (Schornb. and Gray, 1837) ; V. regalis (by error ) ; V. regia (Lindley, 1837); V. 
Cruziana (H Orbigny, 1840). Mr. J. De C. Sowerby contends that the oldest specific name, amazonica, should 
be retained, or rather, he says, ought never to have been altered; this adds another alias —V. amazonica (Sow¬ 
erby, 1850). "We perceive that Sir TV. J. Hooker now adopts Mr. Gray’s views, giving “preference, in point of 
date, to the name Regina; but venturing to place it in the genitive case (Reginse), as was done by the learned 
Dryander in regard to the Strelitzia Regime.” 
White Transparent Carrot. —The permanence of certain types of plants, commonly classed among esculents, is too 
generally believed. This exaggerated, not to say erroneous, opinion has been prejudicial to all attempts to im¬ 
prove particular vegetables. In the carrot, for instance, the variety having a white skin would seem to have bee n 
condemned for ever ; except, perhaps, the white carrot of Breteuil. Yet it is clear that we do not know the innu¬ 
merable atmospheric influences, as well as those which relate to situation and soil; all which may considerably 
ameliorate or improve the types of our commonest vegetables. TVith this view M. Barthel, Sen., of Mulhouse, has 
lately succeeded in raising a very interesting novelty in the form of a white transparent carrot. It only resembles 
the other white varieties in size. It is distinguished by its roots being of moderate length, its earliness, and especially 
by having the appearance of pure white wax overlaid with a coating of shining varnish. Its leaves are short, finely 
cut, the collar (formed by the stalks of the leaves) is slender and inserted in a deep cavity. In point of flavour it 
comes near the red varieties, a circumstance that will render the transition between the red and those commonly 
called white, more natural.— Revue Horticole. 
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