87 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, November 10, 1857. 
nificent flower, enjoying at once tlie beauty of its appear¬ 
ance and the delicious fragrance of its perfume, still we 
do not feel at liberty to deprive our readers of this portion 
of the extract with the idea that we could, from our own 
observation, lay before them anything better. “The flower- 
buds appear along with the young leaves; they generally 
open between four and live o’clock in the afternoon, un¬ 
folding first the four leaves of the calyx, which cover 
the pure white corolla, and this unfolds itself by degrees. 
The flower, which emits during the first evening of its 
opening a fine and agreeable odour, closes towards morn¬ 
ing to re-open during the afternoon. Its appearance, how¬ 
ever, is not now so lovely as at first. The pure white corolla 
has changed to a pinkish colour, and the calyx and petals, 
which are towards the centre of the liower of a fine carmine 
tint, are farther thrown back than on the preceding evening. 
The stamina stand corolla-like erect, and the liower has 
reached the culminating point of its development. Towards 
midnight, however, the stamina close again, and the petals 
soon follow their example. The next morning it is closed 
rather tightly, and gradually it inclines itself more and more 
towards the water, and after three days only the fruit re¬ 
mains visible, and this swelling rapidly yields its ripe seeds 
in six weeks more.” 
We could multiply accounts of its cultivation in other 
parts of the Continent in addition to the foregoing, but this 
would be needless, for the growth of the plant has now 
become so general throughout Europe that merely to 
enumerate the establishments in which it is grown would 
be too much for our space, and suffice it to say we are not 
aware of any establishment on the Continent, however 
favoured, in which it has been grown to greater perfection 
than in this country. 
A novelty, however, respecting its cultivation in England 
is too interesting to be omitted before closing our remarks 
on its growth, and that is the cultivation of this plant in 
the open air at the exotic nursery of the Messrs. Weeks at 
Chelsea, where it was grown and flowered to considerable 
perfection during the summer of 1851 in an open tank pro¬ 
tected by an awning ; not, however, be it remarked, in such 
a strictly natural state as the words “ open air ” may imply, 
for the water of the tank, it appears, was maintained at a 
temperature of 84° or 85° by a circulation of hot water 
below it; and this, as an able writer has somewhere re¬ 
marked, would be sufficient to regulate pretty effectually the 
state' of the atmosphere for several feet above it, so that 
although great credit is due to the enterprising spirit of the 
Messrs. Weeks in carrying out this experiment so success¬ 
fully, still we are far from being convinced that the plant is 
capable of being grown in the “open air ” in England; and 
the complete failure, too, this year of the plants in the 
marble basins of the greenhouse division of the Crystal 
Palace tends even more strongly to confirm us in our 
opinion of the utter impossibility of attempting to acclima¬ 
tise a tropical plant of this description, even within a green¬ 
house, in Great Britain or any other country above the 
latitude of 45° or 50° north. 
The Royal Gardens at Kew, from which the plant 
originated, have yet to learn, it appears, how to erect a 
building at all suitable for its growth. The “new house” 
there at present, erected, we believe, at a cost of .£2,000 or 
£3,000, according to the general opinion entertained of it, 
is anything but creditable to the conductors of so public an 
establishment, and our own private opinion respecting this 
matter, we should observe, is precisely parallel to that of the 
public. The exterior, in our opinion, has nothing to recom¬ 
mend it, and the tank in the interior assuredly has that 
about it which strongly reminds us of one of those green 
and slimy, undisturbed pools occasionally to be stumbled 
upon by the excursionist in some of the shady “ nooks and 
corners of old England.” Kew, however, has produced, some 
years back, a few fine plants of the Victoria; but among the 
.numerous cultivators of the plant in England those nearest 
London who hold the “palm” are, perhaps, the managers 
of the gardens at Sion House, and those of the Society in 
the Regent’s Park, at both which places very excellent 
plants have been grown annually. “ The present one at 
Chatsworth,” writes a gentleman from that place, “ is 
bidding fair to outgrow all former-grown Victorias in size J 
and beauty.” The average diameter of several leaves j 
grown there in some previous seasons has been between 
six and seven feet each, and these leaves are capable of 
supporting with ease persons of ten and eleven stone. 
The diameter of the largest flower yet expanded there 
this year was, we understand, something over seventeen 
inches. By reference to the ground plan, No. 1, it will be 
seen that the large tank has a breadth of thirty-four feet. 
This, however, is far from being sufficient space for the free 
accommodation of the immense leaves of this queen of the 
waters, for we have ourselves measured leaves extending 
with the footstalk considerably beyond the doorways (sixty 
feet apart) on each side of the house. This, therefoi’e, would 
give the plant, as grown at Chatsworth, the enormous 
circumference of over 180 feet. Our children of the 
second generation may, perhaps, see it enjoying itself in an 
uncramped state ; or who knows what cultivation may do for 
it ? Some future writer or draughtsman in years to come 
may possibly render himself illustrious by laying before the 
readers of The Cottage Gardener the ground plan of a 
tank exhibiting an area equalling that of the arena of the 
Roman Colliseum, and intimating too, probably, as we have 
done, that sufficient space and free accommodation would 
still be considered desirable. What wo have said, however, 
respecting its circumference is a positive fact, and therefore 
a proof that we have yet to see the aquarium erected that 
will give its leaves their full stretch of easy and unrestrained 
expansion. 
Cultivation, however, it must be remembered, on the 
other hand, sometimes contracts, as well as expands, the 
subject; and this reminds us of a gentleman with whom we j 
are acquainted, who has flowered the Victoria in a box a ! 
foot and a half square ! Under whatever circumstances, ! 
however, it may be grown, we do not for a moment doubt 
but that it will long continue to retain its high and admired 
position in the tropical aquariums of this and every other 
country; and, apart from all the interest attached to this 
remarkable vegetable production from its great size and 
other attributes, we have, in conclusion, to consider what 
may perhaps surprise many; that is, the benefits conferred 
on this country by its discovery and introduction. 
From what slight and apparently trivial causes ofttimes 
spring the greatest of human achievements; and art and 
science in this country owe a deep and lasting debt to the 
introduction of the Victoria regia. Reposing on the still and 
placid waters of the bays of the most powerful rivers of the 
New World, it had for ages flowered and floated in all its 
beauty, until it met the gaze of the ardent and delighted 
botanist, who little thought that in giving the world this mag¬ 
nificent aquatic he gave it as well the germ of that Palace 
which now crowns the hill of Sydenham. The network of 
deep and enormous ribs which project below the leaves, and 
materially assist in supporting them, suggested to Sir Joseph 
Paxton, it is said, the design of the upper portion of the 
Victoria house at Chatsworth. And from this house, as is 
well known, originated the Exhibition of 1851; and from j 
the Palace of the people sprang that unrivalled triumph of ; 
architectural skill, the present Crystal Palace, with all its j 
attendant and unnumbered advantages towards the peaceful 
diffusion of art and science, social progress, and national 
prosperity. 
But, with all that we have said and attributed to this 
plant, let it be particularly remembered that the leaf of the 
Victoria does not present on its under surface any palpable 
plan of a palace, or of anything, to an ordinary eye, at all 
resembling it; or let the observer even discern, if he can, 
the analogy existing between it and the house erected for its 
growth at Chatsworth ; yet, nevertheless, from it originally 
was drawn the first crude and unexpanded idea that 
eventually gave to the world the existing Palace, and to 
the author of that happy and auspicious idea a name and 
fame “ which history hereafter will be glad to chronicle.”— 
I. H. C., Hamilton Place , Sydenham. 
FRUIT KEEPING BADLY. 
It seems to be a general complaint that hardy fruits, 
that is, Apples and Pears, keep badly this autumn; 
aud I am sorry to say, so far as my own experience 
goes, it certainly is so. A preventive lor sucli a state 
