66 
THE QUEEN OF FLOWERS”—VICTORIA REGIA. 
39 
they are generally seen in pots of double the size. Nurserymen would do well to pay more attention 
to this subject, as they frequently put their patrons to the expense of carriage of large pots when 
smaller ones would do. This, or soil similarly constituted, forms the staple in which the magnificent 
Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, Calceolarias, Cinerarias, Roses, &c., seen at the London exhibitions are grown, 
and its strength accounts for the wondrous growth attained in such small pots. The spring is the best 
time to prepare such compost, keeping it turned weekly throughout the summer; but a good stock 
should always be kept, so that it may be properly sweetened before using.—A. 
“ THE QUEEN OF FLOWERS ”—VICTORIA REGIA. 
“ A fair imperial flower ; 
She seem’d design’d for Flora’s hand, 
The sceptre of her power.”— Cowper. 
t T is little more than two years since the Royal Water-Lily was successfully introduced to cultivation. 
No other merely ornamental plant has, in so short a period, given rise to so profuse a literature as 
now exists peculiar to itself, and which details almost every phase of its history. Not to speak of the 
magnificent works of Lindley and Hooker, which have been published to illustrate this most magnificent 
of all plants, our periodical literature has, during the last two years, devoted more attention to it than 
to any other single topic connected with the science of Botany. Magazines of Science, of Literature 
and of Art, Newspapers, Journals of Botany, Natural History, Horticulture, of Light Reading for the 
Million, and of Philosophy for the Learned, have all and each done homage to the Queen of Flowers. 
The novelty of the Royal Water Lily has now passed over, at least in England; and with it some 
prophetic botanists portended that the interest and admiration accorded to the plant would likewise 
become a mere matter of history. That this is not likely to happen, any one may be readily satisfied 
who will contemplate for a moment the position in Horticulture which the Lily holds, and the fact of 
its having given birth to a branch of cultural art scarcely recognized before in Britain, but with the 
development of which our ideas of Landscape and Artistic Gardening are likely to widely expand, and 
which, as it gains favour and gradually wins over horticultural taste, will insure the continued and 
extended cultivation of the Victoria. The materials, as well as the element necessary for their culti¬ 
vation, which aquatic plants place at the artistic gardener’s disposal, are calculated to lead to a 
much more perfect representation of vegetable physiognomy, and of the botanical traits of different 
regions, than has hitherto been realized, or even attempted by art. 
The history and early cultivation of the Royal Water-Lily being recorded in the Gardeners’ JSLaga- 
zine of Botany, I purpose to confine myself at present to some tracings of the Victoria’s subsequent history, 
accompanied by an interesting letter just received from M. Eduard Otto, Curator of the Botanic Garden 
at Hamburg, a zealous and successful cultivator of this as well as of aquatic plants in general. 
One of the most important instances of the Victoria’s cultivation in England dui’ing the past 
summer, is that at the establishment of Messrs. Weeks and Co., of Chelsea, where, as many readers are 
aware, it has been grown in an open air pond, with only occasional protection. As I have elsewhere 
remarked, few cultivators (especially in Scotland) save those who have “ been there to see,’ incline to 
give credit to the reported success of the experiment, surmising that the plant must be almost con¬ 
stantly protected with canvas and glass-frames. This is by no means the case. The pond is of very 
simple construction, heated usually to 76°, by means of hot water pipes from an adjoiniug house, and 
protected during the night and early morning by means of canvas. I have no doubt but this experi¬ 
ment will lead to many trials of the Victoria in the open air during 1852. 
The Victoria Lily has also been introduced from Kew to the United States of America ; it began 
to flower in August last, in the garden of Caleb Cope, Esq., Philadelphia, where it has been grown 
with much success. The salver-edge of the leaf appeared on the twenty-fourth and succeeding 
leaves. During September the plant continued to produce two flowers a-week, the twenty-seventh 
leaf measured six feet six inches, and others six feet two inches.* 
* Hooker's Journal of Botany, iii., 346-8 (Nov. 1851.) 
