Salt Lake Herald | 1891-10-04 | Page 9 | Victoria Regia

VICTORIA REGIA How the Flower Raised the Gardener to Knighthood Few who have visited the Botanic gardens gar-dens lately to sea the Victoria Regia in blossom says the Washington Post are aware of the fact that this flower suggested to an English gardener the idea of the Crystal Crys-tal Palace In which the great Worlds fair I was held a generation ago in London and lj I that it won for the humble workman fame 1a and knighthood I The plant when first taken to England r t was given to a skillful gardener to cultivate He was solely puzzled how to care for it After much cogitation he invented a build l ng constructed of iron framework in which great panes of glass were set affording tho tropical plant light and heat and under these < favorable conditions it vas nursed into blossomingwith as much luxuriance i as in its native marshes When the managers of the great exposi ion sent abroad circulars asking architects to submit plans for a building in which all k the industries of the world might bo exhio ited one of them fell into the hands or this gardener and to his master he suggested the advantages of a structure like that he had built for tho lily He was encouraged to submit a plan though the time for so i doing had almost expired With great skill he prepared the design he had conceived and it was accepted For this service he vas knighted and the name of Sir Joseph Paxton thus became as closely associated with the gigantic flower as that of tho great I queen whoso name it bears i