10 Mr. GOURLIE on Grmving Plants in Close Cases. 



IV. — On the Cultivation of Plants in Close Cases. By William 

 GouRLiE, Jun., Esq. 



An Account was given of the observations which led Mr. N. B. Ward 

 to the discovery of his mode of growing delicate exotic plants in the 

 centre of large towns, or during lengthened voyages ; but as these are 

 fully detailed in a work on this subject lately published by him, they 

 need not be repeated here. 



Mr. Ward's experiments were conducted in " closed cases " of all 

 sizes and shapes, from small wide-mouthed bottles to a range of houses 

 about twenty-five feet long and ten feet high. Some of them are 

 quite closed at the bottom, and when once watered require no further 

 waterings for a long period, while others have several openings, and 

 are watered once in three or four weeks or months, as may be required. 

 The glazed roofs and sides of these cases are made to fit as tight as 

 putty and paint can effect, and the doors fit closely ; but in no instance 

 has Mr. Ward endeavoured to seal his cases hermetically, believing 

 that the success of the plan is partly owing to the very gradual change 

 of air which takes place by the alternate expansion and contraction 

 of the volume enclosed. 



[A small glazed case, constructed like Mr. Ward's, and containing 

 twelve species of exotic plants, was exhibited ; it was nearly air tight, 

 and the moisture which evaporated being condensed upon the glass, 

 trickled back into the mould in the bottom of the case.] 



Plants enclosed in these cases can bear greater extremes of heat 

 and cold than when unprotected, which Mr. Ward thinks is owing to 

 the perfectly quiet sta^|B| the atmosphere surrounding them. They 

 are thus admirably caiHImted for conveying living plants from foreign 

 countries, and this has already been done to a great extent, many new 

 and rare species having arrived in almost perfect health. 



Owing to the prevention of the escape of the moisture within the 

 cases, plants will grow in them for many months, or even years, with- 

 out requiring fresh supplies of water ; for the supply of water given to 

 the soil in the first instance is successfully absorbed, exhaled, and con- 

 densed within the case itself, and made to sustain, over and over 

 again, the vegetation of the same plants. 



The plants are protected from the deleterious effects of poisonous 

 gases and fuliginous matter, generated by the combustion of coal. 

 We need not recount the experiments which have been made to prove 

 the fatal effects of such gases as sulphurous acid, sulphuretted hydrogen ^ 

 or muriatic acid, upon plants, as their action upon the vegetation 

 around Glasgow must be obvious to every observant person, but merely 

 state, that from such a vitiated atmosphere as exists in large cities, 

 the plan of Mr. Ward provides effectual protection, which the success 

 of his own establishment, situated in Wellclose Square, London, amply 

 demonstrates. 



Printed by Bei.l & Bain, Glasgow. 



