26l 



photo will show. As a temporary name, we call it 

 A . /./. pevcvistatum setigevo supcvhtiiii. C T T) 



THE WARDIAN CASE. 



The Wardian case is nowadays so familiar an object 

 that we are apt to lose sight of the immense revolution in 

 plant culture which the recognition of the principle involved 

 therein has led to. At the time when Mr. Ward grasped 

 this principle, i.e. that a closed glass case gave an 

 immense control over several vital factors m plant 

 life, an enormous number of plants were perforce con- 

 fined to their native habitats, since their removal and 

 transport involved drastic changes of temperature and 

 humidity which they could not stand, and hence the 

 attempts of travelling botanists to enrich our home 

 collections were in most cases nugatory. The accidental 

 development, however, of a tiny Fern in a closed bottle 

 inspired Mr. Ward with the idea that more than half the 

 battle would be won if similar conditions of equability 

 could be secured on a larger scale, and it is from this tiny 

 germ of thought that have grown many of the facilities of 

 transport to which we owe the vast extension of our 

 collections of living plants from all parts of the world. 

 For the amateur plant lover the Wardian case, with which 

 may be associated bell-glasses provided with appropriate 

 soil receptacles, should be of far greater use than it really 

 is, since it is the exception rather than the rule to find 

 such a case properly furnished and with the contained 

 plants in proper condition. To this several causes 

 contribute, firstly, the drainage arrangements are apt 

 to be bad, sourness of soil and unhealthy plants resulting 

 inevitably ; secondly, insufficient light is given and the 

 plants become drawn and unsightly ; thirdly, unsuitable 

 plants are introduced, both as regards constitution and 

 size ; arid, fourthly, there are frequently too many, the 



