132 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



them. There can be little occasion to furnish lists of ferns suitable, 

 as a reference to the " Garden Oracle " for 1866 will supply all 

 needful information. The ferns adapted for cool houses and cool 

 cases being just such as are required here. 



One form of case combines an aquarium with a fernery. Here 

 the lower half or a third of the window space should be blocked 

 with a slate slab, which forma tlie back of the tank, the glass 

 front being within the room. It has been shown in the " Book of 

 the Aquarium " that it is not generally advisable to allow the light to 

 stream through a tank, and therefore an opaque back is preferable to 

 glass. In furnishing a case of this description, the common English 

 ivy, Hedera lielix, in the normal condition in which we usually find 

 it in hedgerows, would be most valuable, as it thrives in closed cases 

 and can be trained up to form a most elegant green tracery. Those 

 beautiful climbing ferns, Lygodmm scandens^ and Lygodium Japonica, 

 are also well adapted for the same purpose, and must have copper 

 wires fitted to train them to. But here is a golden opportunity for 

 growing the lovely filmy ferns, such as Tricliomanes radicans and 

 Hymeno'pliyllum Timhridgense, with other moisture-loving kinds, 

 such as Asplenium fontanum, and many of the larger varieties of 

 mosses met with in bogs and the neighbourhood of fountains. In 

 the furnishing of the tank the rules given in the " Book of the 

 Aquarium " may be followed strictly. As many of the readers of 

 the Floeal "Would do not possess that book, a few practical hints 

 may be useful. First, then, it is advisable to introduce small fishes 

 only, and those should be varieties of carp, the gold carp being the 

 most generally useful. To every two gallons capacity of the tank 

 one small carp may be allow^ed, and no more. The water should 

 never be changed unless some accident renders it necessary to clean 

 out the tank, and cleanse it thoroughly. All snails, and in fact all 

 the small animals commonly used as " scavengers," are best dispensed 

 with ; they are simply a nuisance. It is also a fallacy to intro- 

 duce water-plants, but Valisneria spiralis is an exception, as it 

 generally thrives if planted in a bed of pebbles, and left undisturbed. 

 In every part of the rock, and the sides of the aquarium, confervae 

 should be allowed to grow, but the front glass, through which the 

 view is obtained, must be kept quite clean by the occasional use of a 

 sponge firmly fixed to a stick. 



"Where sunny windows are fitted with cases, and a gay display 

 of flowers are required, it will be advisable to introduce plants in pots, 

 and plunge them to the rim in cocoa-nut fibre or moss, and change 

 them frequently as they go out of flower, for others in full prime. 

 It must be understood that we love light and air, and cannot 

 advise the use of a Hortus fenestralis where it would be likely 

 to deprive an inhabited apartment of due supplies of those requisites 

 of life. It is, however, always possible to construct them so that 

 the upper sash of the window is left free for ventilation and illumina- 

 tion. • S. H. 



