FOnEIQN NOTICES. 



viJotl ngoiiist by the glass case, wliilo the moist me wliicli was riiiscil becanio condensed on the 

 sides of the gliiss on oceaiions of clmn^o in the external U flpeiiiture, ncciiniulaliiig and :.cscend- 

 ing to the eaitli, nt the bottom bceotning more jierfeetly aeinted, und in a ntatc bettor adapted 

 for stimulating and novuisliing llie plant. Sc ci)nii>lete is the routine in sneli a little world, in 

 il<elf independent of external eiieumstaneos, that tlio old bottle scaled iij) I'J years siiiee is 

 green with vegetation, though the deposits of Confervie on the inner surface materially dis- 

 figure its appearance. Tliis bottle has had no fresh moisture since first closed. The advantages, 

 besixles those of mere ornament, were stated to be great — to the poor man in hospitals, treat- 

 ment of the insane, trans]iortalions of plants from one country to another, duration of flowering, 

 to all ranks confined in cities and sick rooms, they were stated to be a blessing. At St. 'riiouias* 

 Hospital a subscription has been set on foot to provide cases, one of which was exliibited, most 

 elegant in form, and in these the patients found a fruitful source of gratification. One of the 

 advantages belonging to cases of this kind was the facility of transmitting plants fiom one 

 country to another. Mr. Vortune has sent to tliis country 250 specimens, out of which 215 have 

 arrived in health. Mr. Ward successfully forwarded to Sydney a variety of English plants in 

 a case (hat was five months on the passage; on its arrival there the Primrose was just blossom- 

 ing ; and this case subsequently returned to England Avith a collection of Australian iilants. 

 The carbonization of the atmosphere by animal res[)iration, and the restoration of oxygen by 

 vegetation, is a well known fact, and upon this Mr. Ward claims the merit of suggestions as to 

 sanitary buildings in which vegetation would form a conspicuous feature. In connexion with 

 the restorative nature of the process of vegetation, a taper was put under a bell-glass contain- 

 ing a Rose and other flowers, and was extinguished in ten minutes. But after exposing the 

 glass to the sun for about three hours, the taper could be again kept alight for the same period 

 as before. In the same manner vegetation in water would be found to restore the oxygen, and 

 in consequence it was possible to keep fish in air-tight cases, when vegetation was allowed to 

 accompany them. To Mr. ^YARD was due the credit of having first introduced a vivarium into 

 a closely glazed case in 1811, and for having depended for tlie renovation ot the air necessary 

 for the gold and silver fish contained therein upon the purifying action of associated jdants, 

 such as Pontcderia crassipes, Pistia utratiotcs, Vulisneria spirnlis. ilr. Bowerbask took the 

 hint fi-om Mr. "Waro, and established a little vivarium in a large glass jar — stlckle-backs, min- 

 nows, and fresh water snails, and with plants of Valisneria, and covered the mouth of the jar 

 with glass, so as to make it a closed case. Snails, for the purpose of removing the Conferva? that 

 cover tlu; leaves of Valisneria and other aquatics, were first recommended in a note in the 

 number of the " Microscopicat Journal," for September, 1841. It was, however, stated that eo 

 long ago as 17G3, LEnEiiMUM.ER had juiblished, in his "Microscojiicol picrcadovs," a figure of an 

 open-mouthed bottle containing fresh-water zoojihytes, associated with Duckweed, Chara, and 

 otiier plants. Mrs. Thynne first introduced marine vivaria into London; having brought some 

 living Madrepores up to town in 1846, from Torquay, t-he placed them in two glass tanks, and 

 at first effected aeration of the water by having it daily taken out and poured in gradually from 

 a height, occasionally sending for fresh sea-water and thoroughly renewing it; after a year or 

 two her JIadrcpores seemed to flag, and then she procvred some i)ieccs of rock and shell with 

 living sea-weeds attached, and subsequently depended upon the counterbalancing action of these. 

 Dr. Ward decidedly entertains sanguine hopes that success will ultimately attend the adapta- 

 tion of the principles in extension to the maintenance or restoration of heidth to the human 

 frame, although he admits that difllculties would present themselves in the attempt to realize 

 such adaptation. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Masetti Rose Stock. — I have cultivated this stock these 10 years on a portion of my nursery 

 ground, consisting of abf)ut three acres of light poor soil resting on a subsoil of gravel The 

 better part of it is light sandy loam ; I find the Manetti to suit me much better than the Dog 

 Rose for dwarf plants; nearly all the Hybrid PeriJctuals and Bourbons take freely upon it, and 

 make fine heads. Some specimen plants have stood seven or eight years, and are now 

 health, while, if they had been worked on the Dog Rose, or upon their own roots, they 



