

WOroaW OAKDENINO. 



pan of watt.T as a iloop dish will fiin\ish. It will be fuiiiid tliat the lalter will bo jjcrfoctly 

 fivsli days after tlic former liavc faded. The reason is, that in the narrow-necked jar the 

 flowers have no access to Avater except through the ends of their shoots, and are surrounded 

 with a very dry air; while, in the flat dish, they are able to absorb abundant water, 

 because a lar};:e part of tlieir surface is in contact with it, and are, moreover, surrounded 

 by air incessantly moistened by the vapor which continually rises from the dish. 



"'Of this we may bo sure, that darkness, dust, heat, Avant of ventilation, and all the 

 other calamities to which plants in sitting-rooms are subject, arc as nothing compared with 

 the inevitable dryness of the air — which, indeed, acts injuri(>usly not merely by exhausting 

 plants of their water of vegetation, but by lowering the temperature of the pots in Avhich 

 they are grown, in consequence pf the evaporation constantly taking place there. What 

 makes the evil greater is, that the plants Avhich are purchased for sitting-rooms are invariably 

 brought into liigh condition by being grown in a damp atmosphere. They are transferred 

 from the hands of skilful gardeners, armed Avith the most ])erfectly constructed forcing- 

 houses, into the care of inexperienced amateurs, Avhoso means of maintaining a plant iu 

 health are something considerably less thau notliing.' 



" Under the head of Windoio Gardening we shall include the A'arious little con- 

 trivances of our Continental neighbors, avIio carry the cultivation of plants in rooms, 

 on balconies, and in AvindoAvs, to a much greater extent than has hitherto been done in 

 this country, more especially in towns and cities, Avhere the enjoyment of green-houses 

 and conservatories is often denied them. 



"N. Ward, Esq., an amateur cultivator, avIio lived many years in the heart of the 

 city of London, carried the cultivation of plants, even rare ones, and tliose of difficult 

 growth, to an amazing state of perfection, in small portable green-houses of elegant 

 forms, and which have noAV become almost an indispensable article of furniture in 

 every drawing-room. These are called Wardian cases, and are found to answer the 

 purpose intended most completely, and are, perhaps, upon the Avhole, much better 

 adapted for the end in vicAV, as they are at the same time far more convenient and 

 elegant, than the Avindow cases so frequently met Avith on the Continent — the former 

 constituting an elegant article of furniture Avithiii the room, Avhile the latter is attached 

 to the outside of the Avindow. They preserve the plants much longer in bloom or in 

 a healthy state than the usual mode of setting them in stands or on tables, and at the 

 same time afford a degree of agreeable enjoyment in their management. 



"Mr. "Ward has published a very interesting pamphlet on the growth of plants in 

 such cases, Avhich those interested in the matter should peruse. It contains, as Dr. 

 LiNDLEY has justly observed, ' all the information that can be given ; but it is in few 

 hands, and everybody does not understand the principles on Avhich his cases are con- 

 structed. It is imagined, by uninformed persons, that complete exclusion of air is 

 the entire object Avhich Mr. Ward sought to secure by his contrivance ; but we need 

 hardly tell the reader who knows any thing of the atmosphere, that such an effect 

 can not be attained by a Ward's apparatus : the air finds its Avay into every place 

 not hermetically sealed, and such contrivances as close glazing, puttying and so forth, 

 not exclude it. AVhat Mr. AVard sought to gain was uniformity of moisture and 

 elusion of soot; and these he effectually secured. It is the dryness of the 



