®§^ 



^^::^^: 



WINlxiW (lAUDKNINCi. 



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,^^^^^<S>S\f>S^^S>SS^ 



Fig. 8. 



use durincf niijlit must be obvious, more 

 especially in !i|i;iiliiiiiits liu;litc<l by gas. 



" The aiiiK'Xod, ii<;s. 7, 8, represent two 

 very pretty AVanliaii cases, exliibited at one 

 of tlie Horticultural Society's fetes at Cliis- 

 wick. Fig. 7 is seven feet high, four feet 

 two inclios wide, and two feet six inches in 

 (Icptli. Fig. 8, fdur fr.'t liigli, tliree feet 

 broad, and one foot eleven inches in depth. 

 Tlie workmanship is in the very best manner 

 of gold-colored metal, the bases being of 

 polished wood lined with metal, and moving 

 on castors ; they are glazed with the best 

 sheet glass, and each has a door at the end. 

 Very fitting ornaments, we would say, for 

 any drawing-room. 

 " When the Wardian case was first brought 



Ff — \v into notice, an opinion got abroad that they 



J.^ " '^'^^^^^^^^'^-^ L must be constructed so as to be perfectly air- 



YiiT, 7. tight, as if plants, more than animals, could 



exist without that vital element. They are 

 in general fitted pretty close, but by no 

 means air-tight. The principle which gov- 

 erns the health of the plants in them is 

 purely mechanical ; the water whicli is in 

 the soil or medium the plants are set in, is 

 turned into vapor by the heat of the sun or 

 room during the day, and becomes condensed 

 upon the inside of the glass, and is returned 

 again, as soon as the glass becomes so cold 

 as to condense the vapor on its under sur- 

 face. This process of evaporation and con- 

 densation goes on day and night, governed 

 by the temperature of the room the case is 

 placed in ; and under these conditions many 

 plants luxuriate in an astonishing degree. 

 "Fig. 9 represents a "Wardian case mounted on a stand, with castors, for the more 

 readily moving it about. The dimensions are as follows. The stand a is twenty -two 

 inches in height, fitted with a groove all round for the reception of the base b, which 

 is eight and a half inches deep ; the glazed top or cover c is nineteen and a half 

 inches high, making the whole height of the case four feet two inches. The sides of 

 the box are of mahogany, l^inch in thickness, and the bottom of deal, 1-^-inch thick, (^ 

 well framed and dovetailed together, and strengthened with brass bands, as seen in 



