WINDOW GAEDENING. 



WINDOW GARDENING AND PLANT CASES* 



" The Hopean ajiparatus is tlius described in the Gardener''s Chronicle : — ' A flat disli 

 of porcelain liad water poured into it ; in the water a vase of flowers was set ; over 

 the whole a bell-glass was placed, with its rim in the water. This was a Ward's case 

 in principle, although different in its construction. The air that surrounded the 

 flowers, being confined beneath the bell-glass, was constantly moist with the water 

 that rose into it in the form of vapor. As fast as the water is condensed, it runs 

 down the sides of the bell-glass back into the dish ; and if means are taken to inclose 

 the water on the outside of the bell-glass,' (which can easily be done by having the 

 bell-glass as large as the porcelain dish,) ' so as to prevent its evaporating into the air 

 of the sitting-room, the atmosphere around the flowers would remain continually 

 damp. What is the explanation of this ? Do the flowers feed on the viewless vapor 

 that surrounds them ? Perhaps they do ; but the great cause of their preserving 

 their freshness is to be sought in another fact. When flowers are brought into a sit- 

 ting-room, they fade because of the dryness of the air. The air of a sitting-room is 

 usually something drier than that of the garden, and always much more so than that 

 of a good gTeenhouse or stove. Flowers, when gathered, are cut ofi" from the supply 

 of moisture collected for them by their roots, and their mutilated stems are far ftom 

 having so great a power of sucking u\^ fluids as the roots have. If, then, with dimin- 

 ished powers of feeding, they are exposed to augmented perspiration, as is the case in 

 a dry sitting-room, it is evident that the balance of gain, on the one hand, by the 

 roots, and of the loss, on the other hand, by their whole surface, can not be main- 

 tained. The result can only be their destruction. Now, to place them in a damp 

 atmosphere is to restore this balance ; because, if their power of sucking by these 

 wounded ends is diminished, so is their power of perspiring, for a damp atmosphere 

 will rob them of no Avater : hence they maintain their freshness. 



" ' The only difierence between plants in a Ward's case and flowers in the little 

 apparatus just described, consists in this, that the former is intended for plants to 

 erow in for a considerable space of time, while the latter is merely for their preserva- 

 tion for a few days, and that the air which sun-ounds the flowers is always charged 

 with the same quantity of vapor at all times in the dish and bell-glass, while in a 

 Ward's case the quantity of vapor Avill vary with circumstances, and at the will of him 

 who has the management of it.' 



" This very excellent quotation comprises all that can be usefully said on the sub- 

 ject of preserving cut flowers in rooms, and ought to be carefully studied by every 

 lady who takes pleasure in having flowers in her room. We have long seen expen- 

 sive glass shades placed over artificial flowers, and over delicate specimens of natural 

 history, with a view to keep the dust from them, while no such precaution was taken 

 to preserve natural flowers from the same evil, much less to prolong their existence in 



fresh and perfect state. 



* Continued from the September nmnber. 



