342 



21ie HortimUm^isl and Journal 



An Air-tight Fern Case. 



OUR village parson is fond of gardening, 

 and especially of Ferns, of which he has 

 a vaseful worth a moment's attention. This 

 vase or pan is made of thin glass, somewhat 

 over a foot in diameter. It was filled with 

 common sandy loam and moss from one of the 

 surrounding hillsides several years ago. The 

 Ferns were then planted in it, and a glass 

 globe placed over them. This globe has 

 never been removed since that time, and no 

 water or any artificial nourishment of any 

 description has been given them during all 

 those years. The whole is nearly if not quite 

 air tight, so that the dry air of the room has 

 no opportunity of absorbing the moisture 

 which was supplied to them when v>^atered 

 seven years ago. If the pan had been earth- 

 enware, moisture would, doubtless, have found 

 its way through it; but, being glass, it is 

 entirely air tight. The soil has subsided 

 about an inch ; but, as seen through the 

 glass, it has still a fresh, nourishmg look 

 about it. According to the temperature of 

 the room, moisture rises and condenses on the 

 glass, and falls again, revealing the beautiful 

 fronds of Pteris serrulata, Aspleniuvis, Scolo- 

 •pendriums, and similar Ferns. All these 

 seem in excellent health, notwithstanding 

 their imprisonment, during which old fronds 

 have died and crumbled into dust, new ones 

 have taken their place ; and now they are in 

 as fine condition as any Ferns possibly could 

 be under the most skillful attention. — /. 

 Mtm, in The Garden 



Campanula as a Window ^ 

 Plant. 



Barvelier^s Bell Floiver {Cainpamda 

 Barrelieri) is considered by a correspondent 

 of the Garden one of the finest of all dwarf- 

 growing Bell flowers for window culture ; and, 

 after trying many others, including C. pulla, 

 C. turbinata, C. fragilis, and others, I have 



given this the preference. Growii in a pot of 

 rich, sandy earth, it forms a bushy little plant 

 in the spring, while a month or two later its 

 branches elongate, until they hang gracefully 

 over the pot sides, covered with pale, purplish- 

 blue salver-shaped flowers. One of my plants 

 looks splendidly just now, being a perfect 

 mass of flowers. A good potful of this plant 

 makes a capital substitute for a hanging bas- 

 ket ; and the flowers show to better advantage 

 when the plant is suspended in the window or 

 on the balcony outside. It is also a capital 

 bracket plant ; or it looks well on the window 

 sill, where the shoots can hang down freely. 

 The two best campanulas for the window 

 gardener are, undoubtedly, this and C. pyra- 

 rnidal'is, which are very distinct from each 

 other in habit of growth, and both perfect in 

 their way. 



Culture of Carnations. 



SELECT the cuttings you desire to propa- 

 gate from the parent plant, and cut it 

 through with a sharp knife just below the 

 third pair of leaves from the top of the cut- 

 ting ; this done, cut ofi" half the length of 

 every leaf on the cutting except the two lower 

 ones, which are to be removed altogether. 

 Now you will fill quite a small pot with one- 

 half soil and one-half sand ; make it smooth, 

 and insert your cutting in the center from one 

 to one-and-a-half inches in depth. Water 

 well, place a hard glass or tumbler over it, 

 and set it aside. This glass will gather mois- 

 ture, and should be removed every day and 

 wiped dry, and again replaced. You can, by 

 this means, stake your cuttings in a room of 

 your house with as much ease, and with as 

 much certainty of their living, as within a 

 greenhouse. Cuttings thus prepared may be 

 readily rooted in a window or in a room, 

 from May to October, without failure. I find 

 a very gooS way to start cuttings to be in a 

 raisin box of sand, filling the same with the 

 cuttings half an inch apart, and keeping them 

 well watered. 



Layering is not so certain, and requires 

 more care than the above method, ncverthe- 



