y [Brigham. 



below the level of the plants and at the top of the case. With this 

 source of heat and a frequent change of air, almost any orchids or 

 stove plants may be grown successfully. 



Arctic Case. To grow the plants of cold climates, I would suggest 

 the following modification, which I believe to be new. The case may 

 be constructed in various ornamental forms, but the essential points 

 are these : at the top and back of the case a box to hold ice ; valves 

 between this and the interior of the case to regulate the cold draft ; and 

 a recess beneath the plan^ box to contain trays of Chloride of Calcium, 

 that the dry cold of the mountains may be imitated when necessary. 

 The exposure to the sunlight should be constant, and as complete as 

 possible. Whether by this means we can raise Alpine plants, is, I 

 confess, not yet settled by experiment. I have never made such a 

 case, but hope some one may try it. 



With such instruments as these, the naturalist can at once examine 

 the growth of alpine or tropical plants ; he can, in his own study, 

 imitate the climate of Brazil and that of Mt. Washington, or, again, 

 by excluding moisture for a season, the deserts of Africa. Our own 

 summers may be lengthened, and the effect on our native plants 

 observed. 



One more adaptation to the purposes of scientific observation may 

 be suggested. As vivaria, especially for insects in the larva state, and 

 for many terrestrial and fresh-water molluscs, Wardian Cases offer 

 every facility for observation. Tropical insects, whose eggs are not 

 unfrequently transported to this country, might be reared, and of our 

 own, I have raised the Attacus I.una, the large, green, swallow-tailed 

 moth, which usually in the open air comes out of the chrysalis in June, 

 brought out the perfect insect in March, and kept it alive for more 

 than a week, a most beautiful ornament. The slugs, I am sadly sure, 

 grow well and produce young most prolifically. From one pair acci- 

 dentally introduced in some moss, I captured and killed some hun- 

 dreds, in various stages of development, from the almost invisible 

 hair-like worm just born, to those of maturer growth. 



Of our native plants, some of those which are best adapted for 

 growth in the common plant cases, are : — 



Sarracenia purpurea^ — which should be set in a vessel of water. 

 Ejngcca repens. Requires shade, and grows better when almof;t cov- 

 ered with dead pine leaves. 

 Monotropa uniJJora. 

 Aphijllon unijiorum. 

 Goodyera I'cpens, and j^vbescens. 

 Areihusa bulbosa, — whose delicate stems sometimes support three 



flowers. 

 Calopogon pulchellum. 



