134 Bibliographical Notices. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases. By N. B. Ward, 

 F.R.S., F.L.S. Second edition. Pp. 143. London : Van Voorst, 

 1852. 



Mr. Ward's cases for the growth of plants in situations naturally 

 unfavourable for their development are too well knowni to require 

 description. They take the place of the old mignionette-box on the 

 window-sill, enabling their owner to grow plants which under other 

 circumstances he could never have dreamt of. They serve as elegant 

 ornaments in the drawing-room ; they furnish the suburban horticul- 

 turist wth a ready means of striking cuttings and protecting tender 

 plants during the winter ; in fact, to a certain extent they render 

 those luxuries of the rich — the greenhouse and conservatory — access- 

 ible to every one who can afford to lay out a few shillings with that 

 object. But there is another class to whom these cases are of still 

 more value — y^t allude to those numerous botanists whose avocations 

 necessitate their constant residence in one or other of our great cities, 

 and who, though no way behind their country brothers in their ad- 

 miration for nature aud zeal for science, have yet but few opportu- 

 nities of observing growing plants, except perhaps during their annual 

 holiday, or on an occasional hebdomadal excursion. To such these 

 cases are invaluable, — enabling them to have constantly under their 

 eyes, during the whole course of its development, almost any plant 

 that they may wish to study. They are especially useful in growing 

 ferns, many species which are perfectly intractable under other treat- 

 ment flourishing in them luxuriantly. Nor is it in many cases 

 necessary for botanical purposes to go to any great expense — a wide- 

 mouthed bottle furnished with a cover will sen'e to grow many plants 

 as well as the most elegant case. 



Another purpose for which these cases are employed, and by no 

 means the least important of their applications, is the transport of 

 living plants to and from distant regions. By their means a long sea 

 voyage becomes a much less serious matter than formerly, and many 

 plants will now no doubt reach our hothouses which have hitherto 

 baffled the ingenuity of collectors. 



In the elegant little book, whose title stands at the head of this 

 notice, Mr. Ward lays before the public a statement of what has 

 been and may be done by the development of the principles on which 

 his cases are constructed. His work is di\'ided into six chapters, of 

 which the first is devoted to the consideration of the conditions ne- 

 cessary to the growth of plants in a state of nature — the second treats 

 of the influences which produce a prej udicial effect upon Aegetable 

 life in large towns — the third contains an account of the mode in 

 which the author was led to the discovery of the principle on which 

 his closed cases are constructed, with many interesting details con- 

 nected with the practical working of the principle — the fourth chapter 

 points out the utility of the closed cases for the conveyance of plants 

 on shipboard — the fifth the enjoyment offered by the closed cases to 



