CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



immediately before their breaking into blossom, 

 if their flowers be the object in view. 



POTS AND STANDS. 



Since the main object of domestic floriculture is 

 to improve the taste for what is lovely and orna- 

 mental, it should be the aim of all growers who 

 can afford the outlay to procure pots of as hand- 

 some shapes as possible. The common earthen- 

 ware pot is often very clumsily made, though not 

 of itself an inelegant object ; but others may be 

 constructed with ornamental mouldings in relief, 

 or in the form of vases, urns, and the like, which 

 add greatly to the grace of a flower-stand. Pots 

 may also be constructed of stone, of polished 

 slate, of cast-iron, wood, and the like, and in 

 highly elegant fashions, either to be set on plain 

 shelving or on ornamental stands. Elegance, 

 however, does not consist in exuberance of orna- 

 ment, and correct taste will avoid all grotesque 

 and fantastic shapes. There is an endless variety 

 of pots; some intended to afford better drainage 

 than the common sort ; others whose main object 

 is display and ornament. Whatever be their 

 form, gardeners distinguish them by numbers, 

 thus: The smallest ones are called thumb-pots; 

 the next, sixties, which are 3| inches deep, and 

 3i inches wide at top ; forty-eights are 4^ inches 

 deep, and 4^ inches wide at top ; thirty-twos are 

 5? inches deep, and 5? inches wide at top ; 

 twenty-fours, 6\ inches deep, and 6^ inches wide 

 at top ; sixteens are 8 inches deep, and y inches 

 wide at top ; twelves are 8^ inches deep, and 8^ 

 inches wide at top ; eights are 9 inches deep, and 

 9 inches wide at top ; sixes are 10 inches deep, 

 and 10 inches wide at top; fours, n inches deep, 

 and II inches wide at top ; twos, 12 inches deep, 

 and 12 inches wide at top all inside measure. 

 The actual sizes vary, however, with different 

 manufacturers. 



Stands are commonly 

 made of wood or cast-iron ; 

 but we have also seen very 

 cheap and pretty ones con- 

 structed of a wooden upright, 

 with suspension arms of 

 stout iron wire. Wooden 

 ones, with plain shelving, 

 oi circular, or semicircular, 

 or quadrantal forms, make 

 very handsome stands for 

 recesses and corners ; those 

 on single uprights, with 

 branches for the support of 

 the pots, are usually con- 

 structed of iron wire, or of 

 cast-iron painted, and are 

 best adapted for central 

 situations in lobbies and 

 drawing-rooms. It may not, 

 however, be in the power of 

 some to procure flower- 

 stands of either description ; 

 and for such, one board 

 placed in the window-recess, 

 so as to bring merely the 

 top of the first row of pots 

 within influence of the light, 

 and a second level with 

 the top of the first pane, will make no inelegant 



672 



display ; the effect of which will be heightened by 

 suspending some light pots from the lintel above, 

 containing such hanging-plants as that called 

 Humility (Linaria Cymbalaria). Pendent plants, 

 in fact, form very handsome appendages to a 

 dwelling-apartment, and no amateur should be 

 without some to grace his collection. Of these 

 may be mentioned, as worthy of adoption, Saxi- 

 fraga sarmentosa, Disandra prostrata, Indian 

 strawberry, epiphyllous Cacti, ferns, lycopodiums, 

 &c. ; and, with a little management, the prostrate 

 verbenas, lobelias, and mimuluses, the trailing 

 mesembryanthemums, with Campanula rupestris, 

 fragilis, hirsuta, and a multitude of plants which 

 resemble them in their habits. Even some 

 annuals, flowered in early spring, as Nemophila 

 maculata and insignis, create a good display when 

 suspended in pots; and many of the tender 

 creepers hereafter mentioned may be trained 

 pendent as well as erect. It must be kept in view, 

 however, that the atmosphere of a room is usually 

 too dry for such plants. 



WARD'S CASES. 



It may happen, from the vitiation of the air in 

 towns and in dwelling-apartments, or from other 

 circumstances, that it is impossible to grow the 

 plants we most wish in open pots. To remedy 

 this, a plan was many years ago devised by Mr 

 Ward, a surgeon in London, of keeping the 

 plants under close glazed frames, in which situa- 

 tion they grow and flourish in perfection. These 

 frames are generally known by the name of Ward's 

 Cases, and may be seen constructed of every 

 shape and size, according to the taste or means 

 of the grower. By aid of these, any one, whether 

 inhabiting the most humble or the most splendid 

 dwelling, provided it be freely exposed to the sun's 

 light, has it in his power to cultivate a miscellan- 

 eous collection of plants, at an expense so trifling 

 as to be within the reach of the most moderate 

 circumstances. One of these cases, of a very 

 complete structure, is represented, with its collec- 

 tion of plants, in the following figure. On the 



Fig- 5- 



Fig. 6. 



stand or table is a strong box, lined with zinc or 

 lead, and filled with well-moistened loamy soil, 

 underlaid by a thin subsoil of turfy loam, and this 

 resting on a porous stratum of gravel, or broken 

 earthenware. This composition is meant to re- 

 present a natural fertile soil, which it does to 



