36 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



across, in a volume then recently published, the engraving of a 

 Wardian case. The description of this seemed to suit my fancy, 

 as I wished to grow some plants during the winter months, and 

 ray former efforts in that direction had not be6n attended with 

 very marked success. This seemed to promise better things, and 

 I determined to give it a trial. The case I soon constructed, in 

 the intervals of business, according to the book. This was my 

 first attempt. I have had many more elaborate and beautiful ones 

 since then, but this was the pet — the initial point, from which I 

 have received so much horticultural pleasure. 



Man}' articles have been written on this subject, by eminent 

 English cultivators within four or five years, and it is now com- 

 paratively easy for a novice to gain all the information required, 

 provided he has determination enough for au}^ undertaking that 

 will bring an occasional disappointment. But the chances of 

 failure are so small, when one has started in the right direction, 

 and the satisfaction of growing, in your own home, plants whose 

 delicate forms and beautifully marked foliage are a wonder even in 

 a gi'eenhouse, is so great that it is surprising to me that all lovers 

 of plants do not possess one of these little tropical gardens instead 

 of the long drawn, sickl}' looking plants we see at windows, as we 

 pass along our streets, that cost so much time and trouble in their 

 cultivation. A Avell grown plant of Maranta zebrina is in itself 

 a perfect picture of form and color, and the easiest thing in the 

 world to grow in a Wardian case under proper conditions. 

 Years ago there was a case with a plant of this kind in a win- 

 dow at the South End. The plant filled nearly the whole case, 

 and looked so fresh and bright on a winter morning, that it 

 always compelled me to stop and admire its beautiful foliage. 



I propose in this article, not to deal in generalities, but to give, 

 as nearly as my recollection will permit, a description of some of 

 the cases I have had, with the plants grown in them, and my 

 successes and failures during all these years, mentioning only the 

 names of plants which I have actually tested. 



I had two large windows facing the south, but a building ob- 

 scured the raj's of the sun part of the time. In the windows I 

 placed two cases, each forty inches long, by eighteen inches wide ; 

 the box was six inches doep with an inner box fitting loosely to 

 receive the soil ; an inch moulding fitted around, projecting half an 

 inch above the box, to receive the sash. The sash was on two 



