WARDIAN CASES AND FERNERIES. 135 



and frequently both combined ; although the persons having them 

 in charge have strenuously denied that any more water had been 

 used than the plants required, and have insisted that they were 

 placed in a very light situation. The light situation is usually 

 quite a dark one ; generally a space between two windows, with a 

 dead wall back of it, or in a corner receiving a little light obliquely 

 from a window two or three feet distant. When the plants are 

 turned out, it is found that they have been treated as aquatics, and 

 kept fairly up to their knees in mud and water. Then people 

 wonder at their want of success. 



The Hanging Fernery was my first attempt in this direction. 

 I designed it to take the place of the hanging basket, which so sel- 

 dom appears in good condition in the home. The case was turned 

 from walnut, several pieces being glued and nailed together to get 

 the proper depth, and also to keep the wood from warping. It 

 tapered to a point at the bottom, to give lightness to its appearance. 

 A zinc pan, with a rim to receive the shade, fitted the case loosely 

 enough to be readily removed when watering was necessary. This 

 case, as first constructed, was covered with a shade eight inches in 

 diameter and ten inches high, and was suspended b}' silvered cop- 

 per wire. The case first exhibited in this hall in June, 1871, had 

 a shade twelve inches in diameter and fourteen inches high ; was 

 elaborately turned from maple and walnut, ornamented with ebony 

 trimmings, and filled with the following named plants : — Onychium 

 Japonicum, Adiantum assimile, A. cuneatum, Selaginella Wilde- 

 novH, Panicum variegatum, Fittonia Pearcei, F. argyronetira, Ly- 

 copodium dentkulatum var., and Mitchella repens, some lichens and 

 wood mosses. It was awarded the Society's Silver Medal. 



This case, when taken from the hall, was suspended in my win- 

 dow, where it received the morning sun for about an hour each 

 day, and was not disturbed again till January, excepting when it 

 was occasionally turned to the light. It was then a mass of green, 

 I noticed considerable soil on the glass, carried up by slugs in 

 their nocturnal rambles ; also some decayed fronds of the Adiantum. 

 Altogether it was as much of a success as a close case could be, 

 and would probably satisfy most people who grow plants for home 

 decoration. 



There are some plants that seem better suited to a close case 

 than to any other situation. They are confined chiefly to the L}- 

 copods and Selaginellas. Many of them are very beautiful, rivalling, 



