390 FERNS : BEITTSH AND FOREIGN. 



advisable to close the ventilators for a short time 

 during the day. The glass case should be entirely in- 

 dependent of the soil-box, but to fit the inside, resting 

 in a groove or rabbet. The box should be about 6 in. 

 deep, and may be made of zinc, brass, or wood lined 

 with gutta-percha or zinc ; but metal of any kind in 

 contact with the earth or air in which plants are 

 grown is not genial to either their roots or foliage. 

 I have always found the plants succeed best in a 

 neatly-made wooden box lined with pitch, having 

 a small tap or cock in one corner of the bottom, for 

 letting away any excess of water ; but this will not 

 be necessary if proper attention is observed in 

 supplying the plants with a sufficient amount of 

 water at one time, which, in consequence of little or 

 no evaporation taking place, will be seldom required. 

 This knowledge can only be gained by practice ; 

 many amateurs 5 failures with Ward's cases being- 

 caused mostly by giving too copious waterings at 

 certain stated intervals. 



The height of the stand must be regulated accord- 

 ing to whether the plants are to be viewed in a 

 sitting or standing position ; for the former the 

 ordinary height of a table is a sufficient guide, and 

 for the latter a few inches higher, so that the plants 

 can be seen through the side glass rather than from 

 the top. In preparing the box for the plants, about 

 one inch of its depth should be filled with sand or 

 other drainage material, such as is already explained 

 in pot-culture but in Ward's cases this is only 

 necessary as a precaution against an over- supply of 

 water, the rest filled with soil, which should be good 

 fibry peat and silver sand, intermixed with pieces of 



