356 FERNS: BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 



: 



advisable to close the ventilators for a short tim 

 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 noti 

 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 ; 1 

 many amateurs' failures with Ward's cases being ; 

 caused mostly by giving too copious waterings atj 

 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 j 

 can be seen through the side glass rather than from 

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

 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 j 

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

 fibry peat and silver sand, intermixed with pieces of j 



