808 MY FARM. 



and edges covered with bark, and embossed with 

 acorn-cups to correspond with the base. The fitting 

 is not altogether so perfect as that of a Wardian case, 

 but quite sufficient for all practical purposes. 



Throughout the summer I keep this little window- 

 garden stocked with the most brilliant of the wood 

 mosses ; a slight sprinkling once in thirty days keeps 

 them in admirable order ; and if I come upon some 

 chrysalis in the garden whose family is unknown, I 

 have only to lodge it upon my bed of mosses, and in 

 due time I have a butter-fly captive for further exam- 

 ination. As the frosts approach I throw out my 

 mosses, and re-stock my garden with fragrant violets 

 and a few ferns. These keep up a lusty garden show 

 until January, when again I change the order of my 

 captives this time incorporating a large share of 

 sand with the earth in the tray and setting in it all 

 my needed cuttings of Verbenas, of Fuchsias, and of 

 Carnations. They thrive under the glass magically ; 

 and by early March are so firm-rooted and rampant in 

 growth, that I can- pot them, for transfer to a fresh- 

 laid pit out of doors. I now amend the soil, and 

 sprinkling it with a dash of ammoniacal water, sow in 

 it the Cockscomb, Peppers, Egg-plants, and whatever 

 fastidious plants require special care, while along the 

 edges I prove my over-kept cabbage and clover seed. 

 All these make their way, and in due time come to 



