208 Culture of Plants in Glass Cases. 



of the lid. I have repeated this experiment, with uniform suc- 

 cess, upon more than sixty species of ferns belonging to the fol- 

 lowing genera : — ^splenium, Aspidium, ^diantum, i?lechnum, 

 Cheilanthes, Davallm, Dickson/a, Dood/a, Grammltis, Hymeno- 

 phyllum, Lycopodium, Nephrodium, Niphobolus, Polypodium, 

 Pteris, and Xrichomanes. Various other plants, vascular as 

 well as cellular, and more particularly those which delight in 

 humid situations, succeed as well as the ferns. Among others 

 may be enumerated : — O'xalis Acetosella, Jnemone nemorosa, 

 Dentaria bulbifera, Paris quadrifolia, Veronica montana, Listera 

 (Neottia) Nidus avis, &c. The method of proceeding is very 

 simple. The ferns, &c, may be planted in boxes of any size or 

 shape, furnished with glazed sides and a glazed lid. The bottom of 

 the box should be filled with nearly equal portions of bog moss, 

 vegetable mould, and sand ; and the ferns, after planting, should 

 be most copiously watered, and the superfluous water allowed to 

 drain off through a plughole in the bottom of the box: the plug 

 is then to be put in tight, the glazed lid applied, and no farther 

 care is requisite than that of keeping the box in the light. In 

 this way many plants will grow for years, without requiring any 

 fresh supply of water. It is scarcely necessary to point out the 

 advantages which this plan (subject to some modifications, ac- 

 cording to the nature of the enclosed plants) offers to the horti- 

 culturist, and to the physiological botanist. To the one, it 

 furnishes a ready mode of importing most plants, without risk, 

 from the most distant regions of the globe ; and, to the other, the 

 opportunity of making more accurate experiments than have 

 hitherto been practicable, on many important points connected 

 with vegetable economy; such as on the germination of seeds, and 

 the developement of plants in various kinds of air and soil, &c. : 

 but upon this part of my subject I need not here enlarge. The 

 numerous experiments I have already made have, I think, 

 established one important fact, that the air of London, when 

 freed from adventitious matter, is as fitted to support vegetable 

 life as the air of the country. I cannot conclude this short 

 account without expressing my warmest acknowledgments to the 

 Messrs. Loddiges, who have at all times furnished me with every 

 plant I required from their invaluable collection. 



Wellclose Square, London, N. B. Ward. 



March 6. 1834. 



We have before (p. 163.) suggested that miniature conservatories might be 

 constructed and managed in rooms, in the same manner as Mr. Wood con- 

 structs and manages his glazed cases for ferns. A little farther consideration 

 will convince any one, that even large green-houses and conservatories might 

 be constructed in the smoky air of London, on the same principle ; and kept 

 free from the grosser impurities of the atmosphere, by causing all the air which 

 should enter them to filter through fine cloth. The purity of the ah* in living- 

 rooms might also be increased by filtration. — Cond* 



