October 20, 1870. ] 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



298 









WEEKLY 



CALENDAR. 















Dav 

 of 



Month 



Day 



of 



Week. 



OCTOBER 20—23, 1870. 



Average Tempera- 

 ture near Loudon. 



Rain in 



last 

 43 years. 



Sun 

 Rises. 



Sun 



Sets. 



Moon 

 Rises. 



Moon 

 Sets. 



Moon's 

 Age. 



Clock 

 after 

 Sun. 



Day 



of 



Year. 



20 

 21 

 22 

 23 

 24 

 25 

 26 



Th 



F 



S 



Sun 



M 



Tu 



W 



Length of night 13h. 86m. 



19 Sunday after Trinity. 

 Twilight ends 6h. 40m. p.m. 



Day. 

 59.0 

 58.4 

 58 9 

 58.2 

 56-S 

 55.9 

 55.6 



Night. 

 89.2 

 89.5 

 42.4 

 39.8 

 89.6 

 38.5 

 88.5 



Mean. 

 49.1 

 49.0 

 5'J.6 

 49.0 

 47.9 

 47.2 

 46.1 



Days. 

 20 

 18 

 28 

 2S 

 20 

 21 

 18 



m. h. 

 32af6 

 34 6 

 36 6 

 88 6 

 40 6 

 42 6 

 44 6 



m. h. m. h 



56 af 4 ] 29 af 

 54 4 , 46 1 

 52 4 9 3 

 50 4 ! 31 4 



47 4 1 58 4 

 45 4 25 7 



1 43 4 53 8 



m. h. 

 3-<af 3 

 4 4 

 27 4 

 48 4 

 IS 5 

 39 5 

 10 6 



Days. 

 25 

 26 

 27 

 28 



9 



l 



2 



m. s. 

 15 8 

 15 17 

 15 26 

 15 85 

 15 42 

 15 49 

 15 55 



293 

 294 

 295 

 296 

 297 

 298 

 299 



From observations taken near London during the last forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 57.5°, and its night 

 temperature 39.6°. The greatest heat was 69°, on the 22nd, 1863 ; and the lowest cold 17°, on the 23rd, 1859. The greatest fall of rain was 

 0.96 inoh. 



FERN CASES. 



VERYONE desires to gratify his or her taste 

 for plants, and in their cultivation finds 

 employment, instruction, and health. In- ! 

 calculable as are the benefits of the soil and 

 vegetation to man, all cannot engage in the 

 extensive culture of plants, but all may de- ' 

 rive enjoyment from an individual plant. 

 In the green of Nature the eye finds repose. 

 To have a green thing with life is a joy to 

 eye and mind. White, blue, and red dazzle, 

 but fail to relieve. All colours we may imitate, but we 

 fail to produce the live green hues of Nature. No colour 

 is so pleasing. These ideas may not find an echo in the 

 country or garden, but what is that we hear from the 

 town? In the sumptuous palace in the square, and through 

 all the villas, terraces, roads, streets, and lanes, down to 

 the dark and gloomy court and alley from which the sun's 

 life-giving rays have long been shut out — is there no 

 cry there? I trow there is, and it is one that calls for 

 the matchless living green of plants. All the paintings in 

 the world cannot satisfy the eye like the living flowers 

 with their many colours and green ground in beautiful 

 relief. Man may keep the plant in health by affording 

 it soil suited for its roots to spread in, and to give support 

 to the leaves and stems ; he can water it, keep it from 

 suffering the injurious effects of an atmosphere which is 

 too hot. too cold, too dry, or too moist, and yet he may 

 not go beyond. It is of this that I wish to say something, 

 knowing, as I do, from an apprenticeship served to grow- 

 ing plants in the midst of smoke, dust, and din, the esti- 

 mation in which they are held by dwellers in towns. In 

 every house and in every place there are those with a 

 love for plants, be they master, mistress, son, daughter, 

 man or maidservant. I might go further, and say what 

 there is where no plant nor flower ever comes, but I shall 

 draw a veil over it. 



We know that dwellings are at the best not good places to 

 grow plants in ; the atmosphere is too dry, there are dust, 

 obnoxious vapours, currents of ah', and the temperature 

 is not always what it should be. Then some dwellings 

 have no windows with south, east, or west aspects, all look 

 to the cold bleak north. Sometimes, owing to surround- 

 ing buildings, little or no sun shines on the houses of those 

 fond of plants. Besides this, there are positions where it 

 is impracticable to grow any but a certain class of, plants ; 

 I allude to cold rooms, staircases, and landings, Happily 

 we have plants suited to every position. Flowering plants 

 require light, indeed sun, but there are also plants which 

 in the elegance of their forms and the beauty of their 

 foliage amply compensate for the loss of flowers. Of all 

 plants for rooms Ferns are the most suitable. Not that 

 they endure better than flowering plants a dry, dusty at- 

 mosphere uneven in temperature — quite the reverse ; but 

 they may be cultivated in a way that would be destructive 

 to plants that require sun and a genial atmosphere for 

 their proper development and flowering. Ferns, as we all 

 know, delight in a moist soil and atmosphere, with partial 

 Mo 492.— Vol. SIX. New Series. 



shade. Of the latter they have enough in rooms, often 

 too much, and the former we have to provide. The only 

 method in which we can give them moisture is by covering 

 them with glass. This is done in a variety of ways, or rather 

 with a great variety of forms in the material used ; the form 

 is a matter of little consequence, though appearance is of 

 consequence in rooms where there is any pretence to ele- 

 gance in the furniture. Individual taste differs considerably, 

 and so do Fern cases, so that all can be gratified. 



The requisites of a Fern case are — 1st, The case should 

 be deep enough to allow of a proper thickness of soil, 

 which in the smallest ought not to be less than 3 inches, 

 nor in any need it exceed (i inches. 2nd, In addition to 

 depth for soil there ought to be room for drainage, or an 

 open space beneath the soil. The tray, then, should have 

 a bottom of zinc pierced with holes to allow of water 

 running through, and a space of not less than an inch 

 between that and the bottom proper, which, of course, 

 should be water-tight. It is desirable that this receptacle 

 of drainage water should have an outlet, but secured with 

 a screw-plug, so that it can have the water run off at will. 

 3rd, The case should have a shade of glass closely fitting 

 into the tray or outside it, and sufficiently high for the 

 development of the plant's leaves or fronds. A height of 

 18 inches is sufficient, and it ought not to be less than 

 13 inches. It should be made so as to lift off entire, which 

 is best for small cases, and there ought to be holes in the 

 top. One will suffice for, say, a small case of a foot hi 

 diameter ; for one IS inches in diameter three are not too 

 many. The holes need not be more than half an inch 

 wide. If the glass top be fixed, then one or, better, both 

 ends should be contrived for opening, being hinged, and 

 made tight-fitting. At the top there should be a sort of 

 brass network its entire length, and about an inch wide. 

 The above is all that I consider is required for the cultiva- 

 tion of the plants. The design may vary according to taste, 

 and yet it must not be carried out at the expense of 

 diminishing the glass — light is required on all sides. 



In preparing the tray for the reception of the plants 

 we put in the loose perforated bottom which is to form 

 the upper part of the cavity for superfluous water, and, to 

 keep the perforations free, put on it about an inch of loose 

 material. Gravel or stones, between the sizes of peas and 

 hazel nuts, or larger, will do well, but are too heavy. 

 Cinders answer well after being washed, cocoa-nut fibre 

 is also suitable ; but nothing is equal to pieces of charcoal, 

 the smallest size being as large as peas, and the largest 

 of the size of a cob nut. This material having been put 

 on to the depth of three-quarters of an inch or an inch, 

 we are ready for the soil. The soil most suitable is sandy 

 brown fibrous peat two parts, one part fibrous yellow loam, 

 one part silver sand, and one part sandstone of the same 

 size as the charcoal, but with the finer particles not sifted 

 out, but mixed with the soil. These ingredients having 

 been well mixed, chopped, and made small, but not sifted, 

 put them in the tray, raising it slightly in the centre, but 

 not very much ; 1 inch rise in 6 is ample. In case the 

 above compost cannot be procured, one almost as suitable 

 is made of old cocoa-nut refuse, with the addition of a 



No. 1151.— Yoi.XLIV., Old Series. 



