93 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Api.il J, 1S65. 



WINDOW GAEDENS AND AaUARIA. 



Plas^ts IK THE Aquarium. — Mr. Shirley Hib- 

 berd says that iu a large aquarium now iu his pos- 

 session he has never introduced an aquatic plant of 

 any descriptioUj and has found, as the saying is, 

 " their room better than their company." He used 

 large blocks of coke for rockwork, which, in course 

 of time, became covered with a microscopic green 

 vegetation, which he has found quite a sufficient 

 oxygen generator. His aquarium was placed in a 

 well-lighted hall, but he found that an excess of 

 light caused a too plentiful supply of the vegetation, 

 tlicrefore he drew down the blind, and it has since 

 kept within bounds, the amount of light regulating 

 the amount of vegetation. 



IviLLARNEY PEUif.— It may not be generally 

 known that there is no fern so suitable to a room 

 and so easily managed as tlie Killarney fern 

 {Ti-ichomanes radicans), formerly considered so diffi- 

 cult to propagate, and it may not be altogether 

 uninteresting to some of your readers to hear of an 

 easy way to have such an ornamental favourite 

 growing even in their bedrooms. My plan has been 

 to plant the fern iu a suitable mixture of fibrous 

 bog-mould and sand (E) on potsherds broken very 

 small, with thorough drainage in an ornamental 

 pottery vase. Instead, however, of filling the 

 whole vase with soil, I leave a margin of two inches 

 or so between the soil and the inside of the vase. 



Tliis margin should be filled up all round and to the 

 full depth of the vase with moss, cocoa-nut fibre, 

 and broken potsherds or porous stone (M). The glass 

 used should cover only the fern and the soil imme- 

 diately round its roots, and need seldom be moved, 

 all necessary moisture beiug supplied through the 

 moss, &c., which should be kept constantly wet. 

 Todea pellucida flourishes under the same treatment, 

 and is equally handsome. I subjoin a sketch of a 

 vase such as I have used.— i^. A. 



Moss CuLTUBE.— The cultivation of mosses may 

 be effected by lifting with a little care, towards the 

 end of the season, a good tuft of the species it is 

 desired to grow, and putting in a medium sized 

 flower-pot. A greater proportion of tlie drainage 

 sliould be' given than fo" other plants, and the 



tuft should be placed in immediate connection witli 

 such material as most nearly resembles that on 

 which the moss grows naturally. If a trial be made 

 of such as grow on rocks, shores, or branches of 

 trees, and some of these succeed very well, they 

 should be for a time secured to these by a piece of 

 string or some other contrivance. Those which 

 like moisture, sucli as Bartramia fontanel, Hypmtra 

 cordifolium, and Dicramim s^««r/-os«ffl, should have 

 the pots placed in saucers filled constantly with 

 water, by which means they are supplied regularly 

 with moisture. A cold frame or shaded shelf of a 

 cool greenhouse does very well for them to stand in 

 while in a growing state, and at this season such 

 should each day have a watering with a fine-rosed 

 can, regulating the supply according to the degree 

 of moisture in the surrounding atmosphere. During 

 summer, which is a period of repose to most species, 

 and when they are cast into the shade by the more 

 brilliant tints of flowering plants, the pots may be 

 placed under any shaded wall, taking the weather as 

 it comes. The only precaution necessary at this 

 time is to cover the assemblage of pots with some 

 garden netting to prevent the birds picking up tlie 

 tufts, which they are very ready to do in search of 

 insects and worms. — Robert 31. Star/c. 



An Economic Aquarium.— Any vessel that will 

 hold water may be converted into an aquarium. 

 Opaque vessels have many disadvantages, and some- 

 thing made of glass is preferred. The most ready 

 and economic glass vessels are hand-glasses or 

 propagating glasses, such as are employed by 

 gardeners. These can be had of various sizes, and 

 when inverted, with the mouth upwards, may be 

 placed on a stand of turned wood, Avhich forms a 

 base or pedestal, and may now be purchased often 

 at the same shop as the propagating glass. There 

 is no difficulty in obtaining such glasses in almost 

 any locality in Loudon, and probably in the majority 

 of our large towns. Having got your glass home, 

 cover the bottom for an inch or two in depth, 

 according to its size, with clean river sand. Tliis is 

 the soil required for your plants, that is, if your 

 plants are such as require soil at all. Set your plants, 

 cover the sand all over with a layer of small pebbles 

 for another inch in depth, and then add the water, 

 pipe water, cistern water, river Avater, rain water, 

 or, if it must be, pump water. The latter is least to 

 be recommended. Add the water gently. Let it 

 trickle down the side of the vessel so as not to dis- 

 turb the soil at the bottom, and at the same time 

 become aerated. The glass being filled as high as 

 you desire, let it rest until your plants are settled 

 and promise growth, when you may commence 

 stocking it M'ith animal life. What plants ? what 

 animals ? We will study to answer on a future 

 occasion. 



