ROCKERIES, FRAMES, AND WARDIAN CASES 45 



the crown from the noonday sun. The best time for rockery 

 construction and planting Ferns is in the early spring, after a long 

 winter rest, and before the new fronds are actually rising ; at this 

 period they will stand dividing and shifting almost with impunity, 

 and with the minimum risk of damage to the growth of the coming 

 season. The next best time is the autumn, just when growth has 

 ceased. 



Frame Culture. — We have seen some very charming collections 

 of the smaller growing species in cold frames, the species being kept 

 separate. In this case, in the area of the frame, the ordinary soil 

 is excavated for a foot or eighteen inches, such soil being replaced 

 with the compost already mentioned. If, however, the local soil 

 be good garden material, a thorough digging and intermixture 

 with leaf mould, or whichever material is lacking, will suffice. Into 

 this the varieties are planted, sufficiently widely apart to permit 

 them to assume full size, and with the needful watering or exposure 

 to rain in wet spells, they will take care of themselves. The frame 

 itself should have sliding or hinged lights, and be two feet or more 

 high at back by six inches less in front, according to the species 

 to be accommodated. The length may be anything, but the width 

 should not be a hindrance to easy reach. It must be shaded from 

 hot sun but not deprived of top light. Its slope should be north- 

 ward or eastward. A thin scrim blind is advisable for use in case 

 of need. The varieties of Polypodium vulgare, Blechnum spicant, 

 and the smaller forms of the Hartstongue are peculiarly fitted for 

 frames. Serviceable pockets, or rather troughs, for seedlings may 

 be made along the sides of the frame by driving in a row of nails 

 obliquely, at an angle of forty-five degrees, upon which may be rested 

 the lower edges of the ridge slates used on roofs, which are several 

 feet long by six inches wide. Holes can easily be bored through these 

 near the upper edge, and copper wire can be passed through and 

 looped over another row of nails where necessary, suspending the 

 slates at an angle of forty-five degrees, which thus form a con- 

 tinuous trough. 



Wardian Cases. — The simple invention by Mr. Henry Ward 

 in the first half of the last century, consisting of an approximately 

 air-tight glass covering to a shallow box, capable of containing 

 plants, turned out to be one of immense importance in connection 

 with the transport of living plants from far distant parts of the 

 world with safety, and it also permitted of the culture of delicate 

 plants, demanding a constantly humid atmosphere in ordinary 

 rooms, which previously had been an impossibility. The typical 

 form of case is composed of a metal box about a yard long, half as 

 wide, and about six inches deep, provided with a rectangular glass 

 cover, with a semi-cylindrical top, with a narrow opening along the 



