Mr, Ward's Plant-Cases. 377 



one place to another in the same country. Without explaining 

 the chemical principles on which the plan is founded, it will 

 be enough to give the following ideas concerning it, and the 

 method in which it may be most easily practiced. We quote 

 from Newman's Ferns, and from The Gardener's Magazine* 



" The plan depends," says Mr. Newman, " primarily and 

 fundamentally, on protecting the plants from too free commu- 

 nication with the outer air. This end is obtained by the use 

 of glass ; the light so essential to vegetation being thus freely 

 admitted. The most ready way to try the experiment, is, to 

 procure a glass vessel — for instance, one of those jars used by 

 druggists and confectioners ; introduce some soft sandstone or 

 some light soil, filling one-sixth of the jar with it, and taking 

 care that the earth is very moist, yet allowing no water to settle 

 at the bottom of the jar ; plant a fern in the earth, and then 

 cover the jar with its glass lid, first supplying a slip of wash- 

 leather round the rim of the jar, which will pretty nearly cut 

 off the communication between the internal and external air. 

 No farther attention will be required. The fern will live, 

 thrive, and probably seed, the seed also vegetating, and at last 

 the jar will become too small for its contents. No watering is 

 needed ; the moisture in the earth will exhale, condense on 

 the glass, trickle down its sides, and return to the earth whence 

 it arose. 



" There is no limit to the application of this principle. In- 

 stead of a jar, it is easy to construct, in the window-sill, a box 

 extending through its entire length, the bottom and sides being 

 lined with zinc, to prevent the moisture from damaging the 

 adjoining wood-work ; then let the window be a double one, 

 leaving a space of six or twelve inches between the inner and 

 outer glass. The ferns so planted in the box — which should 

 contain a depth of five t>r six inches of light sandy earth — will 

 soon fill up the space between the two windows, supplying the 

 most beautiful curtain or blind that could be invented. The 

 plants need not be ferns exclusively. Roses, Fuchsias, &c. 

 would also thrive ; but it must be always borne in mind, that 

 plants requiring a humid atmosphere, should not be enclosed 

 with those which prefer aridity. Of course, the upper sash 

 alone must be made moveable." 



