84 FERNS IN THEIR HOMES AND OURS. 



called, is only an adaptation of the cover-glass al- 

 ways used by gardeners to protect delicate plants ; 

 and is only doing, on an enlarged and more elegant 

 scale, what our grandmothers used to do to strike 

 cuttings under a tumbler. The lovers of house- 

 plants, however, owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. 

 B. N. Ward of London, who was the first to sug- 

 gest the present in-door method of treating ferns. 



The amateur of unlimited means may order 

 from his cabinet-maker, without consideration of 

 form or price, what will be called in the bill " one 

 fernery ; " but it is only a single mechanic in the 

 hundred who will properly construct it. The usual 

 and fatal mistake in building fern-cases is to em- 

 ploy far too much woodwork, and too little glass. 

 Eastlake's favorite word for all furniture is " sin- 

 cere ; " and to the fernery this word should be 

 applied with its full force. The fernery should be 

 made for the purpose which its name implies, and 

 not to be an elegant parlor-cabinet. The simpler 

 its form, the better, so long as its proportions are 

 well chosen. All unnecessary mosque-like domes, 

 all jogs, breaks in the curves, and mouldings, 

 should be carefully avoided. It has been observed, 

 at the exhibitions of the Boston Horticultural 

 Society, that during the last five years the styles 

 of fern-cases have steadily improved. One case 

 can, however, be called to mind, that resembled a 

 child's cofiin more than any thing which could 



