•112 



THE CRYPTOGAMIC STOVE. 



verse ; and as our kno^vledge of these matters is still so limited, we must 

 content oui'selves with their loss, and endeavour to rest satisfied vrith the 

 enjoyment of those that will submit to culture until experience teaches 

 us how to overcome such difficulties. 



Mr. Vrard, of AVell-Close Square, of whom we have already m^de 

 mention, has succeeded even in what we should naturally call the worst 

 of all localities, the centre of the city of London, in growing many species 

 of ferns in a superior manner, and amongst them several that had hitherto 

 baffled all the care, convenience, and skill of the gardener. ^Ir. Ward's 

 success appears to depend on growing them in air-tight cases, suffering 

 the moisture which their pores exude to be absorbed again by the roots, 

 ^vhile at the same time they are preserved from external injuries and sud- 

 den changes of temperature. How long plants may be found to submit 

 to this mode of culture we know not, but one fact is pretty well established 

 — that plants have been imported fi'om New Holland in such cases 

 that never before reached Europe alive. Mr. Ward has not yet made 

 public the principles of his theoiy, which would be most valuable were 

 they generally known ; he has, however, always shown the greatest libe- 

 rality and kindness to cultivators and botanists, by allowing them to see 

 his curious collection. 



A somewhat similar practice has been long in use amongst cultivators, 

 but from being a common-place matter has perhaps been less attended to 

 than ought to have been the case. \Miat we allude to is the practice of 

 placing a hand-glass or large bell-glass over certain plants in the stove, 

 such disDioncea muscijJida^HymnophyUum, and Trichomanes, of which latter 

 our esteemed fiiend Mr. ]Mackay, of DubUn, in his excellent i^ora Hibeniica, 

 says he cultivates to perfection by placing the pot in which it is planted 

 in the greenhouse under one of these glasses, which, in fact, is placing 

 them in a position analogous to that of being under one of ]Mr. Ward's 

 cases. 



These opinions, for which we entertain the highest regard, confirm 

 us in a long-entertained idea, that the atmosphere of a fern-house 

 requii'cs to be kept moist, warm, and as little acted upon by atmospheric 

 changes as possible. These conditions being complied with, soil and all 

 other species of nouiishment are only secondaiy considerations. 



