426 



PLANT-HOUSES. 



bell-glass as large as the porcelain dish,) 

 " so as to prevent its evaporating into the 

 air of the sitting-room, the atmosphere 

 around the flowers would remain continu- 

 ally damp. What is the explanation of 

 this ? Do the flowers feed on the viewless 

 vapour that surrounds them? Perhaps 

 they do ; but the great cause of their 

 preserving their freshness is to be sought 

 in another fact. When flowers are brought 

 into a sitting-room, they fade because of 

 the dryness of the air. The air of a sit- 

 ting-room is usually something drier than 

 that of the garden, and always much 

 more so than that of a good greenhouse 

 or stove. Flowers, when gathered, are 

 cut off from the supply of moisture col- 

 lected for them by their roots, and their 

 mutilated stems are far from having so 

 great a power of sucking up fluids as the 

 roots have. If, then, with diminished 

 powers of feeding, they are exposed to 

 augmented perspiration, as is the case in 

 a dry sitting-room, it is evident that the 

 balance of gain, on the one hand, by 

 the roots, and of the loss, on the other 

 hand, by their whole surface, cannot be 

 maintained. The result can only be their 

 destruction. Now, to place them in a 

 damp atmosphere is to restore this ba- 

 lance, because, if their power of sucking 

 by these wounded ends is diminished, so 

 is their power of perspiring, for a damp 

 atmosphere will rob them of no water : 

 hence they maintain their freshness. 



" The only difference between plants in 

 a Ward's case and flowers in the little 

 apparatus just described, consists in this, 

 that the former is intended for plants to 

 grow in for a considerable space of time, 

 while the latter is merely for their pre- 

 servation for a few days, and that the air 

 which surrounds the flowers is always 

 charged with the same quantity of vapour 

 at all times in the dish and bell-glass, 

 while in a Ward's case the quantity of 

 vapour will vary with circumstances, and 

 at the will of him who has the manage- 

 ment of it." 



This very excellent quotation com- 

 prises all that can be usefully said on the 

 subject of preserving cut flowers in rooms, 

 and ought to be carefully studied by 

 every lady who takes pleasure in having 

 flowers in her room. We have long seen 

 expensive glass shades placed over artifi- 

 cial flowers, and over delicate specimens 



of natural history, with a view to keep 

 the dust from them, while no such pre- 

 caution was taken to preserve natural 

 flowers from the same evil, much less to 

 prolong their existence in a fresh and 

 perfect state. 



It would be of little utility for us to 

 attempt giving specimens of such appara- 

 tus ; the description given shows the 

 principle completely. We may, however, 

 remark that porcelain dishes might be 

 made with a shallow groove within their 

 rim, into which the glass shade might be 

 made to fit, both for the exclusion of air, 

 and also to prevent the evaporation from 

 the water from mixing with the air in 

 the room ; — not, however, that the small 

 quantity of aqueous matter discharged by 

 evaporation from such dishes would at 

 all affect the air of a large sitting-room ; 

 perhaps it would rather have a beneficial 

 effect, especially in winter, when large 

 fires are maintained, which, it is well 

 known, rob the air of a room of its mois- 

 ture, and render it unwholesome for the 

 inmates. 



Closely connected with Wardian cases 

 is the subject of plant tables for rooms, 

 certainly a department of drawing-room 

 furniture hitherto much neglected. The 

 following specimens may afford ideas for 

 further improvement, should they not 

 be considered sufficiently complete in 

 themselves. 



Fig. 587 is a flower-basket of wire work 

 painted green; or, still better, the bas- 

 ketwork part 

 Fi S- 587 * may be made 



of brass wire, 

 and left of its 

 natural colour. 

 It is mounted 

 upon a maho- 

 gany or oak 

 clawed pedestal 

 set on castors. 

 A shallow zinc 

 tray is placed 

 within, to pre- 

 vent the water 

 that may pass 

 through the pots from falling on the 

 carpet. This tray, like all others used 

 for the same purpose, as well as in 

 Wardian cases, should have a small 

 waste-pipe attached to the lower part of 

 its bottom, and regulated by a brass 



