342 On the Growth of Plants without exposure to open Air. [April 



the same case, fully exposed to the south, these very plants come up 

 from seed, and flower very well. 



To sum up all, in every place where there is light, even in the centre 

 of the most crowded and smoky cities, plants of almost every family may 

 be grown, and particularly those which have heretofore been found the 

 most difficult to cultivate. I have now, in a wide-mouthed bottle, sim- 

 ply and loosely covered with a tin lid, the following plants \—Hymeno- 

 phyllum Tunbridgense and Wilsoni, Trichomanes brevisetum, Hookeria 

 lucens, and other Mosses, Jwngermannia juniperina and replans, &c. 

 &rc. These plants have been inclosed for twelve months, and are grow- 

 ing most vigorously, although they have not once been watered during 

 that period. In my other cases, the Ferns, Palms, Orchideag, Grasses, 

 many Monocotyledonous plants belonging to the families of Scitami* 

 new, Bromeliacece, &c. &c grow very well ; while, on the contrary, the 

 continued humid state of the atmosphere is unfavourable to the develop- 

 ment of the flowers of most of the Exogenous plants, excepting those 

 which naturally grow in moist and shady situations, the Linncea borea- 

 lis, for instance, which I have had for more than two years, and which 

 flowered twice last year in a situation where, without my protecting 

 cases, the London Pride (Saxifraga umbrosa) ceases to exist after 

 twelve or eighteen months. 



This method will, I believe, assist the physiological Botanist in solv- 

 ing some points of great importance, connected with vegetation in gene- 

 ral, such as the agency of various soils, the quantum of air necessary 

 for the development of various tribes of plants," &c. &c. ; and I shall be 

 delighted in seeing the subject taken up by those, who, with far greater 

 knowledge than I possess, have likewise better opportunities of prose- 

 cuting these interesting inquiries. Occupied, as I have unceasingly 

 been for the last twenty years, with the harassing details of general 

 medical practice, and living constantly in town, I find it impossible to 

 do all that I wish, nor could I have gone on thus far, but for the un- 

 bounded liberality of Messrs. Loddiges, who from their ample stores, 

 have most kindly furnished me with every plant I desired for the pur- 

 poses of experiment. 



I come now to the most important application of the above facts : 

 that of the conveyance of plants upon long voyages. Reflecting upon 

 the causes of the failure attending such conveyance, arising chiefly from 

 deficiency or redundancy of water, from the spray of the sea, or from the 

 want of light in protecting them from the spray, it. was, of course, evident 

 that my new method offered a ready means of obviating all these diffi- 

 culties, and in the beginning of June, 1833, I filled two cases with 

 Ferns, Grasses, &c, and sent them to Sydney under the care of my zea- 

 lous friend, Captain Mallard, copies of whose letters 1 have enclosed. 



