358 
DOMESTIC GARDENING. 
Reseda odorata, (Mignonette.) 
Scarlet Pelargonium, Frogmore seed- 
ling, General Tom Thumb, and others 
*TROPyEOLUM MAJUS ASTROSANGUINEA, (m.) 
Siiillingii, Minus, and Aduncum. 
Verbena, many of the varieties. 
It must be remembered, that the plants are 
adapted, only for the summer season, and the 
milder portions of spring and autumn ; they 
will therefore require to be annually renewed, 
or preserved from injury during the winter 
months ; dui'ing this latter season, their place 
must be supplied by small evergreen hardy plants, 
similar to those named in the preceding list. 
MANAGEMENT OF PLANTS IN WARDIAN CASES. 
The principal peculiarity in these struc- 
tures is, that the plants, together with the 
soil in which they grow, and that portion 
of the air immediately surrounding them, are 
directly covered by a close transparent ease ; 
the object of which is to prevent any very consi- 
derable or rapid interchange between the or- 
dinary atmosphere, and that which is in contact 
with the plants, at the same time that the least 
possible obstruction is offered to the radiation 
of light, about the plants. We have already 
offered some remarks on the structure of these 
cases, as far as regards their outward appear- 
ance and effect; our present object, is to 
notice especially the general arrangements 
which affect the well-being of the plants which 
may be placed within them. 
Although the principle on which these cases 
were first constructed and applied to the cul- 
tivation of plants, was avowedly that of form- 
ing a close atmosphere, not liable to sudden 
changes and reversion, yet we cannot regard 
the idea which is apparently entertained by 
some persons, that no deviation from this rule 
is tenable and justifiable, as having any very 
strong foundation. It by no means follows, 
that because they are professedly closed up, 
under ordinary circumstances, when filled with 
plants, they may not be occasionally opened, 
for any purpose which the owners may require: 
indeed, we conceive it to be as clear as it pos- 
sibly can be, that any notion or arrangement, 
having such a tendency, would destroy a 
great portion of the interest which their pos- 
session would be likely to excite in an amateur 
cultivator. The question whether or not 
plants will continue to grow, if kept closed 
up, under these circumstances, is not by any 
means involved, science having repeatedly 
and satisfactorily answered it in the affirma- 
tive : it is only the application of the scientific 
principles involved, in such a way as to secure 
the ends he has in view, that the amateur 
cultivator has to consider. To ensure the 
most perfect success, according to the scientific 
questions involved, there is such an equable 
balance and adjustment of the agents em- 
ployed required, that, in ordinary cases, no 
other than scientific persons could be expected 
to bestow the requisite care and attention ; 
but this point having been satisfactorily settled, 
and the means being made sufficiently acces- 
sible, it is only the practical application of 
principles, and their adaptation to particular 
cases and requirements, that can have any 
interest, or be at all useful to those who cul- 
tivate a few choice flowers, as a source of ex- 
haustless gratification. So long as they find 
the means of gratification, it is malicious to 
sneer at the path they may have chosen to 
search for it in, and if they choose a success- 
ful one, it is idle to oppose them. They re- 
quire to have living and withal thriving plants, 
in their living rooms, and they are warned, 
that the atmospheric conditions required for 
their own health and comfort, are most unfa- 
vourable to such a result ; and that the only 
resource by which to secure their comfort and 
gratify their desire, is to enclose immediately 
about their plants such atmospheric conditions 
as will be suited to their existence : the re- 
searches of others into the deep things of 
science has supplied them with the informa- 
tion, that these conditions can be so far supplied, 
as to enable them to cultivate such plants as they 
may esteem, without exposing themselves either 
to inconvenience or injury; and that the re- 
quisite conditions can be fulfilled to a sufficient 
degree to secure their purpose without the 
exactitude which science itself would require: 
acting under the impulse of such information 
as this, they require their Wardian cases to 
become the repository, not the prison of their 
plants. The conclusion at which we arrive 
is, that cases constructed with a moveable 
door are decidedly preferable to those not so 
constructed, for all the purposes of the amateur; 
firstly, because he is not likely minutely to 
apportion the amount of moisture, nor attend 
to the mechanical composition of the soil, so 
as to secure the perfect working of the ap- 
paratus if kept entirely closed — whilst the 
opening case would admit of any after-regula- 
tion that might be needed ; and secondly, be- 
cause, in the event of the plants being required 
to be changed, it could be far more easily 
accomplished in the open than in the closed case. 
Whatever difference may be admitted in 
their outward construction and appearance, 
they all agree in being formed of two parts, — 
a close deep box to contain the soil, and a glass 
frame which covers the plants. The box 
should be formed of durable material, about 
one foot in depth, in order to allow sufficient 
space for a proper quantity of soil for the 
plants, and a due proportion of drainage to be 
placed beneath it; this drainage, it must be 
remembered, is of very gx*eat importance, having 
