.1860.1 
Q77 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Fig. 1. 
Wardian Cases, or Parlor Conservatories. 
Now that the season is approaching when all 
lovers of flowers will be forming plans for deco¬ 
rating their houses in Winter with plants, we 
thinlc we can serve our readers no better than 
by a few words about Ward Cases. “Ward 
Cases 1” And what are theyl inquire some of 
our readers. They are small glass cases for 
growing plants in rooms. 
All persons who have tried to cultivate plants 
in their stove and furnace heated dwellings, know 
full well how difficult it is to grow them with 
perfect success. Often the leaves dry up, or turn 
yellow and fall off; whatever growth is made, is 
apt to be weak and spindling, the leaves become 
coated with dust, insects abound, and blossoms 
are few and far between. To one who delights 
to see vegetation in its perfectly healthy state, 
the result is far from satisfactory. 
Many methods have been devised to obviate 
these difficulties, as frequent sprinkling of the 
plants, sponging the foliage, fumigating to kill the 
insects, etc., but these devices furnish only a par¬ 
tial remedy. The tobacco smoke sets my lady 
into a terrible fit of coughing, and the sprinkling 
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Fig. 2. 
hurts her carpet and window curtains and wall 
paper ; and then, after all the trouble, the plants 
don’t thrive as well as could be desired. 
By a seeming accident, a plan was discovered 
several years ago, by which nearly all of these 
evils can be remedied. Mr. N. B. Ward, an 
amateur cultivator in London, having placed the 
chrysalis of a sphinx in a 
large bottle, together with a 
little moist soil and a tiny 
plant for the insect to feed 
on, the insect on which he 
wished to experiment died, 
but the plant grew, and in 
such perfection of health and 
beauty, that Mr. Ward was 
led to inquire whether a 
larger plant might not grow 
in a larger bottle or covered 
vase. The experiment suc¬ 
ceeded perfectly. From this, 
he preceded to make a glass 
box or case, or miniature 
conservatory, six feet long 
and four feet high and wide, 
and this he filled with plants. 
Nor was he any the less suc¬ 
cessful, though he found that 
all plants did not flourish 
with equal health. 
A simple form of the 
Wardian Case may be seen 
in Fig. 2. The cases may be 
made in a very plain and 
cheap style like this, or in 
more expensive ones, like the 
other sketches here given. One made after the 
pattern (fig. 2), may be constructed as follows: Let 
its length be equal to the width of the window 
before which you intend to place it. Make a 
wooden box for the bottom, like a common sink, 
about six inches deep, and line it with zinc. It 
should have a hole in the floor, with a plug in it, 
to drain off sur¬ 
plus water. At 
each corner of 
this box, an up¬ 
right post two 
inches square 
is framed in, 
with similar 
pieces support¬ 
ed by them at 
the top, thus 
making a square 
frame. The 
sides and roof, 
made like com- 
m o n window 
sash, are then 
fitted into this 
frame. A small section of the rodf, also of the 
sides, is made to open for ventilation, and for put¬ 
ting in and taking out plants. The frame is to be 
well painted inside and out. The corner posts are 
fitted at the bottom with heavy castors, for con¬ 
venience in moving the case about the room. 
The box should be raised above the floor high 
enough to allow the light from the window to fall 
upon the soil in the pots. 
Any carpenter can make such a conservatory. 
So too, one can go further if he choose, and 
make it an elegant article of furniture. He may 
have a little Crystal Palace within doors. He 
may fit up the sides with shelves, and suspend 
baskets on wires from the roof for growing or¬ 
chids and various trailing plants. He may divide 
it into separate apartments, for different kinds 
of plants. Fig. 1 will very well illustrate our 
ideas. The Dwarf Palm (Chamatrops humilis ) from 
Southern Europe, has the post of honor in the 
center, with a trailing plant in the wire basket 
hanging from the dome. The wings may be 
filled with ferns and lycopods, and other plants 
Fig. 4. 
of which we will soon speak. The ferns and ly¬ 
copods succeed admirably in Ward Cases, but 
other plants do very well. Among those which 
seem very much at 
home, we mention : 
Azalea ovata, Ce- 
reus crenatus, Abe- 
Iia floribunda, Sta- 
tice Wildenovii, A- 
lona corlestis, A- 
nemone nemorosa, 
Dentaria bulbifaria, 
Achimines longiflo- 
ra, Cypripedium in- 
signe, Stanhopea 
grandiflora, Dendro- 
bium speciosum, D. 
cupreum, and others. Besides these which are 
specially adapted to the cases, the more common 
house-plants can be grown in them, if a little 
more care is given to ventilation and avoiding ex¬ 
cess of moisture. Geraniums, roses, verbenas, pe¬ 
tunias, camellias, 
fuchsias, and so 
on, grow in these 
cases in a perfec¬ 
tion of beauty un¬ 
known elsewhere. 
The inexperi¬ 
enced cultivator 
will, at first, be 
troubled with the 
dew settling on 
the inside of the 
glass and obscur¬ 
ing the view of 
the plants. To 
prevent this, the 
room should be 
kept at a uniform 
temperature, and 
pens, open the 
Fig. 5. 
it hap 
the air 
to obviate it when 
door of the case until 
within becomes heated like that of the parlor. If 
the plants are well watered when they are put 
into the case, they will not need watering again 
for many weeks, nor even months, unless the 
door is often opened. The moisture which 
evaporates, is returned again to the soil. 
A very happy application of this principle has 
been made in the manufacture of ladies’ plant 
cases for the parlor or bedroom. These are simply 
a stand made in the form of a vase, if you please, 
and covered with a large hell glass fitted into a 
groove on the upper rim of the vase. The Figs. 
3, 4 and 5, taken from an English work, Mc¬ 
Intosh's “Book of the Garden,” will explain what 
we mean. Some of these, we presume, might be 
obtained at the stores in our principal cities. 
The whole matter is now before our readers, 
so far as it is needful for their present informa 
tion. With a small and cheap case, made by any 
one handy with a few tools, many experiments 
might easily be tried the coming Winter ; and 
we feel sure they would afford great satisfaction. 
--» --igo n" —- -- 
Bleat Window Curtains. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
Is there any necesity to have things ugly be¬ 
cause they must needs be cheap 1 Now in the 
matter of window curtains I am sure our country 
cousins only need a hint or two on the subject to 
bring about an entire change in the domestic 
economy of their hangings. 
Must they be calico 1 then let the pattern be a 
small stripe of a faint brown or other neutral 
coioi ; now get two or three yards of a calico 
with six or eight bright stripes in the breadth ; cut 
