160 
WINDOW GARDENING- 
to go below 35". Their styles are so various and prices &o reasonable, that any 
one can be suited at prices of from $3 to $25. 
To any one living amid the anxieties of a troublesome parlor garden, which 
they cannot manage, there are but one or two satisfactory ways left for enjoy- 
ment. Either get a fern case, or be satisfied with a simple hanging basket. 
Tlie Wardian Case. 
The history of the Wardian or fern case, dates back to 1829, when a gentleman 
by the name of Ward, of London, first noticed, accidentally, the growth of veget\ 
Fig 40 —A Parlor Fernery 
tion under a close glass. He had laid down the chrysalis of an insect with some 
mould within a glass bottle, and covered it over. A short time afterward, as he 
describes it, " a speck or two of vegetation appeared on the surface of the mould 
and, to his surprise, turned out to be a fern and a grass. His interest was 
awakened; he placed the bottle in a favorable situation, and found that the 
plants continued to grow and maintain a healthy appearance." 
Thiewasthe first idea of the Wardian case. In 1842, Mr. Ward published 
his discovery relating to the "growth of plants in closely glazed cases," in a vol- 
ume which contained the result of his experiments in raising plants, and also the 
way he made his discovery. In 1851, the Wardian case made its first success- 
ful appearance in public, at the " Worlds Fair," and from that time to this it 
has become more gradually known and better appreciated. Very few have yet 
