WINDOW GARDENING. 
177 
▼ass ; the bowl is filled with the proper soil, and its surface is covered with 
moss. In the centre is a nicely shaped plant of ihQ Maiden Ilair Fern, whose 
appearance gives a delightfully cool and refreshing feeling in the room. A very- 
pretty effect couM be produced by inserting little tubes of glass or tin (such as 
are used for holding cut flowers,) in the soil here and there among the mogs, 
then filling with water and inserting at intervals clipped blossoms of some of 
your winter blooming flowers, Geraniums, Roses, Fuchsias, &c., or perhaps a 
clipped blossom from your climbing vines. Arranged any way it is in fact a 
beautiful object for the drawing room or conservatory. 
In Fig. 39, is shown a most charming fernery, the 
property of Mrs. Shirley Ilibberd, at Stoke Newington, 
London, England. This conservator}-^ was located where 
sunslune was excluded on account of neighboring build- 
ings and large trees, and a fern house was constructed. 
Rockeries were built up on two sides of the house, and 
in the crevices were planted ferns and lycopodiums. The 
floor was covered with neat tiles, and with the naturally 
graceful character of the plant the conservatory was pe- 
culiarly ornamented The rookeries were made almost ^i 
enfirelj' of big blocks of peat, and on the top near the 
glass were planted a few Sedums, Sempervivums, and fi-. op. 
other succulent plants. Mr. Ilibberd, in his description of the fernery, in his 
volume " Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste," states that for tlie past 
twelve years about a hundred and fifty species and varieties have thriven here 
making summer all the year round in their perennial greenness. 
The finest selections of ferns, as recommended by him 
for such a house, are iheAdiantums, Asplenmm, Adian- 
tum nigrum, Athyrium, f.f., A. f. f crispa, Gymno- 
gramma lepfophylln, Boodias, Scolopendriums, V/ood- 
wardia radicans, Eqtiisetum, Sylvnticum, and Selaginellas. 
Water was given daily during the warm weather; 
in spring and autumn, twice a week was sufficient, and in 
winter once in two or three weeks The plants must, 
however, never be left to get dry. 
Miss INIaling, an English lady writer on indoor plants, 
has invented a case (Fig. 42) which contains room for 
a hot water apparatus in the zinc pan. Her princi- 
ple is to supply a cool or a heated end in the fern case, according to the necessities 
of the plants. " Hardy or greenhouse plants last long in flower at one end in 
the cool temperature ; stove plants and forced flowers come on beautifully m 
the heated part. If all your plants in the case are hardy, then use no heat. If 
our ferns or flowers, though not wanting heat speciallj', should damp off; we 
give heat just for a time to change the air entirely. At ten minutes notice tha 
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