1851 Great Exhibition: Official Catalogue: Class X.: N. B. Ward
664. WARD, N. B., Clapham Rise — Inventor.
Closed cases, by which plants may be grown in any locality, even in the centre of the most crowded cities, or conveyed from one country to another with complete success.
The use of these cases was first suggested to the inventor in the summer of 1829. For many years previous, he had endeavoured, by a most careful imitation of their natural conditions, to grow various plants, particularly ferns and mosses, at the back of his house in Wellclose Square, a locality surrounded by numerous manufactories, and constantly enveloped in their smoke. Vain was the attempt; the plants perished. New light and fresh impetus were given by the following incident.
Wishing to obtain a perfect specimen of a sphinx, he had buried its chrysalis in some moist mould in a bottle covered with a lid. Two or three days before the insect assumed its perfect form, a seedling fern and a grass made their appearance on the surface of the mould. In this condition all their wants were supplied. They had sufficient light; whilst the lid, at the same time that it excluded the noxious soot, prevented the escape of the moisture. The law which enforces the diffusion of gases secured a constant circulation of the air, and its quiescent state enabled the plants to bear variations of temperature, which in open exposure would have proved injurious. Various experiments carried on with hundreds of plants, and extending over several years, established the conclusion, which has been fully carried out by the results,— that all plants whose natural conditions can be fulfilled, can be grown in these cases in any locality, even in the centre of the most crowded cities, or conveyed from one country to another with complete success. The importance of duly and properly supplying the wants of the plants cannot be too strongly impressed upon the mind of the experimenter, so numerous have been the failures arising from want of thought or of knowledge in the attempts to associate plants of different habits. Many plants require very little light, but need constant moisture and a pure atmosphere, such as the Trichoinanes specio6um and Oxalis acetosella. Others require a large amount of solar light to bring them to perfection.
In June, 1833, the first experimental cases were filled with plants, furnished by Messrs. Loddiges, and sent to Sydney under the care of Capt. Mallard. Placed on the deck of his ship, fostered with a genial atmosphere, fed with proper food, and protected alike from the noxious effects of salt spray and dust, they arrived in perfect health at Sydney, in January 1834. The cases were refilled at Sydney in February, the thermometer then being between 90° and 100° Fahr., and in their passage to England encountered very varying temperatures. The thermometer fell to 20° in rounding Cape Horn, and the decks were a foot deep in snow. At Rio Janeiro, the temperature rose to 100°, and in crossing the line to 120°. In November, after an eight months' voyage, they arrived in the British Channel, the thermometer having fallen to 40°. The plants were in the most vigorous condition, and the beautiful appearance of the fronds of Gleichenia microphylla, then, for the first time, seen alive in Europe, created great surprise. Since 1834, the use of these cases in the transportation of plants has become universal. Col. Reid, whilst governor of Bermuda, made use of them in procuring plants to stock the Bermuda Islands. These were made light enough for two sailors to carry by hand. Double addresses were painted on the boxes, and they were perpetually travelling by sea between different countries, by which their vegetable productions were exchanged.
Mr. Fortune, who was sent out to China with glazed cases by the Horticultural Society, comparing the old and new methods of conveying plants, says that, "in a paper communicated by Mr. Livingstone, of Macao, and published in the Transactions of the Horticultural Society, vol. iii., it is stated, that then only one plant in a thousand survived the voyage from China to England." Mr. Fortune put 250 plants into the cases, and landed 215 in good condition.
The same principle is applicable to the animal kingdom — even to man. For several years gold and silver fish have been the constant inhabitants of the inventor's fern house, and during his residence in Wellclose Square, they lived and flourished in an earthern vessel, containing about 20 gallons of water, which was never changed, but kept sweet by the aquatic plants growing in it. A robin was likewise an inmate for six months. The same pure and properly-moistened atmosphere which favoured the growth of the most delicate plants in the heart of the most crowded cities would be of incalculable advantage in numerous diseases.