The Potter journal. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1857-1872, 1858-05-13

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the subject, namely, house ornamentation,
by adopting therein and thereabouts Ma
lures elegancies ready-made.
i Plants, flowers, grasses, MOSES, ferns,
are ornaments ready-made, which God
gives US for the picking up, and which It
lis inexcusable to negleet-which may be
20 distributed about our households as to
be a constant suggestion to rs Of the in
iexhaust;ble freshness and beauty Of or
Fathers works.
We have seen with delight, and many
others beside us may have coveted those
splendid parlor gardens, in which hot
house plants, arranged undera glass shade,
grow and flourish without giving to any
body the care Of catering or tending
But these charming arrangements range
at price between twenty-five and fifty
dollars, and are therefore wholly out Of
proportion to the means Of those in hum
bic and moderate circumstances.
But when we turn away with a sigh,
let us ask after all--Are there no wild
MOSES, no tiny vines, no grasses in the
neighboring marsh or field, which we
might combine together under glass of a
less expensive construction, and realize
/ all the pleasures Of these more costly ar
Judgements? The feathery lycopodium
tof the greenhouse is trodden under foot
as a common moss in Italy, and we have
many Il moss and wild vine whose effect
/ IS quite as beautiful. \ lady of our ac-
Iquaintance has, in her parlor, u plain glass
case, opening with hinged lid, some
what like milliner's Show case. The
bottom of this has ziuc pan about three
inches deep, and in this receptacle grow
and flourish ferns, MOSES, wild-viues and
berries, with all the freedom and abund-
ance Of their native woods The expense
Of such case is from five to seven dol
lars, and any carpenter can make it.
Suppose that our city friends, in their
summer vacation in the country, provide
themselves with a receptacle like this :
ill the pan when you get there with wood
mould, such as you fnl at the roots Of a
dense clump Of trees-mix this with fine
| y broken charcoal for which you may
make interest at the cooking stove of any
OF your culinary acquaintances, The OBJ
jeco Of this charcoal is to prevent any
S5urness aud unhealthy fermentation,
which may prevent growth in It's incipi-
ent stages. Here, then, you have foun-
dttion GA which, from time to time, you
work
You mould your sell into mimic noun
tains and valleys; you find messy stone
in one walk, and forthwith erect it into a
mountain; you happen to have great
saa-shell, and you put that in and plant
il with delicate ferns; the thing grows
daily under your eyes, and your children
begin to look through the woods with
awakened eyes; every day you find some
thing new, and arrangements and rear.
rangemcnts vary every day. In the ap-
tumn you inclose your treasure in pack
ing box, with only the precaution of past
ing strip or two Of paper across each
pane Of glass 10 prevent their being crack
ed with the vibration, and seeing that
your treasure is kept This side up with
care;" and when you get home YOU have
a fragment Of the wildwood in your par
Tor which asks little light, little care, only
perhaps a thorough spcinkIing once a
week, and 1t will keep on silently grow
iog all winter. Such a case set by the
sick bed Of an invalid is a priceless treas
ugo; for the thousand varieties of wood
land life are. as it were, epitomised in it
here scarlet partridge berries, from day
to day, grow larger and reddcr-there
feathery mass begins to put out new tips,
or hooded one gradually changes It's So
Der brown cap for cap Of brilliant scar
let. Till one has tired collecting them,
one has no idea OF the inexhaustible va
riety and quaint beauty Of MOSES. They
are not read at glance like plants and
flowers, but will bear infnitiye pondering,
They are a peculiar generation, Towering
and bearing seed in strange hidden ways
OF their own, and the creeping, silent
/ perseverance Of their growth has a sooth-
ing effect on one who studies them.
But even without the glass case one
may do something very pleasing in the
way of house culture of moses. We
could namate a very successful expert
ment in which a superannQated old wait
er was the only available foundation.-
Earth mixed with broken charcoal was
the substratum, and moss being added,
we'll drenched with water, an artificial
swamp was formed, in which pitcher
plants and variety of aquatic tribes Of
the same general water loving taste and
turn throve harmoniouSly together. Moss
has the good properties Of a sponge; it is
an admirable receptacle for water; and
T the roots of aquatic plants viii run among
it with greater satisfaction than even in
I the earth. The common garden Forget
me-not is a water-plant which thrives es-
,pecially when treated in this way. Young
bulbs Of The CaIius Ethiopica also thriyes
therein, aa well as ferns and various