Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-12-27
Care of Eerneries.
A correspondent of the Hartford Courant
offers the following ingenious suggestion:

correspondent of the Hartford C9urant
offers the following ingenious suggestion:
In these DAYS when ierneres are so common
in so many parlors, any information concerning
them will doubtless be acceptable One simple
thing has made my fernery SO much more enjoy
able than ever before, that | wish TO give Others
the benefit of it. Everybody that has lernery
knows how great a drawback TO the pleasure OF
il is the moisture which collects on tue glasS IN
a fine dew, and then wholly hides from sight the
beauties within. 1t occurred to me that a con-
tinuous film of moisture, that did not take the
form Of dew drops, would be perfectly transpar.
ent, and that If ! could produce inside the glass
such film with some permanence, the moisture
that was constantly CONDENSED on it would
spread Itself out and be lost in the fl m, and pro
duce no cloudrness whatever. Knowing that
pure water would not adhere in Il film TO the
glass, but that soap suds clingS to most
surfaces with some tenacitv, | lied it with
complete success. The process is short and
eas'. Remove the glass, and WASH its inside
thoroughly with strong suds, made with
soft water and the incest pure soap you
have. Pour out the suds, and with out
waiting for the 9iaSs TO drain, put it IN It's place
again. OF course few blolches OF foam will
be lett on the glass, but they will soon disappear
of themselves. Ga looking closely the film OF
soapy wafer will be detected, out it does not al
all hide the view. As the air inside is damp and
always depositlng its moisture, it prevents the
is well known that from changes OF temperature
and other causes, the glass, or portion of it,
becomes nearly dry and Tree rom for a lew
hours and iancied that alter my film had once
thus dried, it would cease to be effective and
need renewing, but was agreeably surprised to
find that when The dew gathered again the in
visible particles of soap which had dried on the
glass united with it to form new film nearly
as perfect as at first. Indeed, | found the need
oil renewing at all was due not TO the drying 50
much as the wetting, for the dew, which though
unseen, is constantly added to the soap, dilutes
it and gradually washes it down the sides Of the
glass, till at length 1t must be reapplied. A
consequence OF all this will be that those ierner-
les which deposit moisture most rapidly
will need the soap oiteneSt. With mine
once fortnight is sufficient. | should judge
that once week would he often enough in any
case, but the Trouble is so little thar, if neces-
sary, one would not object TO doing it oltener
still. Of course the glass should be clean before
the soap is applied, aud especially free from any
oily substance or the soap Will not cling. In
ventilatng the fernery, 1t is best to take off the
shade but few moments at tlme So that the
sUapy film will have no time to dry. Indeed,
my experience Is that, soap or no soap, il is
better for the ferns TO have the glass taken off
daily and almost Immediately replaced. Those
whose fern cases are framed can easily apply
the soap on a sponge through the door, anu
swinging the door back and forth half dozen
times every morning will give the ventilation
without drying the soapy surface. One remark
more is perhaps unnecessary, but some may be
thankful for the warning, that to handle the
shade safely with soapy hands requires consid-
cradle care. do not wish to be held respon-
sible for the slipping and crashing of an eX-
pensve bell glass the first time you put my sug-
geStion into practice.