Wardian case

A. Maconochie had created a similar terrarium almost a decade earlier, but his failure to publish meant that Ward received credit as the sole inventor.

Ward also kept cocoons of moths and the like in sealed glass bottles, and in one, he found that a fern spore and a species of grass had germinated and were growing in a bit of soil.

[4] Understanding the possibilities, he had a carpenter build him a closely fitted glazed wooden case and found that ferns grown in it thrived.

[3] The first test of the glazed cases was made in July 1833, when Ward shipped two specially constructed glazed cases filled with British ferns and grasses all the way to Sydney, Australia, a voyage of several months that found the protected plants still in good condition upon arrival.

Other plants made a return trip: a number of Australian native species that had never survived the transportation previously.

Wardian cases have thus been credited for helping break geographic monopolies in the production of important agricultural goods.