INTRODUCTION. 
The despatch offers no difficulty. Tins or wooden boxes 
should be procured (the Italians eat biscuits, so their alps abound 
in tin boxes ; the Austrians don’t, so in the Dolomites and Eastern 
ranges the quest is often arduous), the earthless plants packed 
firmly in, without wrappings, moss, or other precaution, except 
where some especially precious bale may be wrapped in stiff 
newspaper, with about a dozen drops of water poured down to 
the roots inside. Special care must be taken with the downy 
cushions of Eritrichium and the high Androsaces ; they must have 
their heads perfectly dry, while they appreciate a good supply 
of water at their feet. Otherwise humidity is wholly to be 
avoided ; the plants provide their own, and the tin preserves it. 
At most, if plants and weather be very dry, a very few drops 
should be sprinkled now and then in the packing ; this should be 
perfectly tight, without possibility of shaking; but the plants, 
however closely pressed, should not be bruised or broken. So 
arranged, a very handsome number will be contained in one square 
biscuit box; and this will give promise, of course, by propagation, of 
at least twice again the amount. The postal weight allowed is up 
to 5 kilos (10 lbs.), and, sent by parcel post, there is no difficulty 
or embargo anywhere of any sort, though the filling up of the 
three postal certificates to each package is a nuisance. The 
transit takes from seven days, on a main line such as the Brenner, 
to a fortnight or so in places remote from the beaten track. In 
all cases, however, the plants on arrival will be found very nearly 
as fresh and lively as when they started. There is, however, a 
protected district in south-east Switzerland—a large “park” 
reserved in the heart of the Bernina district, behind, but not 
including the Heuthal ; while the Alps of the Valais have recently 
been rendered sacrosanct. M. Correvon has been the prime 
mover in these excellent works. Otherwise the Alps from end 
to end are open to the enthusiast; and the parcel post of 
every country is at his service, even though pretences of prohibi- 
tion and protest be made now and then in hotels, and difficulty 
attends the despatch of small niggling “ sample” boxes. 
The collector is not unlucky in the moment at which he has 
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