AND TIIEIK CULTURE. 209 



Tlio overland route, via San Francisco, is far preferable to that via 

 Suez Canal, if used before the month of December, when severe cold' 

 sets in. 



But for large bulbs, by far the best mode of packing, yet 

 discovered, is to seal hermetically, in lumps of mud or clay, each bulb, 

 if large, or three or four together if small. Some years since, finding 

 that our bulbs from Japan came over in bad condition, and learning 

 that even Camellias and other plants in leaf had been sent out to the' 

 Cape and elsewhere with perfect success, having a coating of clay on 

 each leaf and stem, we sent out instructions to our agents in Japan to 

 make trial of this process, which, proving eminently successful, has 

 now been universally adopted by the packers in that country. They^ 

 prepare, in the autumn, a large quantity of soft puddled clay or mud,. 

 and coat each AuraUim bulb with it, to a thickness of about f inch, 

 smaller bulbs, such as those of Thnnhergianum and Krameri, with a 

 thickness of a J to ^ an inch, while cf small bulbs, such as those of 

 Coridion and Concolor, they put three or four in a lump ; they then 

 wrap up each lump in a piece of fine paper, to keep all together ; 

 and when slightly dried, which is soon effected by exposure to the- 

 sun in that country, they are placed in a case, and the interstices 

 filled in with dried soil, sawdust, or other light material, the bulbs 

 thus hermetically sealed, are kept cool during the journey, and remain 

 in a quiescent state. 



Nevertheless, it has been found that like all other modes before 

 tried, this sometimes fails, and that rot invades the cases, spreading 

 from bulb to bulb, till all are affected. And this leads me to another 

 point, which is well Avorthy of further investigation. Bulbs invaded 

 in this way by rot, turned out of the clay on arrival, and set apart^ 

 become covered in a few da^'s with the Mycelium (growth), of a; 

 long silky-looking fungus, smell very disagreeably and rot rapidly _ 

 Similarly, bulbs apparenthj sound and in first-rate condition, when- 

 imported and turned out of their mud envelope, will, if left a few ' 

 weeks unplanted, become covered with the same fungus, and be found 

 in a soft rotten condition. This we have often experienced to our- 

 loss and discomfort, especially with bulbs purchased in the auction, 

 rooms for planting, and laid aside for a while, if the weather was too- 

 wet or frosty for planting, or our men otherwise occupied ; we have 

 likewise experienced grave complaints from our customers to whom 

 we have sent bulbs, apparently sound, but which have rotted some- 

 time afterwards; and we have thus got into great disgrace, v.-hen 

 the fault lay in the subsequent treatment by the purchaser, and' 

 not in our carelessness in selecting bad bulbs. We remember well, 

 some years since, sending 50 bulbs to the Curator of a celebrated Botanic 

 Garden, and receiving from him some months afterwards a demand to 

 replace these, because, wrote he, " they had all rotted away, he had 

 placed them,'^ he said, '^ aside in a box, and watched them carefully, 

 p 



