PROPAGATION OF THE FIG. 147 
consigned on a voyage of three or four months and arrive at their 
destination in good condition. The style of packing must vary 
according to the distance and time of voyage, and also according to 
whether the cuttings are to be sent by mail, by freight, or other con- 
veyance. In shipping cuttings to localities within one or two days’ 
journey no special care is required. The cuttings should be tied in 
bundles of 50 to 100, as may be most convenient, two stout baling 
ropes being required, and 
tied one at each end of 
the bundle. A sack should 
then be slipped outside of 
the bundle, and if the 
weather is warm and dry, 
straw should be packed 
tightly between the cut- 
tings and the sack, and the 
bag then stitched up. Dry- 
goods boxes may in some 
instances be preferred to 
sacks. Damp straw may be 
used for a week’s trip, in 
which case a box should al- 
ways be used. For longer 
distances the cuttings 
should be packed in dry 
charcoal and sealed in tin 
orin moss. The former is 
a, most excellent packing 
and safe for a two months’ 
journey, but has the fault 
that when the boxes are 
opened at the custom-house 
the charcoal will run out 
and the cuttings quickly 
oe Faealid 1 : tl Fia. 25.—A fig tree just grafted. Two branches are left 
ary. nal such cases the to draw sap. There are three stakes for supporting 
use of sphagnum moss must the growing scions. The straw or flag covering neces- 
be substituted for charcoal. cal Rae aaa the stem of the main tree has been 
This moss is sold in pressed 
bales, is comparatively very cheap, and weighs but little. The moss is 
first made quite wet with water and then squeezed dry with the hands 
or by apress. A tight box is selected, the sides of which should be 
braced and bound with light irons. Along the inner sides of the box 
nail oiled paper, folding the paper in the corners. Put first a thick 
layer of squeezed moss in the bottom of the box, then a layer of cut- 
tings, then a less thick layer of moss, another layer of cuttings, and 
soon. A thicker iayer of moss should be placed on the top similarly 
a WZ 
