THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 281 



At this point we are reminded of a great lot of flowers that lately reached us in a 

 state of absolute perfection. Those flowers came from the extreme north of England 

 and were subjected to several small delays, yet when we opened the package they 

 were as fresh and as bright as if just gathered, and we were enabled to place all 

 the bunches in vessels filled with water, and have a good leisurely look at them 

 ere saying a word as to their qualities. They were skilfully packed in a close 

 fitting square tin box, one foot deep and fifteen inches square, the lid of which 

 fitted accurately. Within this was a sort of wooden cage formed of very thm laths, 

 say half an inch wide and an eighth of an inch thick, which was lifted out bodily. 

 Within this cage the flowers were packed in bunches, every bunch being surrounded 

 at the base with moss, and all of them bedded in a mais of moss at the bottom of the 

 cage. The moss was moist, tlie tin bos almost air-tight, and the flowers came out 

 almost as fresh as when they went in, though nearly forty-eight hours had elapsed 

 from the time tliey were gathered till the time we saw them. We remember a 

 similar case occurring in the early part of last year. Messrs. Barr and Sugden 

 desired us to see a collection of Ixias grown by one of their agents in Jersey, and they 

 were sent from Jersey direct, and we had them in a state of perfection. The bunches 

 were tied round with moss at the base, and were laid one upon the other with a 

 little damp moss sprinkled between them in a long, deal box, and above them a few 

 cross-bars of wood were fixed with nails, so that in the event of the box being turned 

 upside down, or even thrown from hand to hand by the carriers, the flowers were 

 so fixed by the cross-bars that not one could move, and therefore no ordinary con- 

 cussion could harm the.ii. An occasional correspondent sends us leaves and flowers, 

 and sometimes cuttings of plants, simply folded in oil paper and enclosed in common 

 envelopes, and they generally arrive in a condition not only such as admits of fair 

 judging, but we can strike the shoots if desirable, and we have, in fact, several 

 plants obtained from cuttings sent in this simple way. The grand thing is to arrest 

 evaporation ; this the damp moss accomplishes in one case and the oiled paper in 

 the other. Common tin-foil is also a preservative of leaves and flowers sent by post. 



In the case of subjects that cannot be submitted to pressure, a box of some kind 

 is essential. The Post-ofiicc authorities properly refuse to carry boxes with sharp 

 edges, and any tinman will quickly make a box of any size, for a m.ere trifle, with 

 the edges rounded, so that the Post-office regulations need not be infringed. But 

 wooden boxes even if of the most fragile kind, will usually answer the purpose, if 

 the flowers are packed in it tight enough and sufficiently fixed to prevent injury by 

 shaking, yet loose enough that they do not injure each other by pressure, with 

 a slight amount of moisture to keep them fresh; but in no case should they he wet, 

 for that may cause as much mischief as extreme dryness. 



A common error in packing flowers for the post is to bed them in masses of dry 

 cotton-wool. We do sometimes receive good samples packed in that way, but com- 

 monly the juices are drawn from tbera by the cotton- wool, and they come to hand 

 shapeless, shrivelled, and indeterminable. It is not alw.ays possible to obtain tin 

 boxes and other specially prepared receptacles, and the boxes that seidlitz powders 

 are sold in, the wooden' boxes, two or three inches over, in which tooth-powders 

 are sold, and the small wooden barrels, about four inches high and two or three 

 inches in diameter, in which many housewives keep such things as arrowroot, ai|d 

 in which some grocers pack coffee and spices for sale, are severally suitable, and in 

 most houses are ready to hand. Card and paper boxes are generally not so trnst- 

 worthy as wood or tin, on account of their liability to bu crushed, and the excessive 

 evaporation of moisture from their contents. Given a suitable box, the rest is very 

 easy. A little damp moss will be found the best of packing, and if the flowers are 

 firmlv bedded in it, they will continue fresh for two or three days. Not long since, 

 we sent a boxful of flowers a long journey to a friend. They were packed in a long 

 deal box— a sort of fig-box— with clippings of privet above and below, and the 

 flowers carefully laid together, without ties, but as it were in a heap, the small 

 clippings of privet serving to fill up, and to keep them from being shaken on the 

 journey. They reached the friend in a perfectly fresh condition, though the journey 

 comprised three sep.arate changes from rail to rail, and from rail to carrier's cart. 

 Freslily gathered ivy-leaves, and even fresh grass-mowings, answer admirably, 

 without any addition of water ; in fact, fresh green leaves of any kind will do, and 

 if bruised, as in the case of clippings of privet or mowings of grass, all the better. 



S. H. 



September. 



