186 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



PACKING PLANTS. 



As commercial floriculture is now becoming a matter 

 of importance, it will be interesting to many of our 

 readers to know the modes of packing for shipment. 

 During the months of March, April, and May last, (1868) 

 it is estimated that ten tons daily were received at the 

 different express offices in New York, of the products of 

 the green-house only. These were to be distributed through- 

 out the length and breadth of the land, shipments being 

 successfully made to the most extreme points in every di- 

 rection. The system of packing adopted for even the 

 most distant orders is of the simplest kind, differing en- 

 tirely from that in use by the English or French, and is a 

 result, like many other of our operations, of the necessi- 

 ties forced upon us by the want of labor. By our system 

 of packing, we ship plants almost every day from January 

 15th to June 15th, throughout the coldest weather in winter 

 and the sultry days of summer, with hardly a case of injury, 

 either from freezing or by heat. For the cold season we 

 use close boxes, placing a layer of 4 inches of soft, dry hay 

 on the bottom ends, sides, and top of the box. Whenever 

 the ball of roots is sufficiently firm, the plant is taken 

 from the pot, and each plant wrapped in paper, or rather 

 the ball or root of the plant is wrapped, leaving most of 

 the top uncovered. This wrapping in paper not only 

 serves to keep the ball from breaking, but it also, to some 

 extent, prevents the pressure of the plants upon each other. 

 In packing the plants in the box, they are placed com- 

 pactly in layers, alternated with an inch or two of soft hay 

 until the box is full. The utmost care is necessary to 

 pack the box entirely full, so that no movement can 

 take place in the plants should the boxes be roughly hand- 

 led. The soil should be always rather dry than other- 

 wise, as packed in this close manner the plants will not suffer 



