DIRECTIONS 



TOR POTTINO UP AND TRANSMITTING 



[Accompanying the letter of the Secretary of the Treasury of September 6th, 1827.] 



With a view to the transmission of seeds from distant 

 countries, the first object of care is to obtain seeds that 

 are fully ripe, and in a sound and heakhy state. To this 

 the strictest attention should be paid ; otherwise, all the 

 care and trouble that may be bestowed on them, will have 

 been wasted on objects utterly useless. 



Those seeds thai are not dry when gathered, should be 

 rendered so by exposure to the air, in the shade. 



When dry, the seeds should be put into paper bags. 

 Co irnon brown paper has been found to answer well for 

 makii- J such bags. But, as the mode of manufacturing 

 that paper varies in different countries, the precaution 

 should be used of putting a portion of the seeds in other 

 kinds of paper. Those that most effectually exclude 

 air and moisture, are believed to be the best for that pur- 

 pose. It would be proper, also, to enclose some of the 

 seeds in paper or cloth that has been steeped in melted 

 bees-wax. It has been recommended that seeds collected in 

 a moist country, or season, be packed in charcoal. 



After being put up according to any of these modes, the 

 seeds should be enclosed in a box; which should be covered 

 with pitch to protect them from damp, insects, and mice. 

 During the voyage they should be kept in a cool, airy, and 

 dry situation ; — not in the hold of the ship. 



The oily seeds soonest lose their germinating faculty. 

 They should be put in a box with sandy earth, in the 



