PACKING PLANTS. 263 



CHAPTER LII. 



PACKING PLANTS. 



As commercial floriculture is now becoming a matter of 

 importance, it will be interesting for many to know the 

 modes of packing for shipment. During February, March, 

 April, and May last (1887), it is estimated that twenty 

 tons each day were received at the different express offices 

 in New York, of the products of the greenhouse only. 

 These were to be distributed throughout the length and 

 breadth of the land, shipments being now successfully 

 made in all weather to the most extreme points in every 

 direction. The system of packing adopted for even the 

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

 tirely from that of the English or French, and is a result, 

 like many other of our operations, of the necessities forced 

 upon us by the higher price of labor. By the system of 

 packing in our own establishment, we ship plants every 

 day from January 15th to June loth, throughout the cold- 

 est 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, lining top, bottom 

 and sides with thick paper, against that, as the best non- 

 conductor we can find, we put two inches of sawdust 

 on top, bottom, and sides 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 ex- 

 tent, prevents the pressure of the plants upon each 

 other. In packing the plants in a box, they are placed 

 compactly in layers, alternated with an inch or two of 

 soft hay, or the new packing material ''Excelsior," until 

 the box is f ulL The utmost care is necessary to pack the 



