264 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 



box entirely full, so that no movement can take place in 

 the plants should the boxes be roughly handled. The 

 soil should be always rather dry than otherwise, as 

 packed in this close manner the plants will not suffer for 

 want of moisture. Boxes of medium size are best; we 

 never like to use a box of greater capacity than the or- 

 dinary flour barrel, usually preferring such as are one- 

 third smaller than that. If the box is too large, the 

 plants may be injured by mutual pressure. 



This is our method of packing as long as there is dan- 

 ger of frost, or until the middle of March. From the 

 middle of March to the middle of April, we use a box of 

 a different character, open on all sides to admit air, for 

 now the danger to be avoided is from heat and not from 

 cold. The manner of packing is in all other respects the 

 same, except that no more hay or "Excelsior," is used 

 around the inside of the box than necessary to make a 

 soft bed for the plants. If the closely packed plants 

 have any tendency to generate heat, it will be counter- 

 acted by the admission of air through the openings in the 

 box. Again, we gradually make a change in our style of 

 packing to suit the advancing season. For small orders, a 

 light kind of chip basket is used, in which the plants are 

 packed in the manner above described, and strapped over 

 the top with hay or " Excelsior." We find a basket a most 

 convenient and satisfactory article to pack in, as its open- 

 work sides freely admit the air. In baskets weighing 

 less than two pounds, we pack from 100 to 150 plants. 

 Being annoyed at having frequently to pay for clumsy, 

 heavy packages, in which our new importations were re- 

 ceived from England, I took occasion to send over to a 

 London nurseryman some fifty plants packed in one of 

 these baskets, the whole basket and contents weighing 

 about 15 Ibs., and with two exceptions every plant was 

 received alive. I implored the gentleman to pack the 

 plants he was to send me in return in similar light baa- 



