42 TRANSMITTING SEEDS, ETC., FROM ABROAD. 



and dipping them first in moist clay, drive them in, and cut 

 them off quite even with your box. The package should then 

 be sewn up in stout waxcloth, bearing the direction, destina- 

 tion, &c. 



In some cases a thick piece of green Bamboo is preferable 

 to the Banana as a case for cuttings, and the following methods 

 or modifications of the process just described will be useful in 

 particular cases : 



1. The bundle of cuttings, being packed air-tight and water- 

 tight in sheet india-rubber, is immersed in a ship's water-tank. 



2. Packed similarly, they are stowed in a ship's ice-room. . 



3. Enwrapped in several folds of waxcloth, and then dipped 

 several times in a liquefied mixture of soap and wax till densely 

 covered ; these many coats can be afterwards pressed with the 

 hand into a dense mass. 



The beautiful Lilium giganteum of the Himalayas was long 

 in being introduced into Europe ; the bulbs invariably failed, 

 until Dr Royle hit upon the soap-and-wax process. Collodion 

 for healing the points or ends of cuttings is also a modern 

 practice to prevent " bleeding " and exclude air. There is a 

 valuable substance in use throughout the north-western Hima- 

 layas for roofing dwellings and granaries i.e., Birch bark : this 

 tough pliable product I found far superior to any kind of paper 

 or cloth as a wrapper. The plant-collector spreads a quantity 

 of fresh damp moss on one of these sheets, and rolls the whole 

 up tightly, using ties to secure the parcel. 



The best and most expeditious method of sending pollen for 

 hybridising purposes here in our gardens at home is to shake 

 it carefully from the anthers and expose it to the sun in a 

 sheltered position, this being necessary to prevent its turning 

 mouldy or damp during its journey. It should then be 

 wrapped first in soft paper and next enclosed in tinfoil, after 

 which it can be put in a letter and mailed in the ordinary 

 way. It is necessary in transmitting pollen to state the name 

 of the plant from which it was taken, otherwise it is next 

 to useless. By advertising in the horticultural journals it is 

 quite possible to obtain pollen of any desired plant either from 

 Continental gardens or other places abroad ; and this power, if 

 judiciously taken advantage of by hybridisers, would enable 

 them to obtain fertile seeds of many new or rare plants, and 

 especially of such dioecious plants as some rare Conifers, 

 Palms, and other exotics. 



