PLANTS B? MAIL. 2t>5 



kefcs, as it would not only save freight but, what was far 

 more important, save me the plants alive. He sent 

 them in baskets, sure enough, each one weighing of itself 

 40 Ibs., a shapeless, ponderous affair, that with its con- 

 tents required two men to lift it into a wagon. This 

 was not the worst of it ; three-fourths of the plants were 

 dead our usual experience in shipments of plants from 

 Europe. This loss is, without doubt, in most cases oc- 

 casioned by the cumbrous manner of packing. 



When the weather becomes settled, so that all danger 

 of plants being chilled is over, we change our mode of 

 packing the plants, from laying them down, to standing 

 them upright in the baskets or boxes, beginning with the 

 heaviest plants at the bottom of the box or basket, and 

 placing each succeeding layer, to the depth of three or 

 four, one ball of roots on the top of the other. After 

 packing, the box or basket is watered freely, each plant, 

 or at least a portion of it, is exposed to the light, and 

 thus packed they will remain ten or twelve days without 

 injury. 



CHAPTER LIII. 

 PLANTS BY MAIL. 



Our postal laws permit plants, seeds, and bulbs, to be 

 sent at a cost of 16 cents per pound, provided the pack- 

 age does not exceed four pounds in weight. This ar- 

 rangement has been the means of sending seeds and 

 plants into regions where they would not for many years 

 have been procurable with other means of conveyance, 

 and the projector of the idea deserves the gratitude of 

 the nation for it. A number of different contrivances 

 have been invented for packing plants to go by mail, in- 

 cluding boxes of various styles and dimensions ; the 

 main difficulty with all that we have seen is the weight. 



