266 PRACTICAL FLORICULTURE. 



Plants may be packed without using boxes at all by adopt- 

 ing the following method. Having selected the plants, 

 choosing such as are small but well rooted, the soil is 

 washed or shaken from each plant, leaving the fibres of 

 the roots uninjured. A layer of moderately damp moss 

 half an inch thick is then spread on two or three thick- 

 nesses of thick brown paper ; the plants are then laid on 

 the moss, a similar layer of moss is laid over the roots, 

 and the paper, moss, and plants, are tightly rolled up. 

 The moss absorbs the water from the dripping roots, so 

 that thus tightly enclosed, sufficient moisture is envelop- 

 ed in the packages to keep the plants safe for a week, 

 provided that the package has been firmly wrapped up. 

 Another wrapping of oil silk paper follows the final 

 wrapping being of stiff brown paper. This process is so 

 simple that any lady may transmit to another some favor- 

 ite plant or cutting, a distance of 2,000 miles, if neces- 

 sary, at little cost. The florists who make a special busi- 

 ness of mailing plants now use a box specially made for 

 the purpose, alternating the filling of the box with thin 

 layers of moss not too damp with the layers of plants. 

 Where moss is not procurable, raw cotton will answer the 

 same purpose; the only danger to be avoided is in rolling 

 up the package too loosely, in which case the dry air will 

 penetrate and will be likely to shrivel up the plants. 



Although it is a great convenience to be able to send 

 plants by mail to points where there is no express office, 

 yet we most emphatically protest against sending in this 

 way wherever they can be sent by express. Not only is 

 sen ding by a mail a slow and expensive method of pack- 

 ing, but the necessity to lighten the package, compels 

 the soil to be taken from the roots and to compress the 

 plants in the package so that they are often crushed to 

 their injury. We, in our business, never send a plant 

 by mail where it can be sent by express, unless at distinct 

 request of the buyer. 



