84 Transactions of the London Horticultural Society. 



strong root and tliick stem, should invariably be selected ; and 

 that only such grafts be chosen as have already been firmly 

 established for two or three years on old healthy stocks." 



" In packing, the following directions particularly require 

 to be observed': — That die packing cases may not be trouble- 

 some, unwieldy, and unsightly, no case should be more than 

 three feet long, eighteen inches in width, and sixteen in depth 

 below the roof; I have taken these dimensions from a due 

 consideration of the places where plants are generally stowed 

 on board ship, namely, on the poop, or in front of the cuddy. 

 The depth of the roof should be sixteen inches more, so that 

 the shutters, when opened, will be the same depth as the sides 

 of the boxes. The breadth of the upper rail should be five 

 inches, which will admit of a piece of jiainted canvass, suf- 

 ficiently large to cover the whole sides, to be rolled upon it, 

 and fixed to each side. 



" I would here observe that I would on no account use the 

 common tarred canvass, which is a very imperfect defence 

 against rain and sea spray; and that, whenever a number of 

 chests are to be placed in a row close to each other, it is pre- 

 ferable to use one piece of canvass instead of many. Some 

 attention should also be paid to the neatness of the appearance 

 of the cases, as captains are very unwilling to allow the deck 

 to be occupied by unsightly objects : they should be well 

 clamped together with iron, and painted. On no account should 

 holes be bored in the ends for passing rope handles through ; 

 the latter are perfectly useless. The roofs should be glazed 

 either with stout glass, or with the Chinese oyster shell, or 

 with plates of thick talc. 



" Each plant should have a separate square pot, made of 

 wood, of such a size that eight should be contained in each 

 case : they should not fit too tightly together, but should be 

 so contrived that any one may be lifted out without disturbing 

 the remainder. This [besides conveniently enabling any thing 

 to be done to the plants individually] renders it easy to 

 replace deaths, if the ships touch at any port on their voyage. 

 The pots should have three or four holes bored in their 

 bottoms ; but there should be no holes in the bottom of 

 the chest; for it is at such apertures that rats on ship-board 

 always commence their depredations, and there is no advan- 

 tage whatever in the holes. Between the bottoms of the pots 

 and the bottom of the case should be a layer, three inches 

 deep, of broken glass and pebbles; the former renders it 

 impossible for vermin to establish themselves in the cases. 

 The cases should be raised two inches from the deck by 

 little feet. 



