PACKING CUTTINGS. 255 



side of the parcel containing them, they must have been confined in 

 the wax three months. The bulbs transmitted in cotton began to grow 

 first, but soon showed symptoms of debility ; while those sent ia wax 

 did not move much before a month after they were potted, but then 

 they grew strong and healthy. In one or two oases the bulbs perished 

 in the cotton, while the same kind packed or coated in wax survived 

 the journey. 



In Cuttings nature has provided no special means of 

 resisting exposure to unusual conditions and consisting, as 

 they do, of but small masses of lax, thin-sided vegetable 

 tissue, they much more readily part with their vitality than 

 seeds or bulbs. Dryness is fatal to them ; at the same time 

 moisture in excess ioduces them, if in only a moderate 

 temperature, to shoot and exhaust their vitality while packed 

 up. The amount of moisture which they can best bear without 

 risk of excitement in warm weather, is that which is natural 

 to them, and no more. The attention of the gardener should 

 therefore be directed to this point. It has been supposed that 

 this might be accomplished by sealing the ends of cuttings with 

 wax, or by dipping them in a solution of gum-arabic, or by 

 enveloping them in sheet India-rubber; but although such 

 precautions have enabled cuttings to travel from London to 

 Simla without having lost their vitality, or, ia some cases, 

 having suffered much exhaustion during a journey of so many 

 thousand miles, yet the success of such methods is too 

 imperfect to satisfy the wants of colonists. It may be worth 

 consideration whether a cutting would not retain its vitality 

 longest if dipped in collodion, and then dried before being 

 packed up. Of course the operator would take care that the 

 cuttings selected are packed iu some non-conducting material, 

 such as cork, charcoal, or dry saw-dust. 



Dr. Royle states that cuttings of Apples, Pears, and Plums, have 

 been sent successfully from England to India, after having had their 

 ends dipped in bees-wax. The following details were communicated 

 by him to the Gardener^ Chronicle in 1843. Jargonelle Pear 

 cuttings having been sent successfully from Fahnouth to Bombay, a 

 distance of 6000 miles, so as to arrive at their destination in January, 

 and others, wrapped in cotton enveloped in India-rubber, after their 

 ends were dipped in bees-wax, having reached Saharunpore 900 miles 



