682 MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



Directions for Living Plants. 



1. Entire Plants. — These can generally be suc- 

 cessfully transported only in "Wardian cases/' in 

 which they should be placed some days before being 

 fastened down, and then well watered. Some small 

 Cactuses, Aloes, Orchids, and various epiphytes may 

 be transmitted by being removed by the roots, and 

 packed in boxes with paper or straw. 



2. Cuttings. — Certain plants only can be thus pro- 

 pagated, such as many Cactuses, Aloes, Sponges, Fig- 

 marigolds, Pine-apples, &c. Cuttings should be re- 

 moved at an articulation, the wound dried in the 

 sun, and they should then be packed in boxes with 

 paper. 



3. Seeds and Fruits. — Seeds should be gathered 

 when quite ripe, and preserved, if possible, in the 

 entire seed-vessel. Pine-cones should be tied round 

 with a little thread to prevent the escape of the 

 seeds from the bursting of the valves. Seeds should 

 be made up in parcels, with brown or cartridge- 

 paper, and kept in airy, well ventilated places. De 

 Candolle advises seeds, gathered in a moist season or 

 country, to be packed in charcoal. Large and oily 

 seeds, as those of the Tea and Coffee plants, also 

 those of various Laurels and Myrtles, must be placed 

 in sandy earth ; boxes may be packed up contain- 

 ing alternate layers of earth and seeds, pressed 

 closely together. 



4. Bulbs, Tubers, and Rhizomes. — These should 

 be procured when the foliage has withered, be well 



