49 



CHAPTER XIL 



PL.^ NTS BY MAIL AND EXPRESS. 



Sending plants by express was, in days gone by, considered 

 a great advance, and it certainly was as it opened an avenue 

 to those who, by reason of their location, could not obtain 

 plants in the neighborhood of their residences. The mode of 

 packing plants was soon mastered by the florists, and annual- 

 ly tons of plants were safely delivered b^' the various express 

 companies. The greatest difficulty in the past has been the 

 "charges." Verj^ often on long distances they have amounted 

 to more than the first cost of the plants. We are pl(^ased to 

 say, he w^ever, that now (Dec, 1879,) the charges are very ma- 

 terially reduced, and that a great deal of the red tape which 

 hitherto has been in vogue is entirely abolished, and instead 

 of each company making its charge, that all goods passing over 

 the routes of the principal express companies are now carried 

 to their destination under one charge. This is so advantageous 

 that now if the distance be not more than GOO to 800 miles, and 

 the package weighs more than five pounds, it is fully as cheap to 

 have them sent by express. All this was well enough for 

 those who lived near where the express companies have their 

 offices, but there are a great many people who do not live with- 

 in a day's journey of such an office ; they love flowers just as 

 dearly as those Avho have a florist's establishment in their im- 

 mediate vicinity. Happy for them, Uncle Sam said he would 

 carry their plants in the mail bags. We do not know who was 

 the first to send plants by mail ; if we knew, we would advo- 

 cate the erection of a monument to his memory, for by this 

 mode of transportation every one can have tlieir flowers de- 

 livered in their village or hamlet at the rate of one cent per 

 ounce. This mode of mailing plants is very popular, and if 

 only a few plants are w^anted, and the distance is long, it is de - 

 cidedly preferable to expressing them. During the last six 

 years all over our country business has been, to say the least, 

 dull, and in many of the homes in our land luxuries have been 

 below par. No one doubts but that flowers are to a certain ex- 

 tent luxuries, and as they could neither be eaten or worn, they, 



