196 Instructions for Packing living Plants in Foreign 



and the latter has an additional security against being shaken 

 out of the pots. 



When it happens that pots are not to be procured, the 

 want of them must be supplied by the collection being 

 planted in earth in the cases themselves, their bottom being 

 previously strewed to the depth of an inch or two with 

 fragments of earthenware or bits of wood. In such cases it 

 is particularly necessary that the mould should be securely 

 fastened down. 



Parasitical Orcliidece, or, as they are commonly called, 

 Air Plants, may be transported safely to any distance by being 

 packed loosely in moss, and put into boxes so constructed 

 that the plants may be exposed to a free admission of air, 

 but protected from the sea water. So managed, with a mo- 

 derate supply of water, the most delicate of them might, 

 probably, be transported to any distance without difficulty. 

 But if, as is generally the case, they are packed closely in 

 moss, in boxes insufficiently ventilated, they will inevitably 

 become heated and perish. It has occurred to me that the 

 best method of sending them would be in boxes made of 

 trellis work, and provided with cross pieces of wood in their 

 inside, to which the plants with the bark or moss on which 

 they grew might be securely tied, and the interstices filled 

 loosely with moss. The lid of such cases might be nailed 

 down, and no other subsequent care would be necessary than 

 a gentle occasional watering and protection from sea spray. 

 Or they might, perhaps, be transported safely by the still 

 more simple plan of placing them in closed boxes, they 

 being first carefully separated with the rough branches of 

 the trees on which they grew. For the chief point is 



