CUT FLOWERS 



133 



but their costliness unfits them for business purposes. 

 Here we use the usual florist's wooden boxes with 

 loose lids. A sheet of newspaper is spread on the 

 bottom ; two sheets of thin paper laid out at the ends 

 protect the flowers from contact with the rough 

 surface of the inside of the box, and fold over the top 

 of the flowers, or if the box is smaller, one sheet does 

 the same work. These papers also help to keep out 

 the air. The loose top is placed on, and the box is 

 tied with one girth of Manilla cord which is fastened 

 to it. 



Many are the handy ways of packing and sending 

 single flowers by post for comparison or reference or 

 other purpose. I find nothing more convenient than 

 corrugated paper, and though I have quantities of all 

 sorts of little boxes in store I much oftener use the 

 ribbed paper, it is so easy to cut a piece to exactly 

 fit the small parcel ; a little damp moss at the stalk 

 end and a leaf of Monk's Rhubarb to envelop the 

 whole, a little dry moss or crumpled paper near the 

 flower to make the package the same thickness at 

 both ends, then the ribbed paper rolled round and 

 a wrapping of paper outside. A flower can be packed 

 in this way with dry and damp moss and leaf and 

 outside wi-apper, even without the corrugated paper, 

 though the contents are much safer with it. The one 

 thing I always avoid in packing flowers is the use 

 of cotton-wool ; nothing absorbs moisture so quickly. 

 Gardeners have it at hand for packing peaches, and 



