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PURCHASING PLANTS. 



their leaves in winter be taken up when they are 

 entirely free from moisture. If they be pulled wet, 

 they will heat and get mouldy in the packages, in 

 the course of a few days, and good plants are often 

 completely spoiled in this manner. Much injury 

 is often done, likewise, by letting plants that come 

 from a distance be too long out of the ground. The 

 nurseryman from whom they are ordered, therefore, 

 should get directions not to pull them but as short 

 time as possible before there is an opportunity of 

 sending them off ; and, as soon as they arrive, in- 

 stead of laying them up in a shed, as is often ab- 

 surdly done, their roots should be well covered with 

 earth, and no more of them exposed at once than 

 can be planted in a day. 



