72 THE CONVEYANCE OF PLANTS 
The best method of preserving plants in a 
state of rest is the one first recommended by 
Messrs. Loddiges, and now generally employed, 
viz., the packi n g them in successive layers of 
Bog-moss {Sphagnum), which answers very well for 
the majority of deciduous trees and shrubs, and 
other plants, when dispatched at the termina- 
tion of their active season. Bor the package of 
Cactuses and other succulent plants, Loddiges 
recommend the driest sand, all vegetable matters 
being injurious. 
But by far the greater number of plants re- 
quire to be kept growing during the voyage ; 
and, prior to the introduction of the glazed cases, 
a large majority of these plants perished from the 
variations of temperature to which they were 
exposed, from being too much or too little 
watered, from the spray of the sea, or, when 
protected from this, from the exclusion of 
light. 
My late venerable friend Mr. Menzies in- 
formed me that, on his return from his last 
voyage round the world with Vancouver, he lost 
the whole of his plants from the last cause. 
If the voyage lasts longer than usual, and the 
water runs short, it is not every one who has 
the care of plants that will follow the example of 
the patriotic M. de Clieux, who, in 1717, took 
