SUCCESS WITH FLOWERS 
17 
GENERAL CARE OP PLANTS AND 
SHRUBS RECEIVED BY MAIL 
The postal regulations require that plants and shrubs 
shipped by mail shall be packed as dry as possible 
so that the moisture docs not come through the outer 
covering of the package. To keep within this regula¬ 
tion is a very difficult matter because when plants 
and shrubs are shipped any distance they must have 
a certain amount of moisture and the air excluded from 
them or they will dry up and perish. The method 
most generally adopted for mailing plants is to moisten 
the roots then wrap them in damp moss and cover 
the moss with oiled paper, this preserves the moisture 
to the roots so that they can be shipped long distances. 
With the utmost care there is bound to be some drying 
out while the plants are in transit, and on arrival at 
destination they may appear to be dried up and 
worthless, which is ofttimcs not the case, and with a 
little care they may be revived. When received unpack 
the package carefully, sorting out the plants, using 
care not to remove the labels, then straighten out the 
roots and put them in a pan of water and set in a mod¬ 
erately warm place for a few hours before planting 
or potting in soil. With house plants it is always best 
to shade them for a few days after potting by laying 
a sheet of newspaper over them during the daytime. 
A great number of shrubs received by mail or express 
are ruined by careless planting. When it is time to 
plant prepare the space by digging the hole a little 
wider in diameter than the spread of the roots, then 
loosen up the soil in the hole working in some fresh 
black soil and well rotted manure. It is now ready 
for the plant. The roots should be spread out and 
plenty of loose soil worked down into them, then till 
in and press down firmly. It is very important that 
the plant be planted firmly so that it cannot sway 
about or it will not take root-hold of the soil. After 
care has been taken in the planting of the shrub and 
it receives reasonable amount of moisture, the chances 
are all In favor of it becoming well established and 
giving good results. 
