50  BOTANICAL  AND  PHARMACOLOGICAL  INQUIRIES. 
transmitted  to  Europe  from  very  distant  countries.  The  first, 
seeds,  require  to  be  gathered  quite  ripe;  to  be  wrapped,  a  quan- 
tity of  each,  in  dry  and  not  absorbent  paper,  done  up  in  a  par- 
cel, and  kept,  if  possible,  while  on  board  ship,  in  an  airy  part  of 
the  cabin.  Bulbs  and  tubers  should  be  taken  up  when  the 
foliage  has  withered  ;  and,  if  well  dried,  they  may  be  packed  in 
the  same  way  as  seeds. 
Cuttings. — Generally  speaking,  it  is  vain  to  attempt  sending 
cuttings  of  plants  to  a  distance,  for  they  soon  perish  ;  but  this 
is  not  the  case  with  the  greater  number  of  succulent  plants — 
those  with  thick  and  firm  fleshy  stems  and  leaves.  Such  are 
many  of  the  Cactus  tribe  in  South  America  ;  the  various  succu- 
lents of  South  Africa,  as  Aloes,  Euphorbias,  Stapelias,  Mesem- 
bryanthemums  or  Fig-Mary  golds,  the  Houseleek  kind,  &c. 
Many  of  the  Bromelia,  or  Pine-apple  tribe,  .and  the  Agaves  or 
American  Aloes,  will  survive  a  long  time  as  cuttings.  The  cut- 
tings should  be  taken  off,  if  possible,  where  there  is  a  contraction 
or  articulation  of  the  stem,  or  at  the  setting  on  of  a  branch. 
The  wound  ought  to  be  dried  by  exposure  to  the  sun  ;  and  the 
cuttings  may  be  packed  in  a  box,  with  paper  wrapped  about 
them,  or  any  dry  elastic  substance  to  keep  them  steady. 
Booted  Plants  Some  few  of  these,  namely,  such  as  are  of  a 
succulent  nature,  small  plants  of  Cactus,  Aloe,  Bromelia,  Til- 
landsia,  and  Zamia,  &c,  and  (which  are  now  highly  valued  in 
European  stoves)  the  various  Epiphytes  or  Air-plants,  those  numer- 
ous Orchideous  plants  and  others  of  the  Arum  tribe,  which  clothe 
the  trunks  and  branches  of  trees  in  tropical  countries  : — all  these 
will  bear  a  long  voyage  if  removed  with  their  roots  and  stowed 
in  a  box,  like  the  cuttings  above  described,  the  larger  kinds 
surrounded  with  dry  straw.  But  plants,  in  general,  when  taken 
up  with  their  roots  (and  young  ones  should  be  preferred,)  can 
only  be  securely  transported,  placed  in  earth,  in  Ward's  plant- 
cases,  now  generally  known  and  most  deservedly  esteemed  : 
these  cases  are  glazed  at  the  top  or  roof,  so  as  to  be  in  fact 
small  portable  greenhouses.  The  plants  should  be  established 
in  the  cases  some  days  before  sending  them  off,  secured  by  splines, 
so  as  to  confine  the  roots  in  the  soil  in  the  event  of  the  box  being 
overturned,  and  moderately  watered.  The  lid  is  then  fastened 
with  putty  and  screws ;  and  the  case  being  placed  on  the  deck 
