To one accustomed to packing nursery stock, nothing seems more simple; while to outsiders it seems something of a mystery how plants which they have been taught to believe require such nice proportions of light, heat, air, and moisture with exact regularity, can exist for days and weeks, and endure long voyages, with very little apparent inconvenience, though the supposed necessary conditions of existence are so seemingly confused. Even many experienced packers, who are perhaps known to be something superior in the art, would in many cases be unable to give any reason for their respective processes.

Hitherto we have had to follow the Chinese way of doing things in learning to pack. It is related of a sailor stationed in a Chinese port, that he hired a native tailor to make him a pair of pantaloons in place of one, which, on account of two unseemly patches behind, were in a discreditable condition. The pair was handed to Pig-ta-el for a pattern, and when the number of moons necessary for one of these tardy gentlemen to complete the important piece of work, had passed away, he returned with the new inexpressibles, but, with patches of the exact size, and in the identical positions of those in the patterns on the new garment 1 Thus our packers pack exactly as their fathers packed, because their fathers packed so, and precisely as they were learned to pack.

In the spring of the present year, I saw a large importation of roses and Norway spruces opened. They were from a first class European house, and the packing would have been pronounced by experienced hands very superior, yet there was not one rose alive, while not a spruce out of thousands was injured, They were both packed exactly alike; but what was life to the one, was death to I the other. Had the packer understood the theory of his art as well as he did its practice, his employer would probably have gained an annual customer in one who now believes that roses cannot be imported successfully.

Heat, air, light and moisture are necessary for the growth of plants; but in packing we aim only to preserve their existence. Light is only necessary while the plant is growing. Whenever growth commences, it must have its due proportion of light, or it soon decays. One of the chief points in good packing, therefore, is to prevent growth. This being guarded against securely, plants can be kept boxed or baled up in darkness for a long time. The chief agent in exciting growth is heat. A packer's chief care should be to get full control of this power.*

Every one knows that when vegetable substances are collected in bodies, deprived of air and light, and become moist, they commence to decay; and, in the process, evolve heat. To avoid this, those substances the least liable to decay by being moistened, are employed as packing material.

Of all substances yet known, moss is the best in this particular, as under ordinary circumstances, its decay is very slow. How wet the packing material should be, or how much of it should be employed, will depend on the time the plants may have to remain covered, and what description of plants they are. Plants with soft watery foliage need the packing material rather dry; while deciduous trees, or plants with hard leathery foliage, may have it quite wet. If plants have to be sent some distance, it is in any case safest to use rather dry packing material; and to depend on maintaining sufficient moisture for the plants', existence, by packing tight so as to prevent evaporation. It need scarcely be added, after what has been said, that the cooler plants can be kept until they are opened, the better for them, unless the temperature is below freezing point, frosty weather being equally, with hot, favorable to evaporation.

It may be useful to say a few words on the details of packing as well as the principles. Plants are transported in either boxes or bales. The former is by far the most convenient for small trees under three feet, as well as for all kinds of pot plants; trees of larger growth are best baled. Boxes for this purpose should be strong, as they are liable to rough usage at times on wharves. In packing pot plants, the first process is staking the plant, tying in all the branches, as the closer they are tied the less they will get injured by each branch and leaf rubbing against others. Then the soil must be fixed so aa to prevent its being thrown out of the pots. This is effected by tying moss over it around the stem of the plant on the upper surface of the pot.

There are two ways of tying on the moss. In one case the packer takes the end of the string and the pot in his left hand, crosses the string over the surface and under the bottom of the pot six or eight times, and finishes by bringing it around under the rim. In the other the pot stands on the bench, and the string is brought around under the rim, each time it is made to cross over the moss, and does not go under the pot at all. The first is the easiest way; the last makes the best job, as it can never loosen, which the first often does. After the plants are mossed, and a box selected capable of holding the required number, a few inches of moss is placed in the bottom, and the largest and heaviest pots selected and placed on their sides on two faces of the box, so as to "look at each other." Strips of any narrow pieces of waste wood are then cut so as to fit exactly inside the box; these are placed along the face of the pots, so as to come on a line with the upper edge, and then are firmly secured by a nail driven into the end of the strip through and from the outside of the box. When one row is thus finished, some few inches more moss is placed on the lower course of pots, another layer of pots, and then another strip; this is again repeated till the box is full.

If the strips are pressed tight to the faces of the pots, they will not press heavily on those beneath them; and if the whole is properly done, plants may be sent a six weeks' voyage in safety, without the breakage of a pot. Some plants, as oranges, camellias, and other similar plants, are taken out of their pots, and moss or canvass wrapped around the balls; these are repotted on arriving at their destination, and in proper hands do very well, while it saves considerable expense in freight and express charges. Young trees are packed in moss, in any way they will lie conveniently; when the box is tight, a very thin layer of moss is employed between each layer of trees; in open crates, a greater quantity is used around the roots, and less among the branches.

* Many packages of plants are now transported in steamboats or ships, and they are too often carelessly placed near the influence of the boiler. It would be well always to mark the package "to be kept cool," and to give instructions to that effect. - Ed.

Baling is a more difficult operation to perform properly. From fifty to one hundred of ordinary sized nursery trees make a respectable bale; two or three of the tallest trees are first collected together, then small quantities of damp moss placed in the crevices of the roots, a few more roots laid on, and more moss, until the whole number is laid together; a band of rye straw is then passed around the bundle near the collars of the roots, and drawn together as tightly as possible; two or three more bands are passed around at other parts.

A bast or cocoa-nut mat - the last to be preferred - is then laid on the floor of the packing shed, and a few bundles of rye straw spread out the length of the stems of the trees, so that six or eight inches of the end of the straw will lap over the mat; then on the mat some six inches of wet straw is placed, and on this, the roots laid in about the middle of the mat; the bundle is placed, the wet straw well packed around the roots, the mat drawn up very tightly around, and sewed together; and then lastly the straw brought equally around the bundle, and corded regularly around, at about six inches interval till the end is reached, when the cord should be brought down on the opposite side lengthwise, secured to each circle of cord as it passes, and finished by being secured to the mat at the base.

In cording bales, deciduous trees cannot be too tightly drawn together; evergreens should be drawn together more loosely, as they are apt to heat, especially if they are somewhat damp.

I trust this brief explanation of the principles of packing, and slight sketch of the mode of doing it, will be sufficient to set novices on the track of becoming proficients in the art. I am sensible I have done little for their information, for it is truly one of those arts in which "practice makes perfect".