diff --git a/src/accountant_skel.rs b/src/accountant_skel.rs
index 4a2de617e..847ee653b 100644
--- a/src/accountant_skel.rs
+++ b/src/accountant_skel.rs
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ pub struct AccountantSkel<W: Write + Send + 'static> {
 }
 
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "cargo-clippy", allow(large_enum_variant))]
-#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Debug)]
+#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Debug, Clone)]
 pub enum Request {
     Transaction(Transaction),
     GetBalance { key: PublicKey },
@@ -290,11 +290,32 @@ impl<W: Write + Send + 'static> AccountantSkel<W> {
     }
 }
 
+#[cfg(test)]
+pub fn to_packets(r: &packet::PacketRecycler, reqs: Vec<Request>) -> Vec<SharedPackets> {
+    let mut out = vec![];
+    for rrs in reqs.chunks(packet::NUM_PACKETS) {
+        let p = r.allocate();
+        p.write()
+            .unwrap()
+            .packets
+            .resize(rrs.len(), Default::default());
+        for (i, o) in rrs.iter().zip(p.write().unwrap().packets.iter_mut()) {
+            let v = serialize(&i).expect("serialize request");
+            let len = v.len();
+            o.data[..len].copy_from_slice(&v);
+            o.meta.size = len;
+        }
+        out.push(p);
+    }
+    return out;
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
-    use accountant_skel::Request;
+    use accountant_skel::{to_packets, Request};
     use bincode::serialize;
     use ecdsa;
+    use packet::{PacketRecycler, NUM_PACKETS};
     use transaction::{memfind, test_tx};
     #[test]
     fn test_layout() {
@@ -302,6 +323,24 @@ mod tests {
         let tx = serialize(&tr).unwrap();
         let packet = serialize(&Request::Transaction(tr)).unwrap();
         assert_matches!(memfind(&packet, &tx), Some(ecdsa::TX_OFFSET));
+        assert_matches!(memfind(&packet, &[0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]), None);
+    }
+    #[test]
+    fn test_to_packets() {
+        let tr = Request::Transaction(test_tx());
+        let re = PacketRecycler::default();
+        let rv = to_packets(&re, vec![tr.clone(); 1]);
+        assert_eq!(rv.len(), 1);
+        assert_eq!(rv[0].read().unwrap().packets.len(), 1);
+
+        let rv = to_packets(&re, vec![tr.clone(); NUM_PACKETS]);
+        assert_eq!(rv.len(), 1);
+        assert_eq!(rv[0].read().unwrap().packets.len(), NUM_PACKETS);
+
+        let rv = to_packets(&re, vec![tr.clone(); NUM_PACKETS + 1]);
+        assert_eq!(rv.len(), 2);
+        assert_eq!(rv[0].read().unwrap().packets.len(), NUM_PACKETS);
+        assert_eq!(rv[1].read().unwrap().packets.len(), 1);
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/historian.rs b/src/historian.rs
index c48fa248c..93c49f733 100644
--- a/src/historian.rs
+++ b/src/historian.rs
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ mod tests {
     fn test_ticking_historian() {
         let zero = Hash::default();
         let hist = Historian::new(&zero, Some(20));
-        sleep(Duration::from_millis(30));
+        sleep(Duration::from_millis(300));
         hist.sender.send(Signal::Tick).unwrap();
         drop(hist.sender);
         let entries: Vec<Entry> = hist.receiver.iter().collect();
diff --git a/src/packet.rs b/src/packet.rs
index f642f5762..72e5cf8a4 100644
--- a/src/packet.rs
+++ b/src/packet.rs
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ pub type SharedBlob = Arc<RwLock<Blob>>;
 pub type PacketRecycler = Recycler<Packets>;
 pub type BlobRecycler = Recycler<Blob>;
 
-const NUM_PACKETS: usize = 1024 * 8;
+pub const NUM_PACKETS: usize = 1024 * 8;
 const BLOB_SIZE: usize = 64 * 1024;
 pub const PACKET_DATA_SIZE: usize = 256;
 pub const NUM_BLOBS: usize = (NUM_PACKETS * PACKET_DATA_SIZE) / BLOB_SIZE;