222 Rhodora [DECEMBER 
there is no necessity of changing driers, (2) that driers need not be 
spread out to dry, (3) that colors of flowers and foliage are more 
perfectly’ preserved, (4) that plants which formerly took a week to 
dry can almost invariably be perfectly dried in less than 24 hours, 
and commonly in less than 12 hours. : 
The contrasting disadvantages are so few and unimportant that 
they are hardly worth mentioning. It is argued that the rapid 
drying contributes to brittleness, that the corrugated boards make 
ridges on the plants, and that bulky specimens are not easily handled. 
Neither of the first two have been apparent to any very noticeable 
extent (certainly to no serious extent) in the writer’s experience, and 
the last is one that exists under almost any generally known method 
of drying plants. 
To one already outfitted with the presses, driers, etc., needed for 
drying plants by the usual method the added expense in adopting 
the new one need not necessarily exceed a dollar, for a press a foot 
in thickness. 
Under the particularly adverse conditions mentioned in the open- 
ing sentence of this article no driers were obtainable, and only a few 
second-hand sheets of single-faced corrugated card board. These 
latter were cut into sheets of the proper size, care being taken to 
have all the grooves run in one direction (across the press). The 
plants were placed, in the usual manner, in specimen sheets cut from 
old newspapers; one of these was laid on a corrugated board and 
another similar board placed on top of it. In this manner the press 
was built up. Wooden boards of a convenient size were used for 
the sides. Heavy cords tightly drawn about the press furnished the 
only available means of applying the pressure, but it answered all 
practical purposes. In building up the press care was taken to have 
the smooth side of each corrugated board down (or vice versa), for 
if odd ones were reversed the corrugations of the two adjoining sheets 
would interlock and cause deep grooves in the specimen between them. 
This press was suspended by a wire in such a way as to have the 
grooves of the paper boards vertical, and the press about four or five 
feet from the floor. A piece of unbleached cotton sheeting was 
sewed up in such manner as to suggest, in size and appearance, a 
dress skirt. By means of a draw-string at the top of this cloth it 
was fastened tightly about the middle of the suspended press, the 
bottom (about a foot from the floor) being held open by means of a 
