224 Rhodora [DECEMBER 
heat is not used. By applying artificial heat in some such manner 
as indicated above the drying process is greatly hastened. If one is 
unable to arrange the plants satisfactorily when they are first put 
into the press the latter can easily be left for half a day or more, and 
then opened and the plants rearranged finally, before artificial heat 
is applied. 
Of the various forms or modifications of the corrugated paper 
board press that the writer has tried none has dried the plants so 
rapidly as the "emergency" press, without driers, described above. 
In actual use this press was almost always emptied each day and 
ready for the new lot of plants before they were ready for the press. 
It had the disadvantage, mentioned above, however, of not satis- 
factorily taking care of thick and bulky specimens, especially fern 
rootstocks, etc., unless a packing of paper, cotton wadding, or some- 
thing of that sort, was used about the thick parts. "This disadvantage 
is greatly reduced when the regular driers are used along with the 
corrugated sheets. 
This type of press has already clearly demonstrated its great value 
as a time-saver not only for spermatophytes, but to an even greater 
extent for mosses, lichens, certain fungi, and, to a somewhat less 
extent, for algae and fleshy fungi. Soaking-wet sphagna have been 
completely dried in less than five hours, though these usually require 
six or more hours in the ventilated press. 
More permanent and convenient, though less portable, modifications 
of the apparatus described above can easily be planned for home use, 
as has been done at the writer's home and at Brown University. At 
the former place a small oil stove and a wooden case are used in place 
of the lamp and cloth; at the latter a small electric heater, costing 
about $4.00, which can be plugged into any incandescent lamp socket, 
is used to supply the heat. Other sources of heat may sometimes be 
utilized to advantage, for instance, a cook stove, a furnace register, 
a steam or hot water radiator, steam pipes, etc. 
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. 
