Vol. Il. No. 9.) BULLETIN OF THE TORREY BOTANICAL CLUB. — [New York, September, 1871. 
60. Herbarium Suggestions—No. 3. Collecting Specimens.—For the 
collection of specimens, the botanist carries with him on his tramps, 
besides a strong knife or trowel, either a tin box (vasculum) or a 
portfolio containing folded sheets of thin paper in which to place 
the plants ; indeed both the box and the portfolio are desirable. 
_ The box will hold thick roots which he cannot on his trip find 
time to pare down, and fresh specimens for examination on his re- 
turn home, but its capacity is limited. 
A portfolio, on the contrary, will hold almost an illimitable num- 
ber of specimens, and, moreover, will keep them in a fair state of 
preservation for a much longer time than one would naturally sup- 
pose. With two portfolios well stocked with paper, and a few 
driers interposed, we may make an excursion to the country oc- 
cupying five days or a week, and, on returning home, find the con- 
tents but little injured by the delay. 
The vasculum should be oval-cylindrical in shape, at least eigh- 
teen inches long, and with a door opening on one side. A small 
additional compartment opening at one end will be convenient as a 
lunch box, and also to contain water plants, nuts, acorns, land 
shells, or other objects of interest met with on the tramp. The 
portfolio should measure eighteen by twelve inches. It is best made 
simply of two stout sheets of pasteboard, not connected by a back 
or hinges, and covered with “enamelled cloth” to keep out moisture. 
To tie them together, I prefer a stout cord, or fishing-line, to india 
rubber bands or straps. 
The young botanist soon learns that the collection of specimens 
does not consist in tearing off a flower with a portion of the stem 
and a few upper leaves. He finds it impossible to identify his spe- 
cies, in many cases, without having both the sterile and fertile 
flowers when the plant is monecious or dicecious, also the mature 
fruit, the root leaves, and even the root, all of which are component 
parts of the complete plant and often essential to its recognition. 
Tn many cases, the fruit may be obtained from more advanced 
cimens at the same time as the flower; in others, it must be col- 
lected later. —S 
_ When the plant is very large, it may be cut into sections, or the 
root leaves way be preserved separately with only a convenient por- 
tion of the upper stem, flower and fruit. 
_In collecting carices, the best way is to gather a number of spe- 
cimens in a little package and pass the whole through slitsin one 
or — pieces of paper to hold them together, in which shape they 
are to be dried. | ee 
Some water plants are so flimsy that it is necessary to float them = 
“out in water, and secure their shape by passing a sheet of paper oe 
under them, upon which they are dried and permanently retained. — 
For digging up roots, a stout clasp knife will answer. Some per- 
sons prefer a trowel with its blade narrowed by grinding it off 
Still more convenient is a tool shaped like a triangular dagger. 
Every body knows what a three sided saw file is. Buy one'of the 
largest size; take it to a blacksmith and have the extreme half of 
the file bent in a gentle curve on one of its sides until the point is 
