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Caulophyllum, the Dentarias, many of the Crucifere and Legumin- — 
ose, and others outside of these orders, are so delicate and sensitive 
that they will not bear the least handling, unless enclosed in sheets, 
without curling and shrivelling, an attempt to transfer them from one 
drier to another, unless enclosed, only resolves them into tangled 
confusion. The specimens should be left in these papers through 
all changes of driers, until thoroughly cured, and it is a good plan 
to let them remain in these sheets even afterwards, until wanted for 
mounting or for exchanging. The specimens, by so remaining, are 
kept in much finer condition than by taking them out and huddling © 
together in other papers. Besides it saves time of transferring, an 
important item during a busy collecting season. 
In getting ready for a tramp it is a good idea to put several driers 
into the portfolio with specimen paper. It is not necessary to have 
a drier between every paper as some young collectors think,—in 
fact, for a trip of a day, or two or three days even, the plants keep 
fresher and nicer by having sheets with specimens next each other 
than with driers interposed. Only a few driers are desirable, inter- 
posed to keep thick and stubborn plants from making the pile too 
uneven when putting into portfolio. 
Driers will receive notice later on under another heading. 
For digging up roots, bulbs, etc., I have used nothing better than 
a small ¢riangular trowel. ‘Its blade is about 5 or 6 inches long, 
sharp pointed, and known, I believe, as the masons’ smaller pointing 
trowel. It can be obtained at any hardware store, and costs about | 
30 cents, Be careful to select one strong and stiff. Perhaps one 
fully as good, if not better, is the Webb botanical trowel, represented 
on page 34, Vol. II., of Bulletin. It is made from a large triangu- 
lar file, to which a curvature of nearly an inch of point part can be 
given by a blacksmith. The teeth should be ground off, and a han- 
dle fitted. A leather case to carry-either of the foregoing trowels 
would be found convenient and probably save from annoying losses. 
Always carry a knife, Part of one edge of the first trowel can 
be ground sharp for cutting, but it is much better to have a strong 
pocket-knife with you. 
It is well to be provided with a good /es on an excursion, It 
will be found very useful if not necessary in collecting specimens of 
many of the more difficult and recondite families, where the dis- 
tinctive characteristics of the species are minute and often obscure, 
as in the sedges, grasses, mosses, etc. The Excelsior, Gray’s, or 
Coddington Lens all answer a very good purpose for field work. | 
Last, but not least, be sure to take a note dook with you on the 
excursion. This I regard as one of the most important requisites of 
the trip. Habitats of rare plants, with many valuable observations 
may be noted down in the field, which may be afterwards of deep 
personal, and, possibly, public interest, and which would be often 
entirely lost if left to unreliable memory. 
Whether it be a good plan on an ordinary occasion, to cumber 
himself with a descriptive botanical work, I leave to the collector to 
determine. Some botanists always carry one. In new or remote 
regions there are times when it might prove serviceable. But on an 
