50 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
so as to make good herbarium specimens, they have been 
very generally avoided by collectors, and consequently are 
poorly represented in herbaria. Those collectors who have 
been able to take the time and trouble necessary, have per- 
haps not found them in flower, and have been obliged to 
content themselves with leaves or parts of leaves; others 
seeing a plant in bloom have been interested in getting the 
flowers, and have found themselves sufficiently burdened 
without collecting the leaves. It is comparatively seldom 
that leaves, flowers, capsules, and seeds of a given species 
have been collected by one person or in one place. Quite 
frequently specimens have been selected because of some- 
thing unusual in their aspect, while the ordinary form has 
been passed by with the assumption, fancied or real, that 
some one else has collected that. It is often hard to tell 
what herbarium sheets may or may not be placed together 
to represent a plant.* 
* Botanical collectors, are, as a rule, much interested in their “ finds,’’ 
and wish to have good work done with them. They are usually well 
aware of the fact that field notes of all salient points that cannot well be 
shown in dried specimens are very valuable. These should include notes 
of habit, surroundings, color of flowers, pollination, maximum, minimum, 
and average size. Where variable, it is very desirable that leaves should 
be selected representing different stages of development in both young 
and mature plants, and that careful notes of abnormal forms should be 
made. Cross-sections, and outlines and measurements of cross-sections 
are useful. The inflorescence, capsules and seeds should be well repre- 
sented if possible. If the scape is a large one, cross or longitudinal 
sections of it and its branches, with bracts and flowers attached, could 
be taken. Some of the flowers should be split longitudinally and opened 
out in pressing. 
The process of drying fleshy plants like Agaves can be much facili- 
tated and improved by dipping their parts for a few seconds at a time in 
boiling water, and repeating the process till they are softened. Care 
should be taken not to injure the color of flowers by immersing them too 
long at a time. 
Mr. C. G. Pringle, whose success with specimens is very marked, 
writes that he does not always scald the leaves, but that a week in press 
with two or three changes a day and exposure to the direct rays of the 
sun, suffices to dry the leaves of most species. He never scalds the 
flowers. 
