5 2 



THREE KINGDOMS. 



in collecting and arranging a lot of plants conveys 

 more definite ideas of ' affinity ' than hours of lecturing. 

 It is the fashion nowadays to decry systematic work, 

 but it is likely to have its uses for some time to come. 

 The average young pupil is more interested in the 

 plants afield than in the differentiation of the punctum 

 vegetationis : at least such is our experience. 



In conclusion, we will say that dried plants can be 

 studied almost as well as the fresh. A short soaking 

 in water softens the parts, restores the contours, and 

 makes everything available for dissection. Indeed, 

 the larger part of a systematic botanist's work is upon 

 dried plants. The herbarium is a sort of cyclopaedia 

 a book of reference, where the explanations are 

 afforded by the plants themselves. It is out of the 

 question personally to collect all the plants even of a 

 single family whose times of blooming and fruiting are 

 different, and whose localities are remote, and perhaps 

 to you inaccessible. In the herbarium you have the 

 whole range side by side and can institute compari- 

 sons. In the useful study of plant-distribution, as 

 in many other ways, then, the hortus siccits is a ne- 

 cessity. 



It may not be out of place, in connection with rules for 

 preserving plants, to give the following method of pre- 

 paring specimens of wood for the cabinet : Cut boards 

 five by eight inches and a quarter of an inch thick. 

 Season, and plane smooth. Varnish one-half. Then 

 cut from a sapling, two or three inches in diameter, 

 some pieces one-quarter of an inch thick. Saw these 

 in a square mitre-box. Saw off several, as some may 

 warp or split. In summer, the pieces will season with- 

 out a fire. In winter, a fire is needed, but the wood 

 should not be put too near it. When the end sections 

 are seasoned, smooth one side carefully with a rasp, so 

 as not to mar the bark. Finish with fine sand-paper. 



