Notes on the Study of Botany. 253 



handle to carry it by. Wire presses and those of lattice woodwork are 

 highly recommended by some, the advantages claimed being lightness 

 and a free escape of moisture. In wet weather, however, the ordinary 

 form has the great merit of keeping one's paper dry. For an excursion 

 the press should contain a good supply of specimen sheets and driers 

 with one or two pieces of mill-board or thin deal, all of them a 

 little smaller than the press. Any thin, cheap paper will answer for 

 specimen slaeets. What is known as printing paper is the kind I 

 ordinal ily use. For driers a special paper is manufactured, but it is 

 expensive, and I substitute "filter paper" which is obtainable at most 

 druggists. Blotting paper of any kind will do, and, if economy be an 

 object, old newspapers can be made to serve. Some of the finest and 

 most beautiful specimens I have ever seen were turned out from news- 

 papers alone. The object is to have a medium that will quickly absorb 

 moisture and as quickly part with it again. The mill-boards or deals 

 are to keep apart the damp papers containing the plants and the dry 

 unused ones. I also usually carry in my press a few sheets of cotton- 

 batting to lay over ripe fruits, such as strawberries or raspberries, to 

 prevent their receiving too much pressure and so getting crushed out 

 of shape. 



A pocket lens should always accompany the collector, and should not 

 be of too high power, (an inch to an inch and a half focal distance.) A 

 very powerful lens while magnifying greatly, inconveniently narrows the 

 field of vision. 



A stout table knife answers the purpose of a trowel, which is used 

 for taking up plants by the root. 



The note book is an object of prime importance, and should be of 

 such a shape that it can be easily carried in the pocket. In this book 

 are to be jotted down any observations one cannot trust to memory, 

 e.g. the color of flowers, the height of plants, the character of the soil 

 in which they grow, etc. Unless the collector takes field-notes he will 

 run the risk of letting important observations escape him, and he cannot 

 too soon learn to make them in a concise, systematic and legible way, 

 never mixing up conjectures with actually observed facts. Everyone is 



