Notes on the Study of Botanr. 



255 



Care should be taken to display the specimens neatly, showing, if 

 possible, both sides of the leaves. In some cases it is easier to spread 

 out the leaves and remove creases after a night's pressure has somewhat 

 subdued their elasticity. Morning is the best time to collect most 

 flowering plants, as many close their blossoms by noon, but those that 

 open in the evening, vespertine flowers, should be gathered at that 

 time. 



The actual pressing and drying of specimens is done at home, 

 either in the ordinary field press in which they were collected, or 

 between a couple of pieces of inch board of the same size as the press. 

 Weights make the best pressure, and a good weight is made ot half a 

 dozen bricks tied together with a cord strong enough to lilt them by. 

 Specimens should be put into the drying press as soon as possible after 

 gathering, but often in returning from an excursion one is too tired to 

 care for more labour, and 1 commonly leave mine in the field-press 

 until next morning, nor do I find them suffer any harm from so doing. 

 Herein lies one of the great advantages of collecting directly into the 

 field-press instead of a vasculum. In drying, the thin sheets (specimen 

 sheets) containing the plants are transferred into fresh driers, heated in 

 the sunlight or by a stove, and remember always, the hotter they are the 

 better. Be careful to place the specimens in such a way that one part 

 of the bundle is noc materially thicker than the other, by placing them 

 on alternate sides, or putting in wads of paper if necessary. Plants dry 

 best in small piles, and for dividing up a package if too large, or for 

 separating the lots put into the drying press on different days, use thin 

 deals like those taken out in collecting. Some very succulent plants, 

 and others with rigid leaves, such as stone crops and pines, dry better 

 il plunged for a moment into boiling water, ere being put into the 

 drying press. Every day, or at first even twice a day, the olants in 

 their specimen sheets are to be shifted into fresh hot driers, the moist 

 ones taken off being spread out to dry in the sun or by a fire, that they 

 may take their turn again at the next shifting. The more frequently 

 the plants are changed the better will they retain their color. After 

 the first three or four days the changes need only be made every other 



