Qiieries and A7iswers. 1 97 



1828. Till some correspondent favours us with more particular directions, 

 we recommend the specimens to be dried between leaves of paper, under 

 the pressure of a bag of sand or small shot, and, when perfectly dry, trans- 

 ferred to a bound specimen-book, and sewed (not gummed) to its leaves, ill 

 the order of gathering the specimens. The name should be attached to each 

 specimen by a slip of paper. In the course of three or four years, two or 

 three thousand specimens will have been dried, and these may then be trans- 

 ferred to another book or books, arranged according to the natural system, 

 gummed on, and their names, &c. written beside them. The mode of form- 

 ing the book for this purpose is as follows : — Suppose the size to be folio ; 

 then gum the specimens on one side of leaves of drawing cartridge-paper, 

 paste a leaf of reddish-brown blotting-paper on the back of the leaf contain- 

 ing the specimens, and paste a margin of cartridge-paper all round both 

 sides of each leaf, say half an inch broad at top and bottom, and the outer 

 edge, and 1 in. broad at the inner or binding edge. This being done, put 

 each leaf separately in a press, and let it remain there till it is pressed quite 

 flat. Proceed in the same way with as many separate leaves as will contain 

 all the specimens to be arranged, or as many as will make a proper sized 

 volume; and then send them to a binder, to be bound in the usual way. 

 The effect of the double edge will be, that each page of specimens will, as it 

 were, lie fastened to the bottom of a shallow drawer, completely excluded 

 from the air ; and the volume may be kept in a book-case along with others, 

 in the usual way, and, by its index, referred to with as much ease as any 

 other botanical work. This is by far the best method of keeping specimens 

 that we know of, for small collections ; and we would strongly recommend 

 all those who can afford it, to employ Professor La Gasca {Gard. Mag., 

 Vol. II. p. 220.), to form books of this sort, containing one or two species 

 under each order and tribe of the natural system. There could not bd 

 purchased a work of equal value to the young botanist. Mr. Toward, 

 flower-gardener to the Duchess of Gloucester, is the only person that we 

 know of who possesses an herbarium done up in this way, and to him belongs 

 the merit of the invention. The binder was Mr. Perryman, of Windsor, 

 himself much attached to botany. (See Gard. Mag. for August, 1827.) — 

 Cond. 



How to commence the Study of Botany. — A young man, desirous of com- 

 mencing the study of botany, would feel extremely obliged by a few re- 

 marks on the most efficient mode of commencing the study, so as to make 

 gradual proficiency without the assistance of a teacher ; he being so situ- 

 ated as to preclude the possibility of obtaining verbal instruction. What 

 books should he obtain ? and how may he obtain a correct knowledge of 

 the technical terms used in the science ? A few remarks by yourself, or a 

 correspondent desirous of being useful to the young student, would confer 

 an obligation on. Sir, &c. — An Admirer of Nature, Eingwood, May lOf. 

 1828. 



Drummond's First Steps to Botany , London, 12mo, 2d edit., 200 figs., 9*., 

 we consider the best book to commence with ; and next Smith's Intro- 

 duction, and Hooker's Flora Scotica, or perhaps the forthcoming edition of 

 Hull's Flora A'nglica, may be resorted to. While these books are studied, 

 as many specimens of plants should be gathered and dried as possible, and 

 their names ascertained from the nearest gardener. There is but little to 

 be done in the study of botany without first storing the memory with the 

 names and images of a number of plants of common occurrence. By 

 gathering specimens (if only a single leaf of each plant), laying them between 

 the leaves of a book of any sort, one on each page, and writing their names 

 beside them, and afterwards turning them over two or three times a day, 

 the names and images of all the plants of a garden or neighbourhood may 

 be fixed in the memory in the course of a week or two. When this has 

 been done, the student may turn to* Hooker or Hull, and compare the de- 



