A NEW METHOD OF PRESSING PLANTS. 

 By Albert P. Morse. 



THE usual method of pressing plants, though often giving excel- 

 lent results, is attended with certain inconveniences and draw- 

 backs which become of serious importance when perfect spec- 

 imens are required. Some years ago I became dissatisfied 

 with the old method ; dissatisfaction led to experiment, and experiment 

 evolved one much superior to it in the ease and certainty with which 

 the best results attainable — artistic and scientific — can be secured. 



The object of pressing is to support and hold extended the plant 

 while extracting the moisture from it as rapidly as possible. And 

 what is more annoying than to have the beauty of a rare and other- 

 wise perfect specimen destroyed or sadly marred by the displacement, 

 folding, or overlapping of pinnules or petals ? By the usual method 

 of procedure one can never be quite sure that every one of these is 

 exactly where it should be, or that the pressure is just right to hold 

 the thinner parts in place without crushing the thicker. Success in 

 these particulars can be secured only by some process allowing com- 

 plete inspection without disarrangement of specimens. For this pur- 

 pose I devised and have used with gratifying success the following- 

 process, which may be called the "glass and cotton " method: 



The materials needed are a number of quarter-inch boards about 

 12 by i8 inches; a supply of cotton batting; a supply of old, or at least 

 soft and bibulous, cotton sheeting; a number of panes of glass of the 

 same size or half as large as the mounting paper; a number of frag- 

 ments of glass of various sizes — i x 2, 2x3, 2x4 inches (all of the glass 

 should have the sharp edges removed by sandpaper or grinding) ; two 

 or three long, slender, steel knitting-needles — or, better, hat-pins with- 

 out heads — stuck into small handles ; and a few of the usual driers. 



For pressing, take one of the boards, place on it a drier, cover 

 this with a layer of cotton batting half an inch or more thick, and on 

 this lay a single or double thickness of the sheeting. Select a speci- 

 men adapted to the size of the mounting-paper, place it on the cloth, 

 arrange the parts as desired, holding them down temporarily if need 

 be with the slips of glass. When sufficiently wilted or relaxed remove 

 the glass slips and place over it one of the large panes of glass, ar- 

 ranging any portions, if necessary, with one of the long steel needles 

 by inserting this from the sides or ends. If dilificulty is experienced 

 in working with the full-sized pane use the half-size, arranging each 

 half in turn. Petals or any part liable to stick to the glass should be 

 covered with paraffined paper before the glass is laid on. 



