86 THE PLANT WORLD 



It seems to me strange that but five lines in " Botanizing " are de- 

 voted to the bisulphide of carbon treatment, since it has attained such 

 importance in the estimation of herbaHsts that some now depend on it 

 entirely, to the exclusion of the laborious washing process, which with 

 many proves ineffectual. I have a zinc lined chest that holds about 

 3000 specimens, and pass my unpoisoned plants through it twice a 

 year, letting them remain for a few days or for months, according to 

 circumstances. A plastered closet in a vacant house will answer the 

 purpose, using plenty of the bisulphide and caulking the door. In the 

 chest I set a plate on top of the plants, and pour into it about two 

 ounces of the bisulphide, then weight down the lid and run putty 

 around the edge, also puttying the top of the bottle or can. Fire should 

 be kept away from the gas. 



Some time ago a writer in The Plant World announced his dis- 

 covery of a new method of drying press papers, by punching a hole in 

 one corner of each, and stringing them on a wire, I believe. Twenty 

 years ago I discovered the same method, and probably others have dis- 

 covered it. I employed it while botanizing in eastern Tennessee one 

 summer, but never again. My apparatus consisted of some slender 

 iron rods three or four feet long, sandpapered, and with the ends filed, 

 crotched stakes set in a row east and west, and a pole laid across these 

 with hooks screwed into the under side to catch the rods. After pas- 

 sing a rod through a lot of the driers, I suspended it on three of the 

 hooks, and by drawing the driers apart in a certain way, spread them 

 very uniformly and quickly. I could take them down and into the 

 house in a tenth of the time required for spread papers, a great advan- 

 tage in showery weather. Driers might be hung in this way over a 

 stove or over a lamp with some simple arrangement for spreading the 

 heat. The rods and hooks might be carried with one's baggage. I aim 

 to spread driers before noon, for in the afternoon the absorbent power 

 of the air rapidly diminishes. 



An important detail of botanical work is the packing of plants for 

 sending away. In making up packages for exchange, most botanists 

 throw the sjjecimens on the sheets in any handy position, put a straw- 

 board or tar board at top and one at bottom, and draw them together 

 with cord till they nearly meet. This insures much breakage unless 

 the specimens were very nicely pressed. The method which I have 

 adopted, and which prevents damage in transportation, I will attempt 

 to briefly describe. I arrange the specimens with the thick parts at the 

 corners and edges as much as possible, and so that whenever I lay my 

 hands on the pile it feels of uniform thickness. With all in good shape 

 and between stout strawboards, I pass two lengths of manilla twine 

 under the package lengthwise and three crosswise, each length having 



