THE KELLERMAN PLANT PRESS 



HENRY S. CONARD 



Grinnell College. Grinnell, Iowa 



Some years ago the late Professor Kellerman published in 

 Science a note describing a quick method of drying plants for 

 herbarium collections. He had used it with entire success in 

 the reeking tropical climate of Guatemala. In the summer of 

 1910 the present writer arranged a similar press at the Biologi- 

 cal Laboratory of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences 

 at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. It was so satisfactory 

 that several persons who saw it have adopted the scheme. Dur- 

 ing the following autumn Professor Collins, then of Brown 

 University, described the process before the New England Botani- 

 cal Club in a paper later published in Rhodora (vol. xii, p. 221- 

 224). We have since used it in our college laboratories, to the 

 delight of both students and instructors. While, therefore, there 

 is nothing new in our device, we think every field botanist should 

 be acquainted with it, and every teacher who dries specimens 

 or requires students to do so, should know and use it. 



In brief, the Kellerman press consists of two board sides 11 

 by 17 inches, in which corrugated pasteboard is used in place 

 of blotters. The corrugations run crosswise of the sheets, being 

 backed by plain pasteboard on one side. These boards are laid 

 between the plants exactly as blotters were formerly used. When 

 the press is full, say 18 inches thick, it is tied up tightly with a 

 cord around each end. The press is then hung by the cords on 

 two hooks, so that the corrugations of the driers stand vertically. 

 A canvas skirt or tube is tied tightly round the press with a 

 drawing string, and a kersoene lamp is placed under the skirt. 

 The hot air from the lamp rises in the skirt, passes through the 

 corrugations on each side of each plant, warming and drying 



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