136 HENRY S. CONARD 



them. Ferns and tree leaves of Long Island dry readily in 

 twenty-four hours. Specimens collected today may be mounted, 

 labeled, and stored in the permanent herbarium tomorrow. Salt- 

 worts and prickly pears require two to four days to dry. They 

 do not grow in the press as Talinum and Sedum used to do in 

 the blotters. 



For those who wish more detailed specifications, we may out- 

 line our own method of operating the press. In the field I usu- 

 ally carry on my back a light slat press with three projecting 

 strips on each side. A stout cord is wrapped around the ends 

 of these strips to hold the press together. Two half-inch ropes 

 tied into the ends of one side of the press enable me to hang it 

 on my shoulders like a knapsack. A big cord properly run 

 through the slats of the other side is used for attaching general 

 baggage — manual, maps, accession list, lunch, blankets, etc. Both 

 hands are thus left free for any use that may come to them. 

 One can easily carry in addition a vasculum on one shoulder 

 and a camera on the other. Before starting out we fill the press 

 with fifty to two hundred sheets of the thinnest and cheapest 

 imprinted newspaper, cut to 11 by 17 inches. Printed news- 

 paper is just as good. On reaching the collecting grounds we 

 gather plants in hand until they begin to show the first signs of 

 wilting. Then we sit down in a spot sheltered from any breath 

 of wind, lay the plants on our right, and the press on our lap 

 with the baggage side up. The cord is loosed, the loaded side 

 of the press laid off to the left, and the papers laid on top of it. 

 Then we lay two sheets of paper on the press, cover with plants, 

 lay on two more papers, then plants, then two papers, and so on 

 until all the plants are put in. A stick, leaf, or stalk of grass 

 laid with one end projecting from the press serves to mark the 

 place where we leave off putting in plants at this sitting. The 

 empty papers are replaced, and all made fast with the cord. 

 Next time we begin at the projecting grass or leaf and proceed 

 as before. This is repeated until the day's work is done, when 

 we return to the laboratory. 



Field work has to be conducted in Iowa on rather different 

 lines from those followed in Long Island. Rarely is the air 



