138 HENRY S. CONARD 



keep the hot draft from being lost through the slats. We lay 

 one of these sides on a table, on the left of it a pile of corrugated 

 driers, and on the right the opened field press with any unused 

 papers removed. Then it is simply a matter of piling up. I 

 like to have an assistant do this! On the laboratory press is 

 laid first a corrugated drier, then two sheets enclosing a plant 

 from the field press, then a corrugated drier, and so on until the 

 pile is sufficiently high. The press is tied with quarter-inch 

 rope, as tightly as we can squeeze it. The rack on which we 

 hang it at Cold Spring Harbor is made of a 12 foot long by \ 

 in. iron rod, bent in a U-shape. The legs are 5 feet long and 

 the horizontal part 2 feet. Two wires wound round the cross bar 

 and bent to a hook 4 inches below it serve to hold the cord when 

 the press is hung up. Thus the weight of the press keeps the 

 cords constantly tight, and the sides follow the plants as they 

 shrink in drying. The iron work is supported by two vertical 

 wooden supports fastened to cross pieces which lie on the floor. 

 This makes an easily portable apparatus. The skirt that is 

 tied round the press is made from two four-foot lengths of thin 

 fire- and waterproofed canvas 30 inches wide. Both selvage 

 edges are sewed together, and both ends of the tube hemmed. 

 In the upper end a drawing string of quarter-inch cord serv<-- 

 to tie the skirt around the press. In the lower end a wire is 

 inserted to keep the skirt spread wide open at the bottom. These 

 dimensions bring the bottom of the skirt about 4 or 5 inches 

 from the floor, allowing ample ventilation for the lamp. We 

 use any ordinary flat wick kerosene lamp, with an oil reservoir 

 large enough to supply the flame for at least twelve hours. A 

 2 -inch burner is desirable, but 1-inch will suffice. 



In our home laboratory the press hangs near a column in the 

 middle of a large laboratory room. We have a shallow galvan- 

 ized iron pan under it, in case of accident. Though I never had 

 any indication of danger, I would prefer to keep the outfit in a 

 fireproof room. In early spring and late autumn we simply lay 

 the press on edge on a steam radiator, obtaining the best of re- 

 sults without a trace of risk. 



