[Cir. 126^C] 



DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING PLANTS.' 



By P. L. RicKER, Assistant Botanist, Taxonomic and Range Investigations. 



b 



INTRODUCTION. 



Several thousand specimens of plants are sent annually by farmers, 

 florists, nurserymen, and amateur botanists to the United States 

 Department of Agriculture for identification. In many cases the 

 specimens consist of small fragments of the plants, which are not 

 adequate for satisfactory identification and are often without data. 

 Many of these specimens if properly prepared or packed would be 

 valuable additions to the Department collections, but as usually 

 received they are wortliless and difficult to identify, requiring an 

 expenditure of time entirely out of proportion to the value of the 

 specimen or the usefulness of the information to the sender. It is 

 with a view to the improvement of such specimens that this paper 

 was prepared. 



Most of the specimens are received from persons without a knowl- 

 edge of the methods of collecting, preparing, and packing for ship- 

 ment, and it is chiefly to these that the directions are addressed. 

 Abbreviated dii-ections are given on page 35 for those who have not 

 the tune or customary outfit for the careful preparation of specimens, 

 but more complete directions will be given first, in the hope that all 

 correspondents will assist in building up a valuable economic collec- 

 tion and materially reduce the amount of time and labor required to 

 make identifications. 



THE EQUIPMENT. 



The digger. — A stout knife or garden trowel may be used for digging 

 the plant. The most serviceable all-around tool for collecting is, how- 

 ever, a United States Army intrenchmg tool (fig. 1),^ which is like a 

 broad knife, the blade being 8^ inches long, 2 inches wide, and pointed 

 at the end. It is provided with a heavy sole-leather case in which it 

 is held by a spring and is easily attached to a belt. As a possible 



1 Issued May 10, 1913. 



» Shown with case and hook for attaching to a belt, in the left foreground of the illustration. These can 

 be obtained from dealers in second-hand Army equipment at a cost of about $1 each. 



[Cir. 126] 27 



