THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



273 



as it is the air, and not the heat, which we wish to dry them. The 

 surface of the fungi may also be pricked with a darning needle. As 

 soon as they commence shrivelling, or show symptoms of drying, 

 remove them from the cage, bend down the stalk in the direction of 

 the pileus or cap, and gently press them for twelve hours ; remove 

 them from the press, and again lay them flat in the cage, and expose 

 them to the air till they appear sufficiently dry to bear further 

 pressure. Again remove them, and lay them between flannel three 

 or four times double; on this put a thin layer of cotton wadding, 

 another layer of flannel, then a fresh layer of fungi, and repeat the 

 layers of flannel and wadding as long as you have specimens. Put 

 them in a box of suitable size, and subject them to pressure by 

 placing a sheet of paper over the whole, and spreading sand lightly 

 over the surface till the whole is covered about an inch and a half 

 deep. Leave them for about two days, then remove them, and press 

 between drying paper, put on perfectly hot, for twelve hours. 



DETIKG IN" SAND AND LIME, 



There is another process, not generally known, by which they 

 may be preserved either in their natural form or flattened for the 

 herbarium. 



Take the whitest sand, nine pounds, powdered lime, one pound. 

 Mix thoroughly and sift through a fine sieve ; let the whole be well 

 dried, and kept in an earthen vessel closed against the air and damp, 

 ready for use. 



Take tin boxes, of difli'erent sizes, perforated freely with holes 

 large enough to admit a moderate-sized pea, on the top and on all 

 sides, from the top to about two inches from the bottom, but no 



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TIN BOXES WITH HOLES. 



lower. JSText, take some sheets of blotting-paper, drying-paper, or 

 flannel, line the sides of the boxes as low as the holes, but no lower ; 

 put a layer of the mixed sand and lime in the box (not heated), then 

 place your fungi stems upwards, gently shake in the mixture till it 

 reaches the edge of the pileus or gills, but not to cover them ; now 

 take a few strips carelessly torn from your paper or flannel, suffi- 

 ciently long to cross the gills of the fungi and touch all sides of 

 your box, like the medullary rays of an exogenous stem. This, by- 

 means of capillary attraction, will absorb the moisture from the gillg 

 of the fungi, as well as that taken up by the sand, and convey it to 



18 



September. 



