218 FLORA OF WASHINGTON AND VICINITY. 



specimens are located in your portfolio in the chronological order of their 

 collection and you label them immediately after reaching home, there 

 will never be any doubt as to the locality or any of the important attend- 

 ant circumstances, such as you will wish to record on your label. 



This latter consideration suggests a final observation relative to the col- 

 lection of plants, viz., that of taking notes. There are certain facts which 

 it is necessary to note down in the field, and this should always be done, 

 leaning in the direction of making the record, even though you may 

 doubt whether it is worth the trouble ; still, in botany note-taking is 

 probably less necessai->' than in almost any other branch of natural 

 science, since the objects upon which you would comment are usually 

 carried home, where the facts may be more thoroughly observed and 

 more fully and accurately described. 



Much better than the field note-book, though to some extent depend- 

 ent upon this, is the botanical diary or journal, in which are recorded, 

 after returning from each excursion, all the facts of interest observed 

 during the day. This should be written up as soon as the day's col- 

 lection is disposed of, from notes made in the field or while analyzing 

 the plants, or from memory of the less specific events. The habit of 

 noting down variances from the descriptions in the books while identi- 

 fying the specimens is to be highly commended as leading to exact 

 observation, and a botanist should think while he works, and inquire 

 after the causes of phenomena, for there is a.deep biological significance 

 in every mori)liological peculiarity. 



The beginner will do well, say the second year, to commence a private 



local catalogue in a separate book for the purpose, numbering each 



species as he identifies it. This catalogue will inevitably contain many 



mistakes and duplications, but it will always be very useful as well as 



interesting. 



3. — Preservation of plants. 



The next step in the botanist's work is to preserve the specimens 

 which he has collected. They should not be allowed to lie in the port 

 folio over night, but if it is impossible to attend to them all, then as 

 many should be pressed as possible, beginning with those first collected 

 (and this is another advantage in a methodical way of filling the port- 

 folio). Those last collected may perhaps lie till the next morning, but 

 if of a tender character or very juicy, it is best to slip in a dry paper on 

 both sides of each specimen. If any require further study, and have to 

 be left in the portfolio for this purpose, it is as well to abandon the hope 



