124 DIRECTIONS FOR COLLECTING 



too rapidly, and by repeated damping and drying would soon be 

 rendered useless. 



Two boards [or light presses made of galvanized iron wire] should 

 be provided — one for the top and the other for the bottom of the 

 mass of papers. 



For pressure at home, or when stationary for any length of time 

 in a given spot, nothing serves better than a weight of any kind (a 

 folio book, a large stone, etc.) put upon the topmost board; and the 

 great advantage of this is, that the weight follows the shrinking of 

 the plants beneath. 



Whilst travelling, three leathern straps with buckles should be 

 procured ; two to bind the boards transversely, and one longitudinally. 

 It will be further desirable to have a number of pieces of pasteboard 

 of the same size as the paper, to separate different portions of the 

 collection, either such as are in different states of dryness, or such as 

 by their hard woody nature might otherwise press upon and injure 

 the more delicate kinds. 



Thus provided, gather your specimens, — if the plants be small, 

 root and stem, — if large, cut off branches of 1 or 1| foot long; 

 selecting always such as are in flower, and others in a more or less 

 advanced state of fruit. 



Place them side by side, but never one upon another, on the 

 same sheet, and lay upon them one, two, or three sheets, according 

 to the thickness of the plants, or their more or less succulent nature ; 

 and so on, layer above layer of p.vper and specimens, subjecting 

 them then to pressure. 



As soon as you find that the paper has absorbed a considerable 

 portion of the moisture (which will be according to the more or less 

 succulent nature of the plants and the heat or dryness of the season 

 or climate), remove the plants into fresh papers, and let the old 

 papers be dried for use again, either in the open air or sun, or in a 

 heated room, or before the fire. [In drying papers out of doors in 

 countries visited by sudden rains, it is a good plan to insert an eyelet 

 in one corner of each sheat and string the sheets up. This enables 

 them to be gathered in a moment, and prevents their being blown to 

 .a distance.] 



y^^ to the spreading out of the leaves and flowers with small 



