AND PRESERVING PLANTS. 125 



weights, penny-pieces, etc., it is quite needless. The leaves and 

 flowers are best displayed by nature in the state in which you 

 gather them, and th€>y will require little or no assistance with the 

 hand, when laid out upon papers, to appear to the best advantage, 

 especially if put in carefully on being fresh gathered. 



If the specimens cannot be laid down immediately on being 

 gathered, they should be preserved in a tin box, or, failing that, in 

 a rush basket, where they will keep fresh for a day or two, if the 

 atmosphere be not very much heated. 



Some very succulent plants, such as Cacti, Semperviva, Seda, 

 orchideous plants whicii grow on trees, etc., require to have the 

 specimens plunged in boiling water for a few seconds before they are 

 pressed, to destroy life and thus accelerate the process of drying. 



The drying of bulbs, tubers, and the like, will be facilitated by 

 cutting them leugthwise in slices. Succulent stems may often be 

 treated in the same way. 



Plants with very fine but rigid leaves, as the Fir tribe and the 

 Heaths, and some with compound winged leaves, to prevent their 

 leaves falling off or their parts separating, may either be treated in 

 the same manner, or dried in very hot paper or with a hot iron. 



In many cases, especially in warmer climates, the traveller will 

 find the process accelerated by exposing the parcel (hung up and 

 properly secured) to the open air when the weather is favourable, 

 and the circulation of air through it will be promoted if the sheets 

 on Avhich the specimens are laid be placed alternately back and edge. 

 In tropical countries he will find it necessary to shift his specimens 

 at least once a day, and by changing them into hot paper, and 

 crowding such specimens as are dry, he will be enabled to form a 

 considerable collection in small compass and in a very short time. 

 Four or five shiftings will generally be sufficient to complete the 

 process, which is ascertained by the stiffness of the stems and leaves, 

 and by the specimens not shrinking when removed. They should 

 then be placed between dry papers [such as ordinary newspaper], 

 and formed into parcels of moderate thickness, and either packed in 

 boxes or well secured as parcels covered with oil-cloth. 



Palms, having their fructification and leaves very large, can 

 hardly be subjected to pressure ; a few flowers should be pressed, 



9 



