THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



89 



fixed two inclined planes d d. The lever f travels on the inclined 

 planes when impelled by the handle n, and can be prevented from 

 slipping back by means of pegs inserted in the top edge of the 

 planes D d. The platen c is kept close to the collar when not under 

 pressure, by means of two pieces of elastic web. You will require 

 some kind of box or collecting case on your rambles, and the 



following figure represents a folding case which we have used for 

 many years. It is well adapted to be carried at one's back in the 

 way of a knapsack, and it may be expanded to such a size, both 

 back and front, as to accommodate the spoils of a really great day 

 in collecting. It is the proper thing for any one who goes out 

 botanizing in earnest, for if furnished with blotting-paper, the plants 

 can be laid out^properly in the first instance, and the drying pro- 

 cess commences at the instant of their being gathered. The one 

 from which our engraving is copied is seventeen inches long by nine 

 inches broad, and will expand to eleven inches. 



When these preparations are made, the following rules may be 

 observed in order to prepare the specimens, so as to preserve and 

 know them again. The precise time to gather the specimens is when 

 they are in full flower, or rather when some of the flowers are fallen 

 to give place to the fruit. It is at the time when all the parts of 

 fructification are visible that endeavours must be made to gather and 

 dry the plants. Small plants may be taken whole with their roots, 

 which must be so brushed that no earth remains. 



If the earth be wet, it must either be dried in order to be 

 brushed, or else washed oft'. In this case it should be well wiped 

 and dried before it is put in the papers, without which it would 

 infallibly rot, and injure those near to it. The root need not be 

 preserved unless the plant be small, as the Balla; herbacea, or unless 

 it have some remarkable singularities. 



Nature, which has done so much for elegance and ornament in 

 the form and colour of plants in whatever strikes our sight, has 

 destined the roots entirely to useful functions, being concealed 



March. 



