496 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



long, when they are hung up, occupying very little room, while the onions 

 have a good opportunity of ripening. 



1529. In collecting seed, the greatest care is required to have it ripe, and 

 that the bags into which it is put are correctly mai'ked. All that is known of 

 the parent plant should be added, if it is other than a common kind, in- 

 cluding the soil in which it is found. When collected, before packing away, 

 the seeds should be carefully dried. When they belong to a pulpy fruit, 

 sepai-ate the grains from the pulp as soon as decomjiosition begins, and dry 

 before placing them in ba<;3. 



§ 3.— Collecting for Herbahia. 



1530. Plants intended for the herbal should be gathered in flower, and when 

 small, they should be taken with the root. The plants, in this state, are placed 

 between leaves of paper prepared for the purpose, and between two boards, 

 or under one, from which they are not removed until they have become per- 

 fectly flat. Where there are conveniences for so doing, the packet may, with 

 great advantage, be placed in an oven. When drj', change the paper. Some 

 plants, as orchids and bulbs, will sometimes vegetate for months in the herbal 

 after they have been placed there. If plunged into boiling water for a minute, 

 and immediately afterwards placed between paper, their drying will be more 

 rapid. If the plants are unknown or new, indicate their popular names, the 

 height at which they were procured, and their habit ; also their height, as 

 well as their odour. 



1531. In order to be prepared for collecting, provide some sheets of paper 

 of a suitable size (16 inches by 12 is a good size) and several boards of the 

 same proportion. These should be formed of two thin boards glued together, 

 the grain of the one transverse to the other. These may be connected together 

 by means of straps, so as to communicate considerable pressure. A large 

 book of blotting-paper between two other similar planks will complete this 

 temporary herbarium. 



1532. Insects are the bane of all collections, the herbaria included ; and 

 it requires incessant care in order to preserve them and enable them ta 

 bear *;jposure to the air. Sir James Smith used a wash composed of cor- 

 rosive sublimate two drachms, spirits of wine, in which a small piece 

 of camphor was dissolved, one pint. This wash should be lightly applied, 

 but so that all the raphides of the flowers, and the fleshy parts of the plant, 

 are saturated with it. 



1533. Beautiful specimens are prepared by an apparatus to which the 

 name of M. Le Coq, professor of natural history at Clermont-Ferrand, has 

 been given. This apparatus consists of two open covers made of strong iron- 

 wire network, having an iron frame round them, in which the plants are 

 placed between thick blotting-paper. After they have been kept under pres- 

 sure for a few hours, the covers are compressed by means of straps ; and the 



