22 BOTANY FOR BEGINNERS. ( Ch. Ill 



cu!t> in your affording your parents this gratification. All tnat 

 you need in pressing plants, is some sheets of paper, (newspa- 

 pers will answer, they are better than more firm and stiff paper) 

 a board, and a stone or some other weight to press the ptant. 

 Borne leaves and flowers of the plant should be carefully 

 spread out upon one sheet of paper, and half a dozen other 

 sheets placed over them ; the board with the weight should 

 then be laid upon the upper sheet of paper. The plants at. 

 first, ought to be taken out and placed between dry sheets of 

 paper as often as once or twice a day. Some will dry in a few 

 days, others require more time. 



66. When you have as many as fifty specimens prepared, 

 you can then arrange them in a blank book, fastening upon the 

 first page of each leaf one or more flowers, either with glue or 

 by means of cutting through the paper and raising loops, un- 

 der which the stems may be placed. By the sides of the plant 

 should be written the class, order, genus, and species, and al- 

 so the place where found, that is, whether in dry or wet ground, 

 lew or mountainous, &c., and also at what season of the year. 

 Such herbariums would do children much credit if prepared to 

 be exhibited at public examinations of their school. 



67. Young botanists, as well as those who are older, may 

 derive great pleasure in making excursions into the fields, and 

 upon the hills and mountains, for the purpose of collecting 

 plants. Thus they learn to love every blossom which springs 

 up under their feet ; their hearts beat with pleasure when they 

 meet with some little strange flower, which exhibits new traits 

 in the character of the vegetable race. Every murmuring brook 

 shows its banks clad with flowery treasures; the forests and 

 groves exhibit another, but not less beautiful assemblage o* 

 plants ; and the mountain, the valley, and the sea coast, have 

 all their own peculiar vegetable productions. 



68. Did the great Being who created such a profusion oi 

 these beautiful and curious objects, and who also gave to chil- 

 dren eyes to see, hearts to love, and understandings to study 

 them, intend they should pass them by with neglect? No, my 

 dear children, it is your duty, as it should be your pleasure, to 

 search into the wonders of created nature, to exercise vour 

 mental faculties, and to animate your pious feelings in thinking 

 much upon the works of God. 



66. How should dried plants be arranged in a book? 



67. What is said of making botanical excursions 1 



68. What is said of paying attention tc the works of God 1 



