COLLECTING AND PRESERVING 125 



fronds removed. In a general way the fronds 

 are best collected during the summer and 

 autumn, when they will, of course, be well 

 developed. It is much more difficult to secure 

 perfect fronds than may be generally supposed, 

 and even with the common species a number 

 of plants may have to be examined ere 

 specimens without blemish of some kind or 

 another can be obtained. Seeing that the 

 position and shape of the son play such an 

 important part in classification, the fronds 

 should be secured when the patches of spore 

 cases are developed. On the other hand, 

 these should not be quite ripe, or they will be 

 likely to burst in the process of drying, and 

 the real character of the son will not be very 

 apparent. When they are gathered the fronds 

 should be placed at once in a vasculum, or 

 a long tin box, and must be kept there until 

 the time for pressing arrives. Naturally it is 

 a good plan to treat the fronds as soon as 

 possible, though in a closed tin box they will 

 keep for some days without withering. 



If properly dried and pressed, it is possible 

 to preserve the Fern fronds with a great deal 

 of their natural colour. Botanical drying 

 paper should be employed, and, of course, if 

 desired an orthodox press may be used; but 

 this is not really necessary. The cheapest 

 plan is to secure two boards of wood of a size 

 to cover the sheets of drying paper, which are 

 placed between the boards. If the paper is 

 about twelve by eighteen inches this will 

 accommodate moderate examples of most of 

 the fronds. Of course, special arrangements 

 will have to be made for extremely large 

 leaves. It is not a bad plan to have two 

 straps with buckles so as to keep the boards 



