How to Dry Plants. 77 



nothing more is wanted; and next we must gather our 

 specimens, selecting, to begin with, such as are of slender 

 make and comparatively juiceless texture. Pieces of 

 about a foot long are large enough, but if the plant be 

 less than ten or twelve inches in height, it should be 

 taken root and all. Having the boards and papers in 

 readiness, lay one of the former as a foundation, and to 

 serve as a tray; upon this place a folded newspaper, and 

 upon this a sheet of Bentall, and then the specimen 

 intended to be dried. Over the specimen should come 

 a second sheet of Bentall, then another newspaper, and 

 so on till the whole collecting is deposited. All being 

 in order, it remains only to place a heavy weight 

 upon the top of the pile, so as to press the plants flat, 

 and prevent the air entering to shrivel them. The 

 easiest weights to use are common red bricks, but, as 

 bricks look untidy in a parlour, and are unpleasant to 

 handle in their naked state, they should be tied up neatly 

 and separately in smooth brown paper, and then not the 

 most fastidious or weak-fingered can object to them. In 

 this condition the pile should be left till the next day, 

 when it should be turned over, layer by layer, and the 

 specimens transferred into dry Bentall. The newspapers 

 need not be changed unless the plants are succulent 

 ones, and their moisture has penetrated. The weight 

 should then be replaced, and the pile again be left to 

 itself for three or four days, when the specimens will be 

 found perfectly dry, their forms scarcely altered, and 

 their colours, except in special cases, almost as bright as 



