182 BOTANICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL INQUIRIES. 



1859. so far as possible, preserved, and such a degree of pressure 

 imparted that they may not shrivel in drying. 



For these purposes, provide a quantity of paper of moderate 

 folio size and rather absorbent quality brown or stout grey 

 paper answers the purpose exceedingly well. An excellent kind, 

 when not to be used in a hot and moist country, is BentalVs 

 botanical paper, 16 inches by 10, which costs (folded) los. a 

 ream; or of larger size, namely, 20 inches by 12, 21s. per ream. 

 It is sold by Newman, No. 9, Devonshire Street, Bishopsgate 

 Street, London. In a hot and moist region, brown paper may 

 be employed with advantage. Two boards are requisite, of the 

 same size as the paper, or a trifle larger, one for the top, the 

 other for the bottom, of the mass of papers. Some pieces of 

 millboard placed between the specimens, if these are numerous 

 or particularly thick and woody, are very useful. For pressure 

 nothing is better than a heavy weight on the topmost board, or, 

 while travelling, three leathern straps and buckles, two to bind 

 the boards transversely, and one longitudinally. Thus provided, 

 gather your specimens, if the plant be small, root and stem ; 

 if large, take off portions of the branches, a foot or rather more 

 in length, always selecting those which are slender and in 

 flower, or in a more or less advanced state of fruit. Long 

 slender plants, as grasses, sedges, and many /mis, may be doubled 

 once or twice. Place them, as quickly after being gathered as' 

 you can, side by side, but never put one upon the other, on the 

 same sheet of paper, taking care that one part of the bundle be 

 not materially thicker than the other ; and lay over the speci- 

 mens one, two, three, or more sheets of paper, according to the 

 thickness of your paper and of your plants ; and so on, layer 

 above layer of paper and specimens, and subject the whole to 

 pressure. In a day or two, according to the more or less succu- 

 lent nature of the plants and the heat and dryness of the climate, 

 remove them into fresh papers, twice or oftener, till the moisture 

 be absorbed, and dry the spare papers in the sun or by a fire, 

 for future use. 



If the specimens cannot be laid down as soon as gathered, 

 they should bo deposited in a tin box, which indeed is essential 



