106 



GENESEE FARMER. 



April. 



Perservation of Botanical Specimens. 



Messrs Editors : — As that season of the 

 year is fast approaching, in which the study of 

 Botany should be commenced, I send you the 

 following (in the absence of better) directions 

 for -preserving Botanical specimens. 



The study of Botany should be commenced 

 with the first appearance of flowers in the spring, 

 and continued with ardor during the whole sea- 

 son, if we wish to have a complete assortment 

 of plants ; and then renewed again the following 

 season. 



There are two methods of preserving Botani- 

 cal specimens, much less laborious than those 

 generally given in our text books, and yet equal- 

 ly good. The student should furnish himself 

 with a good supply of paper. Tn preserving 

 mine, I used old newspapers. These are gen- 

 erally printed in folio-form. By being folded 

 again they are made quarto. If the papers are 

 of good size, they will be large enough when 

 thus folded. (If the plants are large, use large 

 papers. The papers should always project an 

 inch or two beyond the plants on every side. In 

 these spread the plants, not always placing them 

 in the middle of the sheet, but spread about, so 

 that when placed in a pile, the pile may be of 

 uniform thickness.) In papers folded in quarto 

 I placed my specimens, thus having two thick- 

 nesses of paper above, and two below them ; so 

 that when placed in a pile, there were four thick- 

 nesses of paper between the plants. Having 

 thus placed them, I wrote on the margin of each 

 sheet, the name of the plant, the class, order, 

 &c. I placed the papers in a pile, and subjected 

 them to a moderate pressure, (not sufficient to 

 mash, or bruise the stems,) increasing it a little 

 daily as the drying progressed. Every night I 

 opened the pile, examined each plant, called it 

 by name, or read the name, if I did not recol- 

 lect it, closed the sheet again, (and so of all the 

 rest,) and spread them all side by side in an un- 

 occupied room, and left them to dry till morn- 

 ing. In the morning I again read the names, 

 &c., piled the papers, and subjected them to pres- 

 sure, somewhat increased each day. Every suc- 

 ceeding night and morning I went through the 

 same process, and thus learned the names, (both 

 scientific and common,) &e., of my plants, and 

 succeeded in preserving them in a very good 

 state. When the number of occupied sheets is 

 small, empty ones should be placed above and 

 below, sufficient to make the pile one or two in- 

 ches thick. When the number of sheets is con- 

 siderable, boards of the size of the sheet should 

 beplaced a^t intervals of one or two inches from 

 each other, to facilitate the operation. When 

 nearly dry, the pressure may be increased ad 

 libitum. 



Another, and perhaps better, method is, to 

 place the plants between single sheets of white 



paper, (common printing paper is best,) and 

 place these between the news papers, (brown 

 wrapping paper will answer in this case,) and 

 having left them under pressure twenty-four 

 hours, (more or less,) transfer the white sheets 

 with the plants to an other set of news papers, 

 place these under pressure, and spread, or sus. 

 pend, the first set to dry. Proceed thus till the 

 plants have become dry. The press may con- 

 sist either of weights laid on the pile, or of a 

 lever-press. The latter is preferable ; and may 

 consist of a board with a post fastened to one 

 end of it, a lever, a block, for a fulcrum, to b© 

 placed on the pile, and a weight. 



Fairport,N. Y., March, IMS. H. 



Shrinkage of Meats in Cooking. 



Messrs. Editors : — This subject promises 

 to be as prolific as the chess question, or the 

 potato rot. It can hardly be so abstruse as to 

 defy investigation, or the arrival at some ration- 

 ale of its causes. As to the eflfects of the n)Oon, 

 it can have no more influence than a big skim 

 milk cheese hung high in the air. Whatever 

 power the moon possesses of attraction, repul- 

 sion, or as an alterative, is the same at one 

 period as at another, as the same body of matter 

 is there at all times. Its difTerent ages, which 

 are entirely arbitrary, is not marked by any 

 visible change at its quarter more than at its 

 thirds, and its increasing light does not by any 

 effects indicate to our senses, or by analysis, 

 but what it is wholly inert and powerless. 



Now if some one vvould take a given number 

 of pounds of pork, and afler boiling, again 

 weigh it, it would settle the point, whether there 

 was an actual loss, or whether this shrinkage was 

 from contraction only — in which case it would 

 not be an evil to be complained of. But if there 

 occurred an absolute loss of weight, more than 

 the loss of salt, it must either contain a large 

 quantity of gelatin, or glue, soluble in water, 

 and held in solution in the pot liquor ; or from 

 some peculiar formation of the cellular tissues, 

 the oleagenous or fat matter is given out and 

 floats on the top. 



It is very possible, from some peculiar con- 

 stitutional structure or incipient disease, that of 

 two creatures fattened on the same food and 

 killed at the same time, one may shrink in cook- 

 ing and the other nor. 



At any rate, if the subject possesses any im- 

 portance let it be investigated, so that "-e shall 

 be able to reason sanely, and not be groping in 

 the dark, or in moonshine and charging it to 

 Madame Luna, or becoming Lw/ia-tics ourselves, 



Ogden, N. Y., 1848. H. Y. 



We have received several well wrilten arti- 

 cles on this subject, but are unable to publish 

 others for want of space. 



