MAKING A COLLECTION 279 



and thereby to lead luiu to compare plant -groups and to 

 clarify his perception and widen his horizon. When 

 these families, or the larger part of them, are understood, 

 if the pupil desire further knowledge of species, he may go 

 to the regular manuals in which species are grouped or 

 classified according to their natural affinities. It is well to 

 study more than one plant in a genus whenever possible, 

 for then close comparisons can be made. 



MAKING A COLLECTION.— The making of a collection of 

 plants focuses one's attention, defines one's ideas, and 

 affords material for study at any season. The collecting 

 and preserving of plants should be encouraged. Not until 

 one searches for himself, and collects with his own hands, 

 can he know plants. The collection should not be an end, 

 however. It should be only a means of knowing plants 

 as they live and grow. Too often the pupil thinks it 

 sufficient merely to have made a collection, but the col- 

 lection of itself is scarcely worth the while. 



Plants are preserved by drying them under pressure. 

 The collection, when properly arranged and labelled, is an 

 herbarium. Each species should be represented by suffi- 

 cient specimens to display the stems, foliage, flowers, 

 fruits. If the plant is an herb, its root should be shown. 

 There should be several or many specimens of each 

 species to show the different forms which it assumes. It 

 is less important to have an herbarium of many species 

 than to have one showing the life -phases of a few species. 

 First make specimens of the common species: later one 

 may include the rare ones if he choose, although an her- 

 barium which selects plants merely because they are rare 

 is of little account except as a collection of curiosities. 

 The commonest plants are usually the least represented 

 in herbaria. 



Dry the plants between blotters which are 12 inches 

 wide and 18 inches long. These blotters are called 



