COLLECTING AND PRESERVING PLANTS. 



269 



moisture. This portfolio should contain a stock of 

 thin, unsized paper, such as the poorest printing- 

 paper, or grocer's tea-paper, and a close tin box, for 

 preserving specimens, to be examined at home while 

 fresh. Such a box is shown strapped upon the col- 



FIG. 422. 



t ' 



lector, in Fig. 421. It shuts close, and has two com- 

 partments : the large one, with a door in the side, 

 nearly as long as the box ; and a small one, two or 

 three inches deep, with a door in the end, for re- 

 ceiving small, delicate specimens of any kind. 



WHAT TO GET. Specimens that are intended for 

 preservation must be gathered with great care, and 

 pains must be taken to get average examples of each 

 species. If possible, they should be gathered in dry 

 weather. Herbs should be gathered when in flower 

 and in fruit. They should be taken by the root, and, 

 if it is not too large, this should be pressed, along 

 with the rest, to show whether the plant is annual, 

 biennial, or perennial. Thick roots, bulbs, tubers, 

 and the like, should be thinned with a knife, or cut 

 in slices, lengthwise. Buds and fruit should be ob- 

 tained, as well as the expanded flower. All three 

 may sometimes be found upon the same plant, but 



