270 THE SECOND BOOK OF BOTANY. 



generally they will have to be obtained at different 

 times, unless, indeed, you are able to find buds, 

 flowers, and fruit, all at once, upon plants in differ- 

 ent stages of development. 



Small herbs may be preserved entire. If the 

 radicle leaves are withered at flowering-time, get a 

 younger specimen in which they are fresh. When 

 herbs are too large for this, they may be cut in sec- 

 tions, or folded, or you must be content with branch- 

 es and specimen-leaves taken from near the root. In 

 the case of woody plants, one or more shoots should 

 be taken, bearing leaves, flowers, and fruit. Both 

 sterile and fertile flowers should be obtained from 

 monoecious and dioecious plants. 



TRANSPORTING. The specimens, when freshly 

 gathered, should be laid between the sheets of the 

 portfolio, the more delicate ones being carefully 

 placed between sheets of drying-paper, so that, on 

 reaching home, they can be transferred to the press 

 without being disturbed. The folds and doublings 

 of leaves and petals of ordinary plants, occasioned 

 by the wind, in the open field, are easily smoothed 

 out when putting the plants in press. 



PRESSING. As good an arrangement as any for 

 pressing plants consists of two stout boards, that will 

 not warp or bend, between which the specimens are 

 placed, with any convenient weight as stones, or 

 masses of iron, of not less than fifty or sixty pounds 

 laid on the top. Between the plants you put layers 

 of drying-paper. Newspapers answer very well for 

 this purpose. They should be made into packets of 

 about a dozen thicknesses, stitched together. Lay 

 the plants smoothly between these packets. Put 



