168 NATURE TEACHING 



usually results in breaking it. With good absorbent 

 paper, used perfectly dry, two changes are often sufficient, 

 except for thick-leaved plants, which require more. 



For future reference it is advisable to mount the 

 dried plants on sheets of paper. The same size should 

 be used throughout (16 inches by io inches is a common 

 and convenient size), and only one species of plant should 

 be placed on any one sheet. Fix the plants to the 

 sheets by small strips of gummed paper. 



Write on each mounted sheet the name of the 

 plant in the bottom left-hand corner, and add locality 

 and date of collection, time of flowering, nature of soil in 

 which it grows, whether it is a troublesome weed or not, 

 and any other facts of interest. These observations 

 should be made at the time the plant is collected and 

 written on a slip of paper, which should be put with the 

 plant when drying, and then neatly copied on the sheet 

 on which the specimen is mounted. Plants collected, 

 dried and mounted without notes made at the time of 

 collection, giving some or all of the particulars above, 

 lose much of their value. 



A collection of this kind may be made by individual 

 pupils, but it will usually be found advisable to make a 

 general collection for the school. The work of drying 

 arid mounting can then be distributed amongst a number, 

 and a collection formed which will steadily grow and 

 become of permanent value and increasing interest. 



