THE IDENTIFICATION OF PLANTS 103 



water immediately you enter the house. If 

 left for half an hour, especially after a long 

 tramp, you will find them limp and wilted. 

 Jars are preferable to bowls, as they give 

 greater support to the stems, and as fruit jars 

 are usually plentiful, do not be stingy in this 

 respect but use a liberal number, putting a few 

 plants only into each. This is not fussiness. 

 You must remember that every error, from 

 picking to mounting, will show itself in the 

 mounted specimen. If you have torn the 

 stem-leaves off in gathering, the wound will 

 show. If the plant has been crowded in the 

 basket or in the water- jar, or allowed to remain 

 without water too long, it will rarely be worth 

 mounting at all. It will look what it is an 

 exhausted plant, crumpled and dying and mis- 

 erable. The jars should contain very little 

 water, sufficient to cover only one inch of each 

 stalk. Wet plants are dangerous in the press, 

 for they cause mildew. As soon as the plants 

 are arranged in the jars, place them upon a 

 table in a good light, with your Flora, note- 

 book, magnifying-glass, penknife and dissect- 

 ing-needles at hand. 



