PRESSING WILD FLOWERS 133 



badly crumpled may be smoothed and pressed 

 out by a moistened finger. Pass the tip of the 

 fore-finger over a wet cloth and stroke and 

 press the leaf into shape again. Dipping the 

 finger into water would bring too much mois- 

 ture on to the plant and, needless to say, the 

 finger should never be moistened by the tongue. 



Now that the plant is flatter it will require 

 fewer snippets to keep it in place and, as a 

 rule, only one should be allowed for each flower. 

 Those which have held awkward leaves in 

 place can usually be removed, since the leaves 

 will have lost most of their stiffness. Knobby 

 parts must, of course, be surrounded with sev- 

 eral snippets, or folded pieces, as before. 

 Plants that have become badly creased should 

 be thrown away, for it is never worth while to 

 mount such specimens unless they are rare. 



When all has been arranged and damp snip- 

 pets exchanged for dry ones, close the folder, 

 lift it with the plant inside on to the fresh 

 driers made ready for it, cover it with other 

 driers and proceed to treat the remaining 

 plants in the same manner. The pressure may 

 be increased by tightening the straps and add- 



