138 WILD FLOWER PRESERVATION 



be leveled round with blotting and newspaper 

 folds, and a very light weight may be placed on 

 the top of the pile. There must be sufficient 

 pressure to hold the branch in place, but not 

 enough to flatten or bruise the surface of the 

 fruit. 



Some seeds and seed-vessels are soft and 

 pliable in their early stages and easily dried 

 in the press, while maturer fruit from the same 

 plant may become hard and brittle, or woody, 

 in which case you will have to use your own 

 discretion about drying them in the press or 

 on a card as the Rose Hips are done. 



The pods of Wild Lupine are soft and green 

 at first, and the little peas inside make only the 

 tiniest of bulges in the flat surface of their 

 cradles; but as the summer days go by both 

 peas and pods enlarge and harden and the 

 tender green is changed for black. Later still 

 the pods split up the back and front and 

 each piece curls and twists as the peas are shot 

 out one by one. At their largest these pods 

 are not very bulky, and as the leaves are still 

 plentiful /on the stems that bear the fruit it 

 seems a pity not to dry the branch in the press. 



