REPORTS, 1^ 



The best qualities of forage often exist in the flower of the 

 grasses. For instance, clover should be gathered ere the blossom 

 becomes too mature, or the forage is injured. Flowers are the 

 harbingers of fruitage. The blossom must precede the kernel, 

 or we have no grain. Thus, we find flowers useful as well as 

 beautiful. 



SECTION IV. 



Preservation of Flowers and Leaves. ■ 



There are mauy ways of preserving flowers and leaves in a 

 dried state, so as to retain much of their pristine beauty. "When 

 the cold snows of Winter are on the ground, they are beautiful 

 to the eye. 



An Herbarium of dried and pressed flowers should be made 

 by our youth in schools, and the study of Botany more generally 

 pursued. 



Flowers for the Herbarium should be gathered when in full 

 bloom, and pressed until quite dry between clean white paper. 

 A year's file of any of our Newspapers will afi'ord ihe best po«si- 

 ble apparatus for drying them. After the specimens of flowers 

 are placed between the sheets of paper, lay a board on the top, 

 and beneath them, then, place a heavy weight upon them. They 

 will dry in a few days, according to their juiciness. Some may 

 need pressing for two weeks or more. When dried, transfer them 

 carefully to the leaves of a blank book of white paper, prepared 

 for them. Some transfix them with glue, or by passing their 

 stems through loops cut in the leaves of the herbarium. The 

 nicest way of retaining them in place, is, by carefully sewing 

 them in. Beneath each plant, write its common name, artificial 

 class and order, generic, and specific distinction, and natural or- 

 der ; the place where it is found, and season of year in which it 

 flowers. To guard an Herbarium against insects, and moisture. 



