HERBORIZATION. 375 



786. Some aquatic plants (Algae especially) are so soft and 

 flaccid that, to secure them in their proper shape, they must be 

 placed in clear water and floated out by inserting beneath them 

 the paper on which they are to remain permanently, either the 

 regular mounting paper, or a thinner white paper which when 

 dry can be pasted on the herbarium sheet. If likely to adhere 

 to the sheet or drier above them in the press, a piece of oiled or 

 stearine paper may be laid directly on the specimens to prevent 

 their sticking. Also viscous or glutinous plants which are liable 

 to adhere to the sheets enclosing them may be sprinkled with 

 Lycopodium spores, powdered soapstone, or some similar sub- 

 stance. 



787. The name of the plant if known, but by all means the 

 locality and date of collection, with any other descriptive re- 

 marks regarded necessary, should be written on a ticket or on 

 the sheet when it is put into the press. Never omit to record 

 the time and place of collection, as a specimen of unknown date 

 and locality loses much of its value and interest. 



788. Drying Specimens. The chief requisite for good herba- 

 rium specimens is the extraction of the moisture from the green 

 plant as rapidly as possible under a pressure which obviates 

 brittleness. This is to be affected by placing the thin sheets 

 containing the specimens between layers of bibulous paper, called 

 driers, and applying moderately strong pressure to the pile. 

 For driers nothing can be better than thick blotting paper, 

 except that it is too expensive, and the same may be said of 

 an English drying paper made for the purpose. Equally good 

 driers are made of the thick and felt-like brown paper which, 

 after saturation with coal-tar, is here largely used under the 

 clapboards of wooden houses and under slate-roofing. It is a 

 cheap material, and is to be obtained, cut into sheets of 18 by 

 12 inches. Or driers may be made of old newspapers or of any 

 soft wrapping paper, cut or folded to the proper size, and 

 stitched (very expeditiously by a sewing-machine), or joined by 

 e3-elet paper-fasteners at two corners, in packages of a dozen or 

 more leaves to a drier. It is well to have a large supply of driers 

 and specimen-sheets ready for use. 



789. A half dozen or more pieces of thin boards, 18 inches 

 long and 12 inches wide, should be provided. They are used 

 at the top and the bottom of the pile when pressing, and also 

 for dividing it into suitable sections, especially for separating 

 the packages of plants which were put into press at different 

 periods, and dividing up these packages themselves, if too large. 

 For the plants dry better in small sections and with the pressure 



