384 OF MAKING AX HERBARIUM. 



and a very expensive and bulky way of making an 

 herbarium. 



The greater part of plants dry with facility between 

 the leaves of books, or other paper, the smoother the 

 better. If there be plenty of paper, they often dry 

 best without shifting; but if the specimens are crowded, 

 they must be taken out frequently, and the paper dried 

 before they are replaced. The great point to be at- 

 tended to is that the process should meet with no 

 check. Several vegetables are so tenacious of their 

 vital principle, that they will grow between papers, the 

 consequence of which is a destruction of their proper 

 habit and colours. It is necessary to destroy the life of 

 such, either by immersion in boiling water, or by the 

 application of a hot iron, such as is used for linen, 

 after which they are easily dried. I cannot however 

 approve of the practice of applying such an iron, as 

 some persons do, with great labour and perseverance, 

 till the plants are quite dry, and all their parts incorpo- 

 rated into a smooth flat mass. This renders them unfit 

 for subsequent examination, and destroys their natural 

 habit, the most important thing to be preserved. Even 

 in spreading plants between papers, we should refrain 

 from that precise and artificial disposition of their 

 branches, leaves, and other parts which takes away 

 from their natural aspect, except for the purpose of 

 displaying the internal parts of some one or two of 

 their flowers, for ready observation. 



