INTRODUCTION. 25 



which has a good deal of " give " in it. With the 

 use of boards unless there are a good many thicknesses 

 of muslin, it would not do to weight it so heavily, 

 or some of the plants would be crushed* beyond 

 recognition. I use the drying paper, and always 

 have two boards, one for the bottom, and one for the 

 top of my press. Then, when I '^ have made the pile 

 complete," I can put it aside in some convenient 

 comer out of the way, and set the stones to work, 

 bearing down on it, a business for which they seem 

 to have some conspicuous and weighty gifts. 



Some botanists recommend that the drying papers 

 be changed in the course of five or six hours, and 

 the cloths and papers again in twenty-four hours. 

 This will, perhaps, be best, if one has plenty of time. 

 But my practice has always been to let them lie twenty- 

 four hours, and then give them a change of both 

 cloths and papers, being careful in removing the 

 cloths, so as not to lift the plants from the mounting 

 paper. 



The second time in the press they should be 

 subject to a harder pressure, seventy-five ' or one 

 hundred pounds of stone being not too much. In 

 twenty-four hours more most of them will be quite 

 dry, and ready to be put into your herbarium, album, 

 or whatever you use for the final disposition of them. 



