PRESERVING PLANTS. 119 



ered or decayed. A good lens is requisite for the examination 

 of the minute parts of the structure, or of the flower. 



366. The analysis of plants is a constant object of pursuit with the practical 

 botanist. Without this exercise, the study of authors will be of little avail. A 

 more accurate and useful knowledge of a plant can be acquired in a few minutes, 

 by a careful examination of the living specimen, or even of the dried, than by com- 

 mitting to memory the most elaborate descriptions found in books. During the 

 flowering months, the learner will often in his walks meet with plants in blossom, 

 with which he is yet unacquainted. And he who is duly interested in his pursuit, 

 will by no means fail to seize and analyze each specimen while the short hour of 

 its bloom may last, and to store his memory with the knowledge of its names, 

 habits, and uses. Thus, in a few seasons, or even in one, he will have grown fa- 

 miliar with nearly, or quite, every species of plants in his vicinity. 



367. Let us now suppose the pupil in possession of a specimen of an unknown 

 plant in full blossom. In order to study it by the aid of authors, a point immedi- 

 ately requisite is its name. Now, having learned by examination the organic and 

 physiological structure of the flower, leaves, stem, &c., the experienced botanist, 

 who has at his command the characters of all the Natural Families, will at once 

 determine to which of them the plant belongs. 



368. But this is not to be expected of the pupil who is supposed to be yet, in a 

 measure, unacquainted with the characters of the orders. He must be guided to 

 the place which his specimen holds in the classification, by a longer course of 

 inquiry and comparison. For the assistance of the learner, therefore, and for the 

 convenience of all, we are happy to be able to add a full series of ANALYTICAL 

 TABLES, which, with proper use, will seldom fail of conducting them almost im- 

 mediately, to the object of their research. See the directions. 



3. OF COLLECTING AND PRESERVING PLANTS. 



369. The student in botanical science should give an early and persevering at- 

 tention to the collection and preservation of specimens of as many species of 

 plants as he can procure. The advantages to be derived from such collections, 

 either in refreshing the memory by reviewing them, or in instituting a more 

 thorough examination at one's leisure, are such as will afford an abundant com- 

 pensation for all the labor requisite in preparing them. 



a. Such a collection of dried specimens of plants is called an HERBARIUM, or 

 by the more significant title, hortus siccus (dry garden). 



370. The apparatus requisite for the accomplishment of this object is, 1st, a 

 close tin box, 20 inches in length, and of a portable form ; 2d, a portable press 

 consisting of two boards of light material, 12 by 18 inches, opening and shutting 

 by hinges, like the cover of a book, and secured by springs (even a large book is 

 a good substitute) ; 3d, a quantity of smooth, bibulous paper, of large size (a 

 dozen or more quires of printing paper) ; 4th, eight or ten boards of the same size 

 as the paper ; 5th, a small screw-press, or several lead weights of various sizes, 

 from 15 to 30 pounds each. 



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