HERBARIUM. 127 



is called demy printing paper, folded quarto size, (half 

 the size of the quire.) 1 fasten my specimens to the 

 right hand side of a folded sheet, leaving the other to 

 fold over it. On the outside of the left hand side I 

 write the names of the Class, Order, Genus, and Spe- 

 cies of the plant ; and upon the inside of the same, its 

 name, synonyms, common names, place of growth, 

 time of gathering, and any thing else I wish to remem- 

 ber concerning it. 



Great neatness should be observed in an herbarium. 

 The papers should ail be of the same size, and kept 

 regularly and evenly packed. I have usually kept mine 

 in several parcels, each between two pieces of book- 

 binder's pasteboard, tied down with tapes. 



The uses of prepared specimens are, 



1. To get a knowledge of Plants. When a number 

 of plants are well prepared, we have an opportunity to 

 compare them with each other all at once, and see in 

 what they agree, and in what differ. 



Observation. When a botanist has taken and examined a speci- 

 men, dried and prepared it on paper, as has been directed, and 

 written its name upon it, he will have done about enough, and pro- 

 bably none too much to remember it well. It is well for every one, 

 who wishes to be in any degree a practical botanist, to prepare 

 a few specimens, if it be only fifty or an hundred species. In- 

 dependent of the value of the collection, he will thus acquire a par- 

 ticular knowledge of the plants. 



2. To revive in the memory the names and habits of 

 plants which have been previously examined. 



3. Tojind out unknown plants which cannot be other- 

 wise determined, by sending the specimens to some one 

 acquainted with them. For this purpose duplicates 

 should be prepared and numbered with corresponding 

 numbers, one set being retained when the other is sent 

 for examination. 



