75 



a large number of specimens in one of the larger herbaria they 

 will save a great deal of time. 



Typewritten labels are not desirable unless black indelible ink 

 is used. The purple and blue ink that is ordinarily used on 

 typewriter ribbons will fade so much in eight or ten years that it 

 will be impossible to read it. 



Of course there is every variation in the quality of the speci- 

 mens themselves, due in part to the climatic conditions of the 

 locality in which they were secured (and very largely to the pres- 

 sure under which they were dried). The preservation of the 

 original color of the plants is always desirable but not always 

 possible with thick and fleshy specimens, with certain plants in 

 which peculiar chemical changes take place in drying, or in very 

 damp climates. 



Here in New Mexico the making of good specimens is a very 

 simple matter providing the proper kind of plants can be found. 

 It is often unnecessary to change the driers for small plants or 

 those which contain little moisture. Some of our best specimens 

 have been made in the following manner : First a drier is placed 

 upon the table ; on this is laid a sheet of drying paper upon which 

 the plant is placed ; over this another drier, then a sheet of corru- 

 gated paper such as is used in packing glassware, etc. ; over this 

 another drying paper and specimen, or if one prefers another 

 drier and then the sheet ; and so on until a bundle of sufficient 

 size is formed. This is then strapped and thrown out in the sun- 

 shine upon the sand and left for several days. It is necessary to 

 tighten the straps occasionally but no other attention is needed 

 unless a rain should come. Excellent specimens can be made 

 in this way, even of the cacti and other fleshy plants. Of course 

 this method is practicable only in a dry region where there is an 

 abundance of hot sunshine. In the mountains frequent changes 

 of driers are necessary. 



Most plants which contain considerable moisture will be black- 

 ened and consequently ruined if the bundles containing them are 

 placed in the sun and heated to a high temperature before the 

 driers have been changed at least once. If the driers themselves 

 are heated before the plants are placed between them the heat 



