BULLETIN 3U, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



[14] 



If the stem is disposed to break, bend it over a larger object, as your 

 kuee or the palm of yowr hand. If it breaks, this can not be helped 

 and does not materially detract from the value of the specimen. Keep 



the parts always together as if 

 it had not been broken. If the 

 specimen is too long for one 

 length, but less than twice the 

 required length, do not bend 

 it in the middle, but nearest 

 one end, so as to maintain the 

 proper length. (See Fig. 7.) 

 In most cases the upper should 

 be the short end, and naturally 

 droop or lop over, but occa- 

 sionally it is better to bend 

 next the base. For specimens 

 of more than two lengths 

 two bends are necessary. They 

 should be made with care in 

 two respects : first, to see that 

 the bends are in the same 

 plane — i. e., that they be so 

 made that all three of the 

 parts of the specimen will lie 

 side by side upon a level sur- 

 face ; and, secondly, to see that 

 they are in opposite directions j 

 zigzag, or like the letter IST (see 

 Fig. 8). If care is taken in 

 this latter particular, a three- 

 lengthed specimen may be 

 made to look better than a 

 two-lengthed one. The basal and upper sections will be upright on 

 the sheet and be nicely joined by the middle section, forming a diag- 

 onal between them. This is as far as the process of bending need be 

 carried. Plants more than four feet high are generally too large to be 

 collected entire. But sometimes it becomes important to give a speci- 

 men still a third bend, and this I very frequently do (see Fig. 9). The 

 rule of making each angle the opposite of the one next to it must, how- 

 ever, be strictly adhered to in these as in all other cases ; otherwise 

 parts of the stem will cross each other and spoil the specimen. Neither 

 must the idea be entertained that this is a matter that can be attended 

 to afterwards ; it must be correctly done in the field, and mistakes in 

 measurements of lengths or in direction of bending can never be prop- 

 erly remedied in the herbarium. 



Fig. 8 — Showing method of bending 

 of letter N. 



plant in shape 



