404 



BOTANY- 



[Sect. XII. 



Seel 



tliere they may remain nmnjured for a day and niglitj 

 srq.tposing the box to be well filled and secm^ely closed to 

 prevent evaporation. Some very succulent plants, and 

 others with fine but rigid leaves — the heath and p'nc 

 tribe, for instance — require to be plunged for an instant 

 into boiling water ere they are pressed. In this case the 

 superabundant moisture must be absorbed by a cloth or 

 by blotting-paper. 



When sufficiently dry the specimens should be put into 

 dry paperSj one sheet or folio between each layer of 

 plants, except they be unusually woody (which is the case 

 with oaks and pines), and then more paper must be em- 

 ployed, care being used to distribute the specimen? pretty 



be 



he 



V 



i. 



equally ovc^r the sheets, and thus a great many may 



safely arranged io a small compass. They are now ready for 

 transport, either packed in boxes or covered with oil-cloth. 



Mosses and cryptogamous plants may be generally 

 dried in the comrn^^n w^ay : those which orow in tufts 

 should be separated by the hand to form neat specimens. 

 Sea-weeds require a slight washing in fresh water, and 

 common blotting-paper is the best for removing the mois- 

 ture from this tribe of plants. 



It is almost needless to add that all plants^ whether 

 living or dried, ought to be transmitted to Europe with 

 the least possible delay : the latter, especially in hot or 



limates, are often soon destroyed by the depreda- 



moist c 



'.* 



n 9 



tions ot msects. 



The above short instructions refer solely to the collect- 

 Ing and despatching !wi7i^ jHants and dried specimens ; m 

 other words, the mec.ns of furnishing our gardens and tne 



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