BOTANICAL COLLECTING IN THE TROPICS. 



357 



frame is thus booked, the elasticity of the iron and wires keeps up 

 a sufficient gentle pressure, and no weights or straps of any kind 

 are required. The smaller one can keep the piles in each frame, 

 the quicker the plants dry, and hence it is best to have at least 

 four, or, if possible, six or eight of these double frames ; the weight 

 of each is, moreover, very trifling. , . 



In drying plants, the object is to get rid of the moisture m the 

 tissues as quickly as possible, and at the same time to keep the 

 leaves and flowers flatly pressed, so that they shall not shrivel. In 

 a dry climate such as the Karoo, practically no care is required, but 

 in a humid and moist atmosphere there is danger that the moisture 

 is not withdrawn from between the papers, and hence mould and 

 decomposition rapidly set in. I have found it best to keep the 

 frames carefully packed in tin boxes until about 10 a.m., when the 

 sun has practically dried the air. The frames should then be 

 brought out and left in strong sun till about 3 or 4 p.m., and ail 

 the paper not in use should be carefully dried at the same time ; 

 this is most easily done by scattering them on dry ground two or 

 three together. At 4 p.m. the plants should be taken out of every 

 frame and put in fresh papers ; all the frames and papers being put 

 back in their tin boxes till next morning. The reason of this is, 

 that immediately the dew begins to fall everything becomes 

 moist; the paper sucks in moisture, and no drying is possible. A 

 servant can easily be trained to do this mechanical work, but it is 

 necessary to watch an ordinary native boy. After a plant has 

 been subjected to this daily change for a week or so, the leaves will 

 become brittle, and it is then dry. The finished specimens should 

 be packed up in bundles of fifty, in any kind of paper, tied round 

 with string, and pinches of naphthaline should be strewed over each 

 specimen. The paper should be carefully dried beforehand and 

 the bundles packed in tin boxes and left there till they delight the 

 eyes of the Museum at home. Of course, in the event ol such a 

 box having been upset into a river or exposed to severe rain, it 

 must be examined and the plants dried over again ; but it the 

 edges of the box fit properly, and there is plenty of naphthaline, 



they may be safely left alone. . . 



In the rainy season within the tropics, when the air is always 

 moist the only method I found of use was to substitute for the sun 

 a wood fire, kept going for six or seven hours, and to suspend the 

 frames (rather loosely chained) over the fire with their edges 

 towards the ascending hot air. I managed to dry good specimens 

 of Anthocleista in three days by this method but it is very trouble- 

 some, and the plants are sure to be discoloured. Plants with 

 ,i __u„ i„„„«a .kmiU nnt. hft p.nllficted whilst travelling, as they cannot 



An ex- 



hest'toteeat theTowering spikes as ordinary specimens, and to 

 i -:n th. i MWa and bulbs in boiling water and then to dry them by 



be properly dried and are apt to spoil their neighbours. 



f. _— l i.~ ~;i~ TO-it-Vi mv»ln<lc hnwpvpr. and with t 



sun 



the press. . 



Another point of practical importan 



