PREPARATION OP SPECIMENS 23 



the specimens are arranged or the stack gets too high for convenience, the 

 whole should be placed under pressure, usually from 20 to 30 kilos being 

 sufficient. 



The most convenient method of applying pressure is by means of a 

 press which is best made of split bamboo, either nailed together or fastened 

 by rattan, wire, or string; the cross-slats should not be more than 3 or 

 4 cm apart. The press frames should be a little larger than the sheets 

 used for driers, a convenient size being 50 by 35 cm. Pressure can be 

 applied by straps, or better by means of stout cords attached to each 

 corner of the lower frame, to be fastened to the corners of the upper 

 frame as pressure is applied. Presses are not essential as pressure can 

 be applied by other means. The driers with specimens to be dried can 

 be stacked in piles up to 60 cm or so in height, and a board placed on the 

 stack, pressure being applied by means of stones or other weights. 



Presses containing drying plants should, so far as possible, be kept in 

 the sun in a breezy place during the day but should be placed under cover 

 at night and in damp or rainy weather ; during the rainy season, or during 

 protracted rains they should be placed near or over a fire. 



As a rule the oftener the driers are changed, the better, and this 

 should be done at least once each day, otherwise the specimens are apt to 

 discolor badly, become mouldy, or even decay. In changing driers remove 

 the specimen sheet with the enclosed plant or plants to fresh driers 

 without disturbing the drying plant itself. The damp papers (driers) 

 should be thoroughly dried before using again, either by spreading them 

 in a sunny place or drying them by fire. Better results will be secured 

 by replacing the damp driers with warm or hot dry ones. 



Extra flowers, and especially very delicate ones should be placed in 

 packets of thin paper in drying, and parts that become detached in drying 

 such as flowers, fruits, etc., should also be so treated. 



The length of time necessary properly to dry specimens varies very 

 greatly, some species such as slender grasses and sedges, most ferns, etc., 

 drying well in from one to three or four days according to the number of 

 times the driers are changed, and whether or not artificial heat is used, etc. 

 Other species are more slow in drying, and some succulent plants, like most 

 orchids, dry very slowly. In such cases it is advisable first to ; kill the 

 plant by plunging it in boiling water for a moment, being careful, however 

 not to immerse the flowers; the plant thus killed will dry much quicker 

 than if not so treated. 



When the specimens are thoroughly dried they can be removed from the 

 press and stored in well wrapped bundles until desired for study or for 

 other purposes. To protect the dried specimens against the depredations 

 of small insects it is almost essential in this country that a small amount 

 of naphthalin or some, similar repellant be sprinkled over the specimens. 



Notes on specimens to be preserved should be as full as circumstances 

 permit To be complete they should show the locality, habitat, altitude, 

 date of collection and collector, size of the plant, if not shown by the 

 specimen itself, habit of growth, color of the flowers and its parts, odor 

 if any, color and any particular characters of the fruit that would be 

 destroyed in drying, local name, economic uses; in short all data that are 

 not shown by the dried specimen itself. The label bearmg these data should 

 be attached to the specimen or preserved with it. 



