DRYING AND PRESERVING PLANTS, ETC. 



681 



bofove 3-011 leave your quarters in the morning, 

 and by the time you want them in the evening 

 they will be thoroughly dry. Another set may 

 be dried during the night. 



As the plants become dry, they may be ar- 

 ranged close together, but so as not to touch 

 each other, on single sheets of perfectly dry 

 paper, and kept in parcels by themselves. When 

 a considerable number of plants are in process of 

 drying, those in the different stages of the pro- 

 cess should be kept apart from each other, in 

 order that the desiccation of the more advanced 

 specimens may not be retarded by the juxtaposi- 

 tion of those more recently collected. 



Invariably attach labels to your specimens, 

 mentioning the particular station, the date of 

 collection, elevation above the sea, (as nearly as 

 it can be estimated,) the geological formation of 

 the locality, and any additional information that 

 may be interesting. 



Many cryptogamous plants do not necessarily 

 require the same care when firet collected as 

 those about which I have been speaking, as they 

 can be relaxed by moisture and prepared at any 

 subsequent period. They will, perhaps, lose 

 somewhat of their original bright colour ; but 

 this is of trifling importance, if the great saving 

 of time to the collector, especially in foreign 

 countries, be considered. 



Mosses and hcpaticm may be gathered in tufts, 

 or masses of considerable size, always selecting 

 such as are in fructification. If the stems or 

 roots are loaded with mud or soil, they should 

 be well washed. The tufts are then to be placed 

 between sheets of coaree paper, and dried under 

 a moderate pressure, after which they may be 

 packed like other plants. In subsequently pre- 

 paring specimens for the herbarium, a greater 

 pressure will be required. 



Lichens may be treated like mosses, at least 

 such kinds as admit of pressure. Those species 

 which form a close crust on rocks, trunks of 

 trees, &c., and which can onlj' be obtained along 

 with a portion of the substance on which they 

 grow, should be wrapped separately in paper, 

 like minerals, and packed into a box. 



Algre or sea-weeds are preserved in a rough 

 state with much facility, and, on account of the 

 increasing interest which attaches to them, should 

 be assiduously collected in foreign countries, 

 especially in the southern hemisphere. They 

 should be taken, if possible, with the root, and 

 will often be found in the highest state of per- 

 fection thrown on shore by the tide. All kinds 

 should be taken, from the smallest, to the largest 

 manageable size ; avoiding those specimens which 

 are battered, or in a state of decomposition. 

 Spread them on the ground, or in an outhouse 

 to dry, without washing them in fresh water, in 

 fact, just as they are gathered ; and when they 

 are quite dry, pack them without pressure into 



a box, mixing a few small branches with them, 

 to prevent them from being pressed too much 

 together, in case of damp on the voyage. 



For the preservation of fruits and other bota- 

 nical specimens in the moist state, Professoi" 

 Christison says, that after numerous experi- 

 ments made for a series of years with various 

 fluids, he finds none which serve so well to pre- 

 serve both the consistence and colour of fruits, 

 leaves, and flowers, as a concentrated solution of 

 common salt. The solution should be made with 

 the aid of a boiling heat, otherwise it can with 

 difficulty be obtained sufficiently concentrated. 

 When articles are to be sent to a distance, as 

 when specimens are transmitted from hot cli- 

 mates to this country, the best mode of putting 

 them up is to preserve those which are of small 

 size in green glass bottles, such as are used for 

 pickles, to fill the bottles with the solution, and 

 to secure the corks, previously well dried, with 

 a thick covering of some resinous substance, and 

 cloth tied over all. But the cheapest and most 

 effectual mode for larger articles, and indeed for 

 botanical specimens generally, is to sew up each 

 in cloth of any kind, with a wooden label at- 

 tached to it, and numbered by branding, and to 

 put the whole in a barrel, containing the solu- 

 tion of salt, and of such size that the specimens 

 are loosely packed, and yet cannot easily change 

 their position. He has frequently received spe- 

 cimens sent in this way, in a state of complete 

 preservation, from Ceylon, the Isle of France, 

 and the West Indies, although four or six months 

 elapsed before they reached their destination. 



Specimens which are to be preserved for demon- 

 stration should be immersed for a month or 

 upwards in the saline solution before they are 

 finally put up. The solution should then be 

 changed, partly because it is usually somewhat 

 coloured, but partly also because it is rendered 

 too diluted in consequence of the juices of the 

 vegetable passing out by exosmosis. The last 

 solution should be filtered. It is often found 

 difficult to confine the salt in the preparation 

 jar. The most effectual method, where the 

 mouth of the jar does not exceed two inches or 

 two inches and a half in diameter, is to leave a 

 space of half an inch or more at the top with- 

 out fluid, to clean and dry the lip of the jar 

 thoroughly, to drop melted sealing-wax on the 

 upper surface of the lip, so as to form a unifonn 

 ring over it, to place over the mouth a watch- 

 glass of such size as to cover the whole lip, or 

 even to overhang it a little, to press this gently 

 down with one finger, and to fuse the wax be- 

 tween the lip of the jar and the watch-glass, by 

 moving a large-spirit lamp flame around the 

 edge. After the whole ring of wax is thoroughly 

 melted, the pressure must be kept up till the 

 glass cools and the wax concretes. The glass 

 never cracks in this operation, if carefully per- 

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