XViil DIRECTIONS FOR DRYING AND PRESERVING PLANTS. 
CASE FOR GENUS COVERS. 
After having thus attached the plants to white paper, all the Species of 
the same Genus should be placed together in the fold of a strong sheet of 
brown paper and the name of the Genus written or printed on the corner, 
and these should be arranged in the order of the Flora, and laid in a case 
constructed for the purpose with pigeon holes eighteen inches deep and 
thirteen inches wide. A very cheap case can be made for a small collec- 
tion, by taking packing-boxes, used for packing sale boots, and placing 
shelves in them. These boxes are made about a foot wide, and may be 
had for a few cents at almost any country or village store. 
Nors.—Dr. Gray, in Silliman’s Journal. criticises the above recipe for the destrue- 
tion of insects, or for preserving botanical specimens from the depredations of insects. 
The eggs which produce some of the insects that prey upon plants are deposited in the 
flower, and are frequently hatched while the plant is undergoing the process of drying. 
On this account it is best to apply the poison while the specimens are in the press. A 
very strong solution applied to delicate plants in a green state sometimes discolors them, 
hence, for plants in this condition, the above weak solution is preferable. 
For specimens in a dried state, Dr. Gray’s Recipe is better, for the reasons which he 
gives: 
First.—Alcohol is a more subtile fluid than water, and therefore enters the cavities 
more easily and rapidly, conveying the poison with it. 
Second.—Alcohol evaporates with greater rapidity than water, and will therefore 
harm dried specimens less than water would. : 
Dr. Gray’s Recipe is as follows: 
** Dissolve an ounce of corrosive sublimate in a quart of absolute alcohol. and use it 
without dilution.’ 
The poison in either case is applied by dropping it on the specimens from a drop- 
ping-tube, passed through the cork of the bottle which contains the liquid. 


