
DIRECTIONS 
FOR 
DRYING AND PRESERVING PLANTS. 
Ir is a matter of very great importance to the Botanist to possess a 
good Herbarium. Nearly every student in Botany makes an attempt to 
form one, but it is frequently done in so slovenly a manner that the col- 
lection is worthless. 
APPARATUS FOR DRYING PLANTS. 
Let a quantity of old newspapers, or what is still better, coarse white 
wrapping-paper,* be procured and cut into pieces sixteen inches long and 
eleven and a half inches wide; then place them together in piles of eight 
in thickness, and stitch the corners, so as to keep them in their places. 
Having prepared seventy-five or a hundred such pads, which I shall call 
driers, get two pieces of pine boards of the same size as your driers, then 
provide yourself with a hundred or more sheets of newspaper + folded 
once, so as to allow a plant to be placed between the folds. Let these 
sheets be cut to correspond with your driers. You will then be supplied 
with the simplest apparatus for drying plants. : 
To THE COLLECTOR. 
Provide yourself with a tin box seventeen inches iong, and a florist’s 
trowel (a strong butcher’s knife will do very well). In collecting plants, 
if they are small and herbaceous, procure the whole plant, including the 
root ; handle it carefully, and if the root is dirty wash it by shaking it 
gently in water, and afterwards flirt as much of the water off as you 
can without injuring the plant, then place it carefully in your box. If 
possible, procure ten or a dozen good specimens of the same plant. The 
best time for collecting is clear weather; and plants are in a proper 
state for collection when they are in full flower. Sometimes small 
* The publishers of the ** American Naturalist,’’ Messrs. Putnam & Co., Salem, Mass., 
advertise an excellent paper for driers, and also suitable paper for mounting plauts. 
+ White paper, such as printers use, is better, and for very delicate plants is neces- 
gary. 


