HINTS ON HERBORIZING. 259 
frageæ this treatment should only be applied to plants that incline 
to mould or fall to pieces (Conifers are not benefited by it). To 
dry the damp driers effectually without spreading them all over the 
room, cut a hole in one end of each and string them on a stout 
wire and suspend this on hooks set in the under-side of a shelf. 
Pieces of stiff paper with a slit in the middle are useful for 
confining specimens of sedges, etc., where bent, and folded pieces 
of oiled paper for adhesive flowers, ete. ; also rings of cotton for 
thick heads of ligulate Composite. The color of plants is best 
preserved by rapid drying, but not much attention should be paid 
to this point, as they will fade in a few years. If such plants as 
the purple Ariseema and Symplocarpus or an orange Lilium be 
dried in a few minutes by ironing them in their driers, they will 
look when mounted like paintings. 
Specimens may be mounted for the herbarium on sized paper 
with glue, or on unsized paper with touches of poisoned paste and 
Strips of gummed paper. Never mount a small specimen on the 
centre of a sheet, nor any specimen without first poisoning it, 
which is done by washing with an alcoholic solution of corrosive 
sublimate just weak enough not to show. A pile of duplicates, 
if infested with insects, should be inclosed for a while in a close 
vessel with an ounce or two of chloroform or cyanide of potassium. 
A few grains of the latter introduced into a case of entomological 
Specimens will quickly destroy all intruders. It is best to keep 
each genus in a manilla cover and these in piles on the shelves of 
4 cabinet. 
; The earliest flowering plants being on the whole most difficult, 
beginner will meet with many discouragements at first; but 
“very step will add to his strength. Any locality will afford from 
ive hundred to eight hundred species of flowering plants, and, in 
cag so large a number, mistakes are inevitable; there- 
ik Wis well to send a set of specimens, numbered to correspond 
_ “Yohe retained, to some person having a good herbarium, who 
= doubtless be willing to examine and name them in return for 
: te not attempted at all, but great care should be taken to 
ite the two sets exactly correspond, for there is great danger 
i: ciiig closely related species, as also of mistaking marked 
> for different species. 
~The Plants of other sections may be easily obtained by ex- 
