OUTLINES OF BOTANY. li 
230. To dry specimens, they are laid flat between several sheets of bibu- 
lous paper, and subjected to pressure. The paper is subsequently changed 
at intervals, until they are dry. 
231. In laying out the specimen, care should be taken to preserve the 
natural position of the parts as far as consistent with the laying flat. In 
general, if the specimen is fresh and not very slender, it may be simply laid 
on the lower sheet holding it by the stalk and drawing it slightly down- 
wards; then, as the upper sheet is laid over, if it be slightly drawn down- 
wards as it is pressed down, it will be found, after a few trials, that the 
specimen will have retained a natural form with very little trouble. If the 
specimen has been gathered long enough to have become flaccid, it will re- 
_ quire more care in laying the leaves flat and giving the parts their proper 
direction. Specimens kept in tin boxes, will also often have taken unna- 
tural bends which will require to be corrected. 
232. If the specimen is very bushy, some branches must be thinned 
out, but always so as to show where they have been. If any part, such as 
the head of a Thistle, the stem of an Orobanche, or the bulb of a Lily, be 
very thick, a portion of what is to be the under side of the specimen may 
be sliced off. Some thick specimens may be split from top to bottom before 
drying. 
"933, If the specimen be succulent or tenacious of life, such as a Sedum 
or an Orchis, it may be dipped in boiling water all but the flowers. This 
will kill the plant at once, and enable it to be dried rapidly, losing less of 
its colour or foliage than would otherwise be the case. Dipping in boiling 
water is also useful in the case of Heaths and other plants which are apt 
to shed their leaves during the process of drying. 
234. Plants with very delicate corollas may be placed between single 
leaves of very thin unglazed tissue-paper. In shifting these plants into dry 
paper the tissue-paper is not to be removed, but lifted with its contents on 
to the dry paper. 
235. The number of sheets of paper to be placed between each specimen 
or sheet of specimens, will depend, on the one hand, on the thickness and 
humidity of the specimens; on the other hand, on the quantity and 
quality of the paper one has at command. The more and the better the 
_ paper, the less frequently will it be necessary to change it, and the sooner 
the plants will dry. The paper ought to be coarse, stout, and unsized. 
Common blotting-paper is much too tender. 
236. Care must be taken that the paper used is well-dried. If it be 
likewise hot, all the better; but it must then be very dry; and wet plants 
put into hot paper will require changing very soon, to prevent their turning 
black, for hot damp without ventilation produces fermentation, and spoils 
the specimens. 
237. For pressing plants, various more or less complicated and costly 
presses are made. None is better than a pair of boards the size of the 
paper, and a stone or other heavy weight upon them if at home, or a pair 
of strong leather straps round them if travelling. Hach of these boards 
should be double, that is, made of two layers of thin boards, the opposite 
way of the grain, and joined together by a row of clenched brads round the 
edge, without glue. Such boards, i in deal, rather less than half an inch 
thick (each layer about 24 lines) will be found light and durable. 
238. It is useful also to have extra boards or pasteboards the size of the 
paper, to separate thick plants from thin ones, wet ones from those nearly 
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