RANGE MANAGEMENT ON" THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 93 



boards or in a wicker press and subjected to a pressure of 45 to 

 65 pounds; this is usually applied by tightly drawn straps or by a 

 weight, not heavy enough to crush the tender parts of the green 

 specimens, yet not so light as to allow the leaves to wrinkle in dry- 

 ing. Stems, roots, and other parts more than a quarter of an inch 

 in thickness should be thinned on the back with a knife before press- 

 ing. The blotters should be changed each day, well-dried ones being 

 substituted; this is necessary, of course, to prevent molding and 

 blackening. In most cases, except, perhaps, with fleshy or woody 

 plants, the specimens will be thoroughly pressed and dried in about 

 a week. 



NUMBERING. 



The specimens should be numbered consecutively. It is desirable 

 that the collector should not duplicate his numbers by beginning 

 each season with No. 1, but that he should have his numbers contin- 

 uous from year to year. Many forest collections sent in for identifi- 

 cation contain specimens of several collectors, and in this way dupli- 

 cations of numbers often arise. The duplication of numbers, with 

 the impossibility of distinguishing between them, renders a report 

 on the collection without the return of the specimens valueless. All 

 joint collections, therefore, sent in as one collection from a Forest, 

 and in which the collectors' numbers more or less overlap, should 

 either have the collectors' numbers modified (by a prefixed initial 

 or in some other way) or else be given forest numbers in addition to 

 the collectors' numbers. Otherwise, when a report on the collection 

 is received from Washington misunderstanding is bound to ensue. 



NOTES. 



System in collecting notes and expedition in examining them are 

 greatly aided by the adoption of a form for this purpose. Futher- 

 more, such a form makes the most valuable kind of herbarium slip 

 for mounting with the specimens. These considerations have led to 

 the adoption by the Forest Service of Form 767, and this form, 

 properly filled out, should accompany all range-plant specimens sub- 

 mitted for identification. 



Data should not be recorded on the back of the form, as not only 

 are they apt to escape notice entirely, but they will be completely 

 hidden when the form is pasted on the mounting sheet. As the form 

 is intended for a permanent record, it is essential that the data be 

 legible, and it is desirable that the appearance should be neat ; there- 

 fore typewriting or pen and ink is preferable to pencil, as a hard 

 pencil will make the record faint and a soft one will make a record 

 which is very apt to blur badly, especially when the form is being 



