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66 REPORT OF SCHIMMEL § Co. OCTOBER 1914/ APRIL 1915. 
Directions how to collect and preserve plants in foreign countries. 
For those desiring to send home plants from distant regions or to collect plants 
in foreign countries for scientific purposes, an article in the well-known “Kew Garden 
Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information” gives useful, adequate directions‘). If it is a 
question of collecting new material for gardeners, seeds are preferable to living plants 
or cuttings. Some plants, however, such as orchids, many tuberous plants (Aroideae) 
and some Zingiberaceae cannot, or only with difficulty, be raised from seeds. The 
seeds must be ripe and dry and are best forwarded in small canvas bags. Hermetic- 
ally sealed tins and bottles are not to be recommended, as seeds keep better if 
change of air is possible. Bulbs and rhizomes should only be collected after the 
period of vegetation is over and must be kept dry for some days, until the leaves 
have faded. They are best forwarded in wooden boxes and packed in wood shavings, | 
paper, or some other dry, light material. Straw and hay cannot be recommended, as 
they rot easily. If the rhizomes are weakly and thin, they are best packed in a light, 
slightly moistened material, such as cocoa-nut fibres, peaty soil, sawdust or wood 
shavings. Rhizomes and seeds of aquatic plants and ferns are best sent in damp | 
moss. Cuttings, e.g. of Pelargonium species, should be packed in oiled silk and then 
placed in tins or wooden boxes. Many plants, such as pelargoniums, which are very 
resistant against drought, may be put into wooden boxes, the roots being tightly 
packed in moss, wood shavings, banana leaves, &§c. Seeds for museums may be sent 
dry without any special precautions. If damage through insects is to be feared, carbon 
disulphide must be poured over the seeds, or naphthalene, added before packing in 
tin boxes. Cones of conifers, which open when dry, must be tied up with string, 
so that they cannot lose seeds on the way. Soft fruits are placed in bottles with 
alcohol, rum, salt water or a 5 p.c. formaldehyde solution. Fruits and succulent 
plants may likewise be kept in alcohol or formaldehyde for several hours and then 
wrapped up in cotton wool, impregnated with said preservatives. 
Another part of the article refers to the collection of material for herbariums. 
As a general rule, only complete material ought to be taken, 7.e. plants with flowers 
and fruits. When drying, the universally known rule is to be followed to press little 
at the beginning and a little harder later on, but to avoid too. much pressing alto- 
gether. It is of great importance sometimes for later investigation to have some 
flowers preserved in alcohol, formaldehyde, or salt water. 
A method recommended by Schweinfurth is complicated, it is true, but affords : 
excellent results. The plants are placed between paper, as usual, and then put in } 
layers into tin boxes, exactly described in the original, after alcohol has been poured 
over the whole. The tin boxes are then soldered, and the plants, which thus keep 
for a fairly long time, may be dried later on, when there is a favourable opportunity. 
This method has a very great advantage during rainy periods. It is self-evident that 
the material must be carefully labelled. 
The world’s production of essential oils. 
J. C. Umney,”) discusses the world’s production of essential oils in a very exhaustive 
article. He indicates, for almost every country, which plants are grown and collected 
for the manufacture of volatile oils or might come into consideration for the purpose. - 
It seems that he bases his inferences on indications regarding the smell of the various i 
plants, as are found here and there in books, so that many of his suggestions will 
1) Kew. Bull. 1914, 97. — *) Perfum. Record 5 (1914), 164. 
