COLLECTING ECONOMIC PLANT DATA 



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The first plants to go into the press will be the first collected during the 

 day, thus following the same consecutive order in which they were put 

 into the collecting case. Maintaining this consecutive order, both in 

 collecting and pressing, prevents confusion and saves time, especially 

 when entering the field notes in the permanent record book, and when 

 assigning collection numbers to the specimens. The collection number 

 is written, preferably with a black- or red-wax pencil, in the lower left- 

 hand corner outside the newspaper folder. Duplicate sheets, or supple- 

 mentary material, of the same plant are marked in like manner. Placing 

 the number always in the lower left corner aids greatly when the speci- 

 mens are sorted numerically after drying is completed. 



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Figure 4. — Plant press, opened to show order of contents. From left to right are 

 seen: Slat frame; corrugated ventilator; blotter; opened drying sheet; plant specimen; 



blotter; ventilator. 



The order of various items in the press (fig. 4) are as follows : Ventilator; 

 blotter; newspaper folder, opening to the left so as not to cover the plants 

 in the collecting case; the plant specimen; blotter; ventilator; blotter; 

 another folder with plant; and so on until the pile is built up to a con- 

 venient height of 2 or 3 feet. Piles higher than that may prove cumber- 

 some to handle. As the pile grows, the sides should be patted occasion- 

 ally to even up the ventilators and blotters. Neatness is essential. Tag 

 ends of plants or folders should not stick out of the press, especially if 

 the drying is to be done over a fire. 



A usual practice is to keep plants in the folder in which they were 

 originally collected throughout the drying operation and on indefinitely, 



