RULES FOR PRESERVING, ETC. 



XXV 



Izaak Walton would have Piscator do his fish, you will bring him to at last. 

 Here, however, I must mention a rather new device for rendering this part of the 

 laying-out process much easier. It is the use of a very thin plate of zinc, perforated 

 with small holes; which, being placed in your dish — one end supported by the ledge, 

 the other plunged in the water — forms an inclined plane, over which it is com- 

 paratively very easy to draw out the paper with the plant upon it. The material 

 may be bought at a trifle per yard at any wire or metal shop, and you can have 

 it cut to what size you please. Of course it must be the length of the dish in 

 use; and an oblong shape; with one rounded end, is desirable. The advantage 

 gained is that the paper can no longer bend, which it is otherwise apt to do in a 

 treacherous manner, as you draw it over the edge of the plate, the metal plate 

 keeping it flat throughout, while the holes allow the water to drain away. 



What has been so long and successfully done without, can, of course, be done 

 without now, but both time and trouble are saved by this simple invention, and it 

 is within the reach of every one who will take the trouble to procure it. 



On the removal of the paper with the plant upon it from the water, it may be 

 either laid at once upon sheets of blotting-paper (four thick), or you may place it 

 for a short time on a linen cloth or sheet, spread over another table, or the back 

 of a sofa, or even on the ground. This is merely to absorb a little portion of the 

 water, and I believe the plan to be a good one, inasmuch as it prevents the mass 

 of blotting-paper from the excessive saturation it otherwise must undergo. 



And now leave it, and proceed in the same way with more plants till you have 

 enough to cover the whole sheet of blotting-paper; and when they are all neatly 

 laid side by side, but not touching, upon it, cover them with one of the pieces of 

 muslin already spOken about. On the top of which muslin place four more sheets 

 of blotting-paper, and then you have a fresh dry surface on which to lay another 

 batch of plants similarly prepared and treated. And proceed in this way till you 

 have raised a bundle — it may be even six or eight inches thick — of alternate blotting- 

 papers, plants, and muslin. Which bundle place between two flat boards, weighting 

 the top moderately; or if in a clothes-press, be careful not to screw it tightly down. 

 This is an error into which beginners are very apt to fall; but it may be here 

 laid down as a rule, that except in dealing with the stiff, unruly, leatliery olive 

 algje, strong pressure is never necessary, and often most objectionable. If it does 

 nothing else, it stamps the texture of the muslin both on paper and plant, disfiguring 

 the one and destroying the character of the other. Neither does it ensure the 

 -flatness of the paper to squeeze it in this violent manner. Permanent evenness and 

 flatness are produced by continued moderate pressure — continued^ even after the drying 

 seems effected. 



At the end of five or six hours take the bundle from between the boards, remove 

 the top sheets of blotting-paper, lift the muslin most carefully off the sea-weeds, 

 and then proceed to place them on other dry sheets of blotting-paper as before. And 

 in most cases it is well to repeat the muslin cover also. Do the same, of course, 

 to all the layers in succession, and put the new bundle between the boards again; 

 this time with a rather heavier weight, and there leave it for half a day; after 

 which, change the blotting-papers once more, but the muslin will no longer be 

 required. Weight them again between the boards, and leave them for one, two, or 



