8 



pressure to l)e orauged nor allow it to follow the plants as 

 they shrink in drying. Two stout straps are often used to 

 give pressure, as in the collecting-press, especially if the col- 

 lector is moving from one place to another every few days, 

 in which case the straps have the added advantage of keeping 

 the plants together during transportation ; but this method is 

 open to the same objections as the thumb-screws. For 

 pressing plants at home, a series of weights placed on top of 

 the drying pile is best. These weights may consist of stones, 

 stout sacks of sand, or any other thing that includes much 

 w^eight in little space. There are certain plants, of which 

 the common live- forever is a good example, that cannot be 

 dried by ordinary means. Placed in a pile of driers well 

 weighted down they continue to grow. Good specimens of 

 such plants can be made by placing each plant under a drier 

 and vigorously ironing it with a warm flat-iron until the plants 

 are nearly dry, when they may be treated in the ordinary way. 

 Flowers with thick heads, like the sunflowers, are sometimes 

 pressed by being surrounded by cotton batting or wadding to 

 prevent the ray flowers from shrivelling. In drying plants 

 there will doubtless arise many occasions in which the fore- 

 going rules for pressing must be modified. In all such cases 

 it should be remembered that the best methods are those dic- 

 tated by common sense. 



THIRD PAPER— MOUNTING. 



K no part of herbarium-making have greater improve- 

 ments been made than in the methods of mounting 

 plants. It was once customary to place them between 

 folded sheets of paper, but by such an arrangement 



the plants were easily damaged and the labels lost or mis- 

 placed, making it impracticable for any herbarium that is fre- 

 quently consulted. Nowadays, in all herbariums worthy of 

 the name, the plants are mounted on single sheets of paper, 

 to which they are fastened by various means. 



The mounting sheet should always be ii^ by inches 

 in size. The beginner frequently cannot see the necessity for 

 being so particular about this. For his benefit it may be 



