7 



the specimens resultino^. I am aware that specimens, can be 

 made by merely placing- plants between driers under sufficient 

 weight and forgetting all about them until they are needed, 

 but such specimens, whi.e they may answer for the identi- 

 fication of a species, are good for nothing else. The leaves 

 have turned brown or yellow and the delicate tmts of the 

 tiower have faded. By the other method it is possible to re- 

 tain the colors of even many parasitic plants which the botanist 

 has declared are foreordained to blacken in drying. 



1 may be pardoned for giving a word to the drying of the 

 driers, for there is a knack in doing even this, At best the 

 spreading out and picking up of many driers is a back breaking 

 labor, and anything that will lighten this is worth attention. 

 With some collectors it is the practice to cut the driers twice 

 as large as needed and fold them once, making what is equiva- 

 lent to two driers joined together by one of the , long sides, 

 i his can easily be hung over a line, or even set up on an end 

 to dry. In the long run, however, it will doubtless be found 

 easier to cut the driers of the usual size, and dry by spread- 

 ing out in the sunshine. If one selects a level space which is 

 already warmed by the sun's rays, he may spread dawn two 

 driers at a time and both will dry in the course of three 

 iiours. If care is taken to put down the second pair of driers 

 so that they just overlap the first, the third slightly overlapping 

 the second and so on, like the shingles on a house, when the 

 time comes to take them up, instead of picking each up sep- 

 arately, it is only necessary to begin at number one and with 

 a sliding motion scoop the rest into a neat pile with one move 

 — a great saving in both time and labor. If these driers are 

 used while still warm from the sun, the process of drying is 

 greatly facilitated. 



The pressure to be put upon a pile of drying plants de- 

 pends in a great measure upon the plants themselves. It 

 may vary from fifteen to seventy-five pounds, forty pounds 

 being a fair average. In fleshy plants too great a weight may 

 crush the parts out of all resemblance to the original form, 

 but, as a rule, plants seem to get too little pressure rather 

 than too much. The means of applying pressure to the pile 

 of drying plants are various. Thumb-screws, occasionally 

 used, cannot be recommended, since they do not permit the 



