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FIRST PAPER— COLLECTING. 



HERE are many ways of making an herbarium, but feu 

 ways of making a good one. A certain amount of 

 experience is necessary to obtain the best results, and 

 it may ahr.ost be set down as an axiom that a really 

 valuable herbarium canrot be made until the maker has served 

 an apprenticeship in the art. In my opinion, however, even 

 the beginner's herbarium is susceptible of much improvement 

 if proper directions are carefully followed, and in the hope of 

 providing these directions the following pages are presented. 

 Since nearly all young botanists collect only the flowerii^g 

 plants, I shall at presert confine my remarks to this b^anch of 

 the subject. 



The real making of the herbarium begins in the field with 

 the collection of the specimens. It seldom happens that the 

 beginner has a proper appreciation of the value of roots and 

 stems or, in fact, of any part of the plant except the flower and 

 a few of the leaves on the stem near it. But if it be remem- 

 bered that the herbarium is the best means we have been able to 

 devise for preserving plants for study and comparison at times 

 when they are not in condition in the field, the importance of 

 securing in such speciments everything that will be of use in 

 studying them, is apparent. 



The whole plant, including the roots, should always be 

 taken when practicable. In annual plants, a single specimen 

 may show buds, flowers, fruit, leaves and roots, but in others 

 it may require several collections of the same species before all 

 parts are well represented. In addition to this, it is well to 

 collect every variation from the normal, for these latter often 

 throw interesting side-lights upon the evolution and relatio^^- 

 ships of the plants. In a word, the specimens of any species 

 should represent as nearly as possible alLphases^of that species. 

 By keeping this in mind, the collector snould find himself in 

 possession of material for an ideal herbarium at the end of 

 the season. It will require some botanical knowledge, how- 

 ever, to collect to the greatest advantage. In some families of 



