ON PRESSING FLOWERS TO RETAIN THEIR COLOURS. 41 



is suspended in front of a hot fire, or when the weather is fine out of 

 doors in the air, in the hottest possible sun. 



The success of the method is due to the process of drying being 

 so rapid that the pigment is fixed instead of being slowly decomposed. 

 By the old blotting-paper and boards method it took some four to 

 six weeks before the dried specimen was obtained, and involved the 

 laborious work of changing and drying the blotting-paper, and naturally 

 the pigment had slowly decayed meanwhile. 



By my method primroses picked from off the living plant can be 

 permanently dried to retain a lifelike colour in two hours, if the press 

 containing them is placed in the oven. Fresh carnations can be 

 permanently dried in seven hours, and most flowers take less time 

 in the oven or rather more in front of a hot fire or out of doors in 

 the sun. Few flowers take longer than two or three days in bright 

 sun. Some flowers and leaves have a waxy covering and take longer 

 to dry, but they are in the minority. 



The method is extremely simple, for once placed in the press nothing 

 need be done to the flowers again until they are dry, and then there 

 is nothing more to do than remove them from the press. 



When placing the flower in the press, care should be taken to see 

 that petals and leaves are not bent over. I find it a good thing to 

 cut the heads of flowers off the stalks whilst being pressed, as they lie 

 flatter, and they can always be mounted together afterwards. Little 

 pledgets of cotton-wool should be placed between the petals where 

 they are in contact with one another, otherwise sweating will occur 

 and the colour will be destroyed or spoilt. Flowers like Canterbury 

 bells or foxgloves or the bell gentian should be stuffed with a little 

 cotton-wool ; this stuffing^ is best carried out with the help of small 

 dissecting forceps. The flowers may be considered sufficiently dry 

 when, on taking them out of the press and holding them up, they 

 support their own weight, or when they have become brittle. 



If the flowers are mounted afterwards, preferably no gum should 

 be employed, or at the most a minimal amount, as the damp out 

 of it may destroy the pigment. The flowers can easily be mounted 

 with small narrow slips of stamp paper, or a philatelist's stamp 

 hinge may be used at the back of the flower. The mounted specimens 

 should be kept in a dry place. 



The best results are obtained if the flower is placed in the press 

 immediately after it is picked ; if this is impossible it is better to 

 revive it in water for some hours and then press it rather than endeavour 

 to press it when drooping. The flowers should be dry when placed in 

 the press, and not wet either with dew or rain. If they have been placed 

 in water the stalks can be carefully dried with a soft handkerchief. 



I think also that flowers picked in the morning give better results 

 than those picked later in the day. 



May I in conclusion say, to save myself unnecessary correspondence, 

 that the patented press now being sold by the trade as the Fothergill 

 Flower Press is not obtainable from myself ? 



