THE YOUNG NATUKALIST. 



9 



flaccid, and you have got them nicely displayed on the first sheet of drying 

 paper, you should not attempt to lift them on to another dry sheet when you 

 change the paper in the press, but you may lift off the top sheet, and replace 

 it with a dry one, being careful not to disturb the position of the plant. If 

 the intermediate sheets are changed frequently — and always perfectly dry — 

 they will absorb the moisture and the plant will dry nicely. Indeed certain 

 flowers, such as the violets, cannot be successfully dried at all if ever the 

 pressure be removed till they are quite finished. The petals curl up and 

 shrivel if exposed, and can never be satisfactorily replaced again. In such 

 cases the remedy is to put the plant as nicely as possible at first, and keep it 

 between the two sheets till thoroughly dry. 



One of the commonest mistakes the young collector is apt to fall into is 

 the attempt to preserve too many specimens at one time, the result in general 

 being that the whole are spoiled, or at least imperfectly done. One really 

 good specimen is worth any number of defective ones. And better have a 

 small and neat collection of well-preserved examples, than a heterogeneous 

 aggregation of scraps and fragment, which too often appear as the first-fruits 

 of the flower gathering fever. 



There is no hard and fast line as to how long plants require in the drying 

 process. With many small and arid plants, two or three changes of paper 

 with continuous pressure for a fortnight, may prove all that is needful, whilst 

 juicier plants may require constant care and frequent changes for weeks. As 

 a rule grasses give the least trouble, and sedums and water-plants the most. 

 The heaths and pines are very apt to shed their leaves in the drying process. 

 The sedums are so tenacious of life that it is almost impossible to kill them 

 so as to make mummies of them. Their inherent vitality is so great that 

 they will grow for weeks in the press. A good and effective plan is to dip 

 them for a few moments into boiling hot water, before putting them into the 

 drying paper ; this kills them quickly. Only experience can tell when a plant 

 is so thoroughly dried that it will not change in appearance after removal 

 from the press. They generally become rather brittle and friable, so that a 

 leaf or stem will snap much more readily than when green. As this is a con- 

 summation to be avoided they should be handled tenderly and with care. 

 They cannot be kept too long in the press, but in the height of the season, 

 when one is always adding to their store, they accumulate so fast that one 

 must stow them away to make room for others. They should therefore be 

 carefully removed, a sheet of paper placed over each specimen, a moderate num- 

 ber enclosed in one common wrapper, and stowed away under gentle pressure, 

 to keep them flat till leisure can be got to mount them for permanent reference. 

 An expeditious way of drying small plants is to place them between several 



