THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



317 



fashioned vaseulum (tin box) may be used 

 for carrying the plants home from the field, 

 its length should never be less than 16 inches, 

 the depth 3, and the breadth about 6 : but I 

 prefer a portfolio made of singie sheets of 

 strong unsized paper of the same size as the 

 herbarium sheets, with stiff millboard backs, 

 nd with a strong elastic banc; to keep the 

 ■acks pressed together. If the plants are of 

 a delicate habit, or if they have delicate 

 flowers, the portfolio will carry home better 

 specimens than the tin box, for every botanist 

 Knows to his sorrow how the petals of the 

 beautiful flowers of the rose, geranium, and 

 other families have generally fallen off w hen 

 he comes to examine the contents of his tin 

 box. The plants should be dried by placing 

 them in a natural position between the 

 sheets of drying paper, ten or twenty sheets 

 should intervene between each sheet of speci- 

 mens. A board should be placed on the pile 

 of specimens contained in the drying sheets, 

 and a weight of from 30 to 60 pounds placed 

 on the board, the amount of weight depend- 

 ing mostly on the size of the pile of speci- 

 mens ; the weight may be increased towards 

 the end of the drying process. A trunk, or 

 clothes-box, will serve as the weight. The 

 drying sheets must be replaced daily with 

 perfectly dry ones for about a week, when 

 the plants will be dry and ready for 

 mounting. Tender plants, and those with 

 tender flowers, should not be removed from 

 the sheet of paper immediately above and 

 that immediately below them, but these two 

 sheets should be dried as though they were 

 part of the plant or plants they contain. 

 Fleshy plants, such as orchids, sedums, and 

 many of the maritime plants should be held 

 by the flowering part of the plant (which 

 must not be immersed) in boiling water for ten 

 seconds before placing them to dry. Those 

 species of Chara which secrete lime so largely 

 in their tissues should be steeped in white 

 vinegar, or diluted hydrochloric acid (1 part 

 to 100 of water) for an hour, and then care- 

 fully washed before drying ; specimens just 



S as collected should in all cases be dried along 

 I with them, and those that have been treated 

 I with acid should be labelled as having under- 

 | gone that process. Specimens of the same 

 ! species from different localities should be 

 j mounted on separate sheets. The London 

 'atalogue number, name, date, locality, and 

 situation of the plant; as well as the name of 

 the collector should be written on the label, 

 or the sheet itself. The best way of mount- 

 ing the plants is to attach them to half sheets 

 of white demy paper by means of gummed 

 j slips of paper about one inch leng, and an 

 eighth of an inch broad, two or three of such 

 slips are usually sufficient to attach one 

 plant. The sheet should then be labelled at 

 the right hand corner at the bottom. All 

 the sheets should be uniform in size w hether 

 the plants be large or small. Another way 

 of mounting is precisely similar, except that 

 the plant is mounted on the right hand half 

 of a sheet of demy paper, and the left hand 

 half is folded over it to keep the plant from 

 being rubbed by the sheet of the mounted 

 plant which has to be placed immediately 

 above it in the herbarium. Another good 

 way of mounting is to attach the label to the 

 specimen by means of a gummed slip, and 

 then to place the specimen loose between a 

 folded sheet of demy paper. The specimens 

 should be arranged in numerical order, and 

 a London Catalogue should also be marked 

 with the plants contained in the herbarium, 

 and kept with it for reference, when by its 

 means an}- plant in the herbarium can be 

 quickly found for examination. Bundles of 

 twenty or thirty sheets may be placed inside 

 a doubled sheet and secured together by 

 means of two tapes, and the bundles labelled 

 " 1 to 20," or " 1 to 30," along with the name 

 or names of the natural order or orders it 

 may conta/n. These bundles are kept in 

 cabinets, which are best when made with 

 movable shelves. The cabinet can be made 

 of any kind of wood, according to the plan, 

 requirements, and pocket of each individual. 

 If dryness be kept in the herbarium there 



