NATUEAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



47 



is but one recognized way for an 

 American student to make a her- 

 barium, and that is the method of 

 preserving plants which is adopted 

 by the colleges of this country, 

 which is here set forth in detail. 

 All scrap albums, sets of flowers 

 mounted on cards, and floral groups 

 must be relegated to the readers of 

 souvenir books. 



In selecting specimens to press, 

 the whole plant,root and all, should 

 be taken. If the plant is more 

 than ten inches high, it should be 

 bent over once or twice in a V or N 

 shaped position. Specimens fr f om 

 a tall herbaceous plant should show 

 a spray of flowers about 8-ioinches 

 long, and a few of the leaves and 

 the root. The fruit of a plant 

 should always be collected and 

 mounted on the same sheet. Seeds 

 or pods that fall off can be kept in 

 an envelope on the sheet. 



For work in the field, a tin bot- 

 any box is useful to keep speci- 

 mens fresh; but a portfolio 12x17 

 inches, of wood, wire, or leather, 

 and fastened with straps, is much 

 to be preferred, as several hundred 

 specimens can be brought home in 

 it. It should be filled with folded 

 sheets of unsized paper such as 

 grocers use. These should be 

 about 11x16 inches when folded. 

 The fresh specimens should be laid 

 just as they grow, without much 

 attempt to straighten or arrange 

 them, between the folded sheets, 

 and crushed up in the portfolio. 

 Plants that are wet with rain or 

 dew are more apt to mildew or dis- 

 color than those collected in dry 

 weather; but care will bring them 

 out all right. Heavv, fleshy plants 

 also need care, and may some- 

 times be split, as in the case of 

 magnolias and thistles. 



The materials for a press are two 

 smooth boards, at least a hundred 

 driers 11x16 inches, a quantity of 

 single sheets of white grocer's pa- 

 per of the same size, and a weight, 

 of either a box of stones or five or 

 ten bricks. 



Very fair driers may be made of 

 newspapers folded ten or twelve 

 times to make thick pads, cut the 

 uniform size and basted together 

 at the edges. But by far the best 

 driers are the felt pads sold for the 

 purpose. They are absorptive in 

 the extreme, and make perfectly 

 even, smooth specimens. Although 

 they cost about $2 per hundred, 

 they are the best investment that 

 an amateur can make, for they last 

 for years and insure perfect speci- 

 mens. 



When the plants are to be taken 

 from the portfolio, which should 



be as soon as possible, and not over 

 twelve hours after gathering, they 

 are put in press as follows: Lay a 

 board as a foundation; on it a 

 drier; on that a sheet of white bib- 

 ulous grocer's paper; on that the 

 specimens, which may now be 

 straightened out and have some 

 leaves turned over to show their 

 under surfaces; on top of the spec- 

 imens another sheet of white paper, 

 then a drier, and so on till all are in, 

 when the remaining board is laid 

 over all and the weights put on. 



In twelve hours the wet driers 

 should be replaced by dry ones, 

 while the wet ones are put in the 

 sunshine or wind or behind a stove. 

 The driers should be changed again 

 in another twelve hours; and after- 

 ward once a day for three or four 

 days, when most of the plants will 

 be dry. Some plants do not dry 

 in less than a week, and some are 

 so persistently moist that, in des- 

 peration, they have to be ironed. 



The whole secret of making fine 

 specimens lies in having goodbibul- 

 driers, and in frequent and re- 

 gular changes. 



The regulation size of mounting 

 paper is 11^x16^ inches. It is a 

 heavy white glazed paper, about 

 the weight of a very heavy note 

 paper. It is worth about $1 per 

 hundred, cut, but may be obtained 

 for less if a local paper company 

 has the right weight in stock. 



Various means are used to attach 

 the specimens to the sheet. Ordi- 

 nary glue is useful for woody stems 

 and heavy specimens, but the neat- 

 est and most satisfactory way is to 

 fasten each specimen down by put- 

 ting several strips of gummed pa- 

 per across it. These may be pre- 

 pared by covering one side of a 

 sheet of linen paper, architect's pa- 

 per, or even ordinary strong white 

 paper, with mucilage, and, when 

 it is dry, cutting it into narrow 

 strips. 



The plants should not all be fas- 

 tened in the middle of a sheet, or 

 the pile will soon curve. The}' 

 should be distributed with a cer- 

 tain regard for artistic effect, in va- 

 rious positions. 



The scientific name of the plant, 

 with its authority, as well as the 

 name of the collector, the locality, 

 and the date, should be written 

 either in the right hand lower cor- 

 ner of the sheet, or on a 1*2x3 inch 

 label bearing the collector's name. 



Either before or after the plants 

 are mounted they should be poi- 

 soned to prevent insects from eating 

 them, by spraying them with alco- 

 hol or benzine in which a little ar- 

 senic has been disolved- 



The genus covers for plants 

 should be of a strong, heavy ma- 

 nila paper, cut so that when fold- 

 ed they are )/^ inch wider than the 

 inclosed white sheets holding the 

 species. In the lower left hand 

 corner of these covers there should 

 be written first the family name, 

 and beneath it, close to the lower 

 edge, the name of the genus — both 

 in a strong, bold hand. In this 

 cover all the species of one genus 

 should be kept. 



Of course all the genera of one 

 family must be arranged together. 

 In a small herbarium it is well to 

 follow an alphabetic order. 



No herbarium of over five hun- 

 dred specimens can be managed 

 easily unless kept in case. Closet 

 shelves and drawers will serve at 

 first, but not long. A good and 

 inexpensive kind is made like a 

 light bookcase, six feet high, with 

 ( a partition down the middle and 

 thin stationary shelves five inches 

 apart. Each compartment must 

 be large enough to allow the cover 

 sheets to slip in lengthwise. Glass 

 doors are a great protection from 

 dust, but few amateurs have them. 

 — The Outlook. 



An Orchid for Room Culture. 



A wonderfully pretty plant, well 

 adapted for room culture, is the 

 well-known Mexican orchid, Cypri- 

 pedium insigne. In its native coun- 

 try it grows in the deep shade of 

 woods, so that the obscurity of a 

 dwelling house is rather agreeable 

 to it than otherwise. Then it is in 

 our country a natural winter-flow- 

 ering plant, and needs no forcing 

 to make it bloom. One plant will 

 not yield many flowers; but they 

 are almost fadeless. A lady of the 

 writer's acquaintance has a plant, 

 in an eight-inch pot, with seven 

 flowers. These opened early in 

 December, and lasted until the 

 early part of February. The curi- 

 ous slipper-like lip, which has sug- 

 gested the name Cypripedium, — 

 that is to say the "Slipper of Ven- 

 us," — is always interesting. When 

 the afternoon sunlight is shed on 

 the flower, the colors are well 

 brought out. It is a plant of the 

 easiest culture, as all summer long 

 it can be placed under the shade of 

 some tree or wall. If it gets an 

 abundance of water, it seems 

 thankful; but if exposed to drought, 

 it seems to enjoy life all the same. 

 The plant above referred to had 

 been in the same pot for many 

 years. 



Besides the interest derived from 



