THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
103 
assisting to determine the name of the 
species. With many plants, as is the case 
with the coltsfoot, the root will be almost 
sure to break off sooner or later. Again, a 
complete blue-bell, bulb and all entire, will 
be a very good certificate of perseverance 
for its possessor. The adhering earth should 
be shaken off as far as possible without 
doing injury to the roots, and the rest care- 
fully pulled off at home, or removed by, 
holding the root (only) under a stream of 
water. 
The next thing ought to be to name the 
specimen; and if I could take for granted 
a little knowledge of botany on the part of 
my readers, it would not be very difficult to 
•show in brief the easiest method of arriv- 
ing at the correct botanical and popular 
names of most of our common wild flowers. 
For those, however, who know nothing of 
botany, the best way is to compare the 
flowers brought home with the illustrations 
in some such work as Ann Pratt's "Wild 
Flowers," or John's "Flowers of the Field," 
or Sowerby's "English Botany," or to ob- 
tain the help of some botanical friend. At 
all events, you need not despair of making 
good progress with your herbarium, even if 
you do not know the names of all the 
plants it contains, as these can generally be 
added afterwards. 
In any case, proceed to dry your plants 
before they lose their freshness. This is 
accomplished by pressing them between 
porous paper. The best paper for the pur- 
pose is, or used to be, made by Messrs. 
Spicer, of New Bridge street, Blackfriars 
(who also supply white paper for mount- 
ing, in sheets about 17 in. by 11 in.), but 
in default of this, thick blotting paper is 
said to answer, though I have not tried it. 
The plants must not be damp when they 
are put in the press, and if the roots have 
been washed to clean them, they should be 
wiped as dry as possible. If for any 
reason the plants are at all damp, the 
papers should be changed very frequently 
at first, even twice a day, until the excess 
of moisture has been removed. I am fre- 
quently asked, "How is it you manage to 
keep the colors of your flowers so well?" 
Mainly by attention to this point — by not 
allowing the flowers to remain damp. 
Otherwise they are very apt to change their 
color; as, for example, the wood anemone, 
or windflower, which generally turns brown, 
but which may be kept white with proper 
care. Heath and firs are said to require a 
dip in boiling water before drying, in order 
to prevent the foliage from falling off. 
The same process prevents succulents, such 
as the curious flesh colored parasitic tooth- 
wort, from growing during or after pres- 
sure, by killing them at once. Here, also, 
the superfluous moisture should be re- 
moved by a handkerchief before pressing. 
Do not mix fresh specimens with dry ones, 
but separate them with several sheets of 
brown paper. Laying the plants out will 
often be found a troublesome process, and 
one which, in order to do it well, will in 
some cases require time and patience, but 
it is not of much use to give advice on this 
head, except to say that the various parts of 
the flower should be as well exhibited as 
possible. For instance, where the flower 
has a colored calyx and no corolla, as in 
marsh marigold, clematis, and wood ane- 
mone, one blossom should be folded up so 
as to show the absence of the customary 
row of green leaves below the colored ones. 
Or the same subject may be effected by 
completely reversing one blossom, so that 
its face is towards the paper. Where 
bracts, or small leaflets at the base of the 
flower stalks occur, as in orchids, they 
should be shown. The specimens should 
be distributed among the sheets of porous 
paper in such a way that the pressure may 
be somewhat equal in all places; but those 
plants, however, are likely to dry more 
quickly which are nearer the margin of the 
sheets. Thick stems had better be sliced 
in half longitudinally, as it prevents their 
taking up too much room, and also enables 
them to dry very much faster. The same 
course may be taken with thick roots or 
root stocks, as in primrose or coltsfoot; but 
in such cases care must be taken to leave 
enough root fibres adhering to the main 
