116 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
and zinc. Put in thin ribs, the same as in 
the bark canoe, and stay them with rivets. 
Paint any color to suit the fancy. The 
paddle used is the same as for the bark 
canoe. 
To make the paddle (Fig. 3), take a strip 
of light wood, about three feet eight inches 
long, make the blade one-half the length of 
the paddle, and four or five inches wide. 
Make it thin, so as to spring. The paddle 
is used on one side of the canoe, and is 
never crossed only to change hands for a 
rest. 
How to Make an Herbarium. 
BY JOHN W. BUCK, B. SC. 
Continued from page 104. 
IN speaking of laying out the specimens, 
I omitted to give one hint which may 
be of service; I refer to the judicious use of 
the scissors. It will sometimes be found 
advantageous to cut away leaves and blos- 
soms from what we may call the back of 
the plant, when there are too many of 
them, and when they would conceal one 
another's shape by their number. It has 
the efiect also in many caseB of making the 
specimen look more natural, since, when 
growing, the branches of a bushy plant do 
not incommode one another, but spread out 
equally on all sides. A bunch of berries — 
those of the spurge laurel, for example — 
must generally be partly cut away. Some- 
times it is well to postpone the operation 
until the specimen is dry and ready for 
mounting. But be very cautious that in 
cutting you do not disfigure the plant, or 
deprive it of some important feature. 
Every plant has its characteristic kind of 
inflorescence, or flower arrangement, and 
also of leaf-arrangement, and if you snip 
away recklessly you will produce effects 
that will sadly puzzle any botanist who may 
afterwards look over your collection. 
The pressure necessary for the thorough 
preservation of the plants may be caused by 
large books laid over the papers, with a few 
bricks on top, or by strapping the papers 
together between two strong boards. The 
latter plan I prefer, and almost always] 
make use of, because the whole affair can 
be carried about from place to place if re- 
quired, or set before a fire to dry quicker, 
which is often a great convenience. I need 
hardly say that, however the plants are 
pressed, they should always be in as dry a 
place as possible. As regards the amount 
of pressure to be applied, it should be 
borne in mind that the object is not to 
squash the plants, but to keep them flat 
and dry them; and hence, especially with 
succulents, a too excessive pressure should 
i be avoided. If, however, enough paper be 
interposed, and the specimens well dis- 
tributed among the sheets, ordinary plants 
will take no harm under any reasonable 
1 pressure. 
In transferring the plants, when changing 
the sheets of porous paper, it will be found 
advantageous not to lift up each plant by 
itself and place it on another sheet, but to i 
adopt the following plan. After having ' 
lifted away the damp sheets above the 
plant — which must be done with great care, 
by turning them slowly back with the right 
hand, while guiding and moderating the 
operation with the left, which should be I 
held down on the upper surface of the 
paper you are removing, — place a dry sheet 
over the plant. Then take up the two up- 
permost sheets, with the plant between 
them, carefully invert them, lay them on 
the pile of dry shefets, and lastly skin off 
the damp sheet in the same way as before. 
Even by this method it will not be found 
easy to keep the blossoms and leaves of 
some plants smooth, as they are so apt to 
stick to the papers. All blossoms that are 
at all troublesome had better be dried sep- 
arately; and in the case of such as poppies, 
they should be protected by a couple of 
pieces of tissue paper, which should not be 
removed until the drying process is quite 
over. The chief difficulty in transference 
will be found only while the plants are 
damp, and will disappear entirely as they 
get drier. The damp sheets should be com- 
pletely dried before using them again, by 
exposing them to warm, dry air. 
There are several ways of judging when 
