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INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY. 
4. On making a Collection of dried Plants, Fruits , and Seeds . 
The most exact description, and the most accurate 
drawings or engravings of plants, are necessarily imper- 
fect ; and it is absolutely necessary for a botanist to see the 
plants themselves. And as plants soon go out of flower, 
and perish, it is also equally requisite to devise some me- 
thod of preserving them, or at least their most important 
parts, so that they may be re-examined at any subsequent 
period, and compared together at pleasure. 
For this purpose Botanists have at all times made col- 
lections of dried plants, under the name of an herbarium, 
or hortus siccus : and since the examination of the fruits 
and seeds of plants have been found of such great use in 
detecting the natural analogies of plants, there has been 
added to this collection that of fruits and seeds. 
The drying of plants is a very simple operation, if the 
botanist is provided with plenty of paper. A plant in full 
flower, or if too large, a branch only, is the most necessary 
specimen to be kept; but if opportunity will admit, others 
in various stages of growth should be collected and pre- 
served. 
The specimen should be laid down flat upon a leaf of 
paper, and spread out so that the several parts may not 
cross over each other, nor be put into an unnatural and 
forced position. The sheet thus charged with the plant is 
then to be placed between several other leaves or sheets of 
dry paper, and slightly compressed, either by weights put 
upon a board placed over them, or by the screw-press, 
commonly used for linen. When several plants are laid 
down at once, a number of empty sheets, or leaves of paper, 
should be placed between each charged leaf; the more the 
better and the seldomer do they require to be changed, 
which must be done every day, or oftener, especially if the 
paper is used sparingly. When only a few specimens are 
dried at once, and they are not very succulent, it is suf- 
ficient to put them between the leaves of an old book of 
sufficient size and thickness. The great point is to prevent 
the colours of the flowers from changing, and this is best 
obtained by hastening the drying ; which, when the botanist 
is pressed for time and convenience, is sometimes done by 
ironing them over with a hot smoothing iron, such as are 
used by laundresses, and which can be procured by the tra- 
