i6 
The Ferns of South Africa. 
Besides cultivating ferns, a most interesting method of preserv- 
ing them is, as dried specimens, in the form of a herbarium. 
For this purpose perfect plants, nearly mature, should be sel- 
ected, and placed at once between sheets of paper — sufficient 
paper being used to absorb all the moisture in the plant. With 
the larger kinds one frond only can be kept instead of a whole 
plant, but any peculiarity such as a running rhizome, a scaly 
crown, or a tree stem, should if possible be shown or noted. 
The paper may require to be changed several times before the 
specimen is dry, and a pressure sufficient to keep the frond flat- 
tened is required all along. When dry, the specimen should be 
mounted on uniform sheets of stiff paper, or in a book, fixed by strips 
of gummed paper, or by threads sewed through, and furnished 
with a label stating the name of the fern, where and when found, 
kind of locality, and any other particulars of interest. Many 
botanists fix their specimens to the paper with gum, and in which- 
ever manner they are fixed, they ought to be poisoned to keep 
away insects. 
Such a collection is easily formed, and when once in order re- 
mains for many years — to its maker an object of interest ; to his 
friend a proof of his perseverance ; and not unfrequently to both 
a reminder of happy holidays spent in one another’s company 
long ago. 
