RULES FOR PRESERVING, ETC. 
XXI 
On these newspapers scatter, as lightly and thinly as possible, yonr fresh-gathered plants, just 
as you brought them in from the shore. For you must neither squeeze them nor rinse them 
in fresh water, nor do anything, in short, to get rid of the sea-water which hangs round them, 
and which, if you will allow it to dry naturally upon them, will both preserve them sound and 
keep them pliable, so that they will easily remoisten. If they are very dirty indeed, you may 
send for some clean sea-water and shake them in it, so as to get them into a state of average 
cleanliness before scattering them on the newspaper. But, even then, no squeezing or dabbing 
is allowed. Shake them once or twice if you please, if they are streaming as you lift them 
from the basin, but that is all. 
Now, in warm weather, and in a dry place, and with plenty of air, your plants will soon 
begin to dry a little. And if you like to turn them over after an hour or two, there can be no 
objection, for there is no reason why the hay-making principle should not be useful here, and 
both sides of a sea-weed have the same chance. Even with turning, however, and that more 
than once, it is uncertain how long your plants will be before they are sufficiently dry for 
packing. Sometimes — but not often in England — a, few hours will suffice ; at others, a few 
days will be necessary. The artificial heat of a room may be used now and then to assist the 
operation, but it must be done in moderation. When tolerably dry — sufficiently so for there 
to be no danger of their clinging together and moulding, you may drop them into paper bags, 
ready to be packed up when next you start. And the word drop is used, to make it thoroughly 
understood that they must be allowed plenty of air-room, and on no account be pressed down 
to get them into a small compass. And the same loose packing must be practised with the 
bags themselves. The plants will not bear squeezing. 
This rough-drying process is perfect for all the coarser plants, and answers very fairly with 
so many of the others, that you cannot do better than practise it wherever you go. For, even 
when able to lay out some plants at the time you collect them, it is always pleasant to have a 
few more after you come home, whether for yourself or for giving away, and such paper bags 
of sea-weeds travel nicely in a hamper, and are very light. 
And the plan is invaluable for another reason. It is so easily carried out, that you may 
even venture to ask non-naturalist friends to practise it in your behalf, if either living or 
travelling in other countries. And in this way your collection may be enriched by some of the 
curious and beautiful growths which exist in distant seas. For algas preserved in this manner 
remain in good condition for a length of time, and all but the very delicate ones will bear 
wetting and being laid out at leisure, quite well. 
There remains now to be considered the process of laying out, which, be it remembered, 
when well done at first, is the one sure way of preserving algae in perfection.- 
It is a rather complicated operation, but soon learnt, and easily practised, when once 
understood. Some little contrivance is necessary, however, to avoid annoying other people and 
injuring furniture ; and a luxurious algologist would like to have a room to himself, with a 
carpet that would not stain, and a deal table which no amount of splashing would spoil. But 
it is wonderful what may be done without luxuries ! I have known it possible, even when 
visiting, to lay out plants in a bed-room, washing them in a basin, spreading them in any 
shallow bath that happened to be there, and pressing them under a travelling box, neither 
wetting the furniture nor doing anything else to annoy the hostess, and causing no extra 
trouble but the emptying of the bath once oftener than usual. 
