xxxn 
OUTLINES OE BOTANY. 
completeness. Fragments, such as leaves without flowers, or flowers without leaves, 
are of little or no use. 
226. If the plant is small (not exceeding 15 in.) or can be reduced to that length 
by folding, the specimen should consist of the whole plant, including the principal part 
of the root. If it be too large to preserve the whole, a good flowering-branch should be 
selected, with the foliage as low down as can be gathered with it ; and one or two of 
the lower stem-leaves or radical leaves, if any, should be added, so as to preserve as 
much as possible of the peculiar aspect of the plant. 
227. The specimens should be taken from healthy uninjured plants of a medium 
siz°. Or if a specimen be gathered because it looks a little different from the majority 
of those around it, apparently belonging to the same species, a specimen of the more 
prevalent form should be taken from the same locality for comparison. 
228. For bringing the specimens home, a light portfolio of pasteboard, covered with 
calico or leather, furnished with straps and buckles for closing, and another for slinging 
on the shoulder, and containing a few sheets of stout coarse paper, is better than the 
old-fashioned tin box (except, perhaps, for stiff prickly plants and a few others). The 
specimens as gathered are placed between the leaves of paper, and may be crowded to- 
gether if not left long without sorting. 
229. If the specimen brought home be not immediately determined when fresh, 
but dried for future examination, a note should be taken of the time, place, and 
situation in which it was gathered ; of the stature, habit, and other particulars re- 
lating to any tree, shrub, or herb of which the specimen is only a portion ; of the 
kind of root it has ; of the colour of the flower ; or of any other particulars which 
the specimen itself cannot supply, or which may be lost in the process of drying. 
These memoranda, whether taken down in the field, or from the living specimen 
when brought home, should be written on a label attached to the specimen or pre- 
served with it. 
230. To dry specimens, they are laid flat between several sheets of bibulous paper, 
and subjected to pressure. The paper is subsequently changed at intervals, until they 
are dry. 
231. In laying out the specimen, care should be taken to preserve the natural posi- 
tion of the parts as far as consistent with the laying flat. In general, if the specimen 
is fresh and not very slender, it may be simply laid on the lower sheet, holding it by 
the stalk and drawing it slightly downwards ; then, as the upper sheet is laid over, if 
it be slightly drawn downwards as it is pressed down, it will be found, after a few 
trials, that the specimen will have retained a natural form with very little trouble. If 
the specimen has been gathered long enough to have become flaccid, it will require 
more care in laying the leaves flat and giving the parts their proper direction. Speci- 
mens kept in tin boxes, will also often have taken unnatural bends which will require 
to be corrected. 
232. If the specimen is very bushy, some branches must be thinned out, but always 
so as to show where they have been. If any part, such as the head of a thistle, the 
stem of an Orobanche, or the bulb of a Lily, be very thick, a portion of what is to be 
the under side of the specimen may be sliced off. Some thick specimens may be split 
from top to bottom before drying. 
233. If the specimen be succulent or tenacious of life, such as a Sedum or an 
Orchis , it may be dipped in boiling water all but the flowers. This will kill the plant 
at once, and enable it to be dried rapidly, losing less of its colour or foliage than 
would otherwise be the case. Dipping in boiling water is also useful in the case 
of Heaths and other plants which are apt to shed then' leaves during the process of 
drying. 
234. Plants with very delicate corollas may he placed between single leaves of very 
thin unglazed tissue-paper. In shifting these plants into dry paper the tissue-paper is 
not to be removed, but lifted with its contents on to the dry paper. 
235. The number of sheets of paper to be placed between each specimen or sheet of 
specimens, will depend, on the one hand, on the thickness and humidity of the speci- 
mens ; on the other hand, on the quantity and quality of the paper one has at command. 
The more and the better the paper, the less frequently will it be necessary to change 
