116 
A BOTANICAL TOUR. 
Priapus.* One great advantage of this plan is, that the specimens may remain 
between the cartridge paper uninjured for some days, which, in a wild tract where 
there is no convenience for arranging them, is an object. But besides the case I 
have mentioned, I would strenuously recommend a smaller one fitted to an inner 
pocket, for peculiar rarities, and the more delicate flowers, since every practical 
collecting botanist well knows, that specimens placed casually in an old memo¬ 
randum-book in the pocket, where they have remained for some time unthought 
of, have retained their characters and colours in far greater perfection than many 
which had undergone sand-baking secundum artem^ or been shifted day after day 
from paper to paper, at a vain expense of time and patience. As the sooner a 
plant can be divested of its juices after gathering the better, whenever time will 
allow, an hot iron carefully applied upon several thicknesses of paper, will make 
sure work, and indeed in the Sedums and OrchidecE is indispensable. I have spe¬ 
cimens of both beautifully retaining their original colours done in this way, but 
some practice is required in applying the requisite degree of heat, which must be 
moderate upon the flowers. It is also a good plan, when changing the papers of 
plants, to heat them as much as they will bear without scorching, before a good 
fire, laying the plants down quickly upon the heated paper, the result of which 
process, perseveringly continued, will have the best effect. After all, however, 
disappointment will often ensue, especially with blue flowers, though I have Cam¬ 
panulas, hastily gathered with rubbish and dry leaves, which, without attention, 
have retained their beautiful blue tints for years. It must also be borne in mind, 
that the herbarium itself must not be left to its fate in a damp room, or one in 
which the genial blaze never appears, for if so, mildew will soon gather, defacing 
and rendering almost nugatory the incessant labours of former years. But enough 
of the closet—the practical botanist can only be fully at home “abroad in the 
meadows,” and while a ray of light lingers in the horizon, I must improve it. 
Day set o’er Swansea’s castled steep, as I entered the Mackworth Arms, but 
I instantly hurried down to the sandy shores of the bay. The evening was low¬ 
ering, gloomy clouds hung low upon the ocean, amidst which the Mumbles light 
* Though the collecting botanist may not indeed become literally a scare-crow, yet he will 
hardly fail to scare many an ass^ wondering what he can want with thorns and thistles. I have 
known some botanists stuff their hats with plants; but then it becomes somewhat awkward to lift 
up the hat without seeming to have assumed the delphic laurel without leave of Apollo, or at any 
Tate to be preparing to say with Horace— 
“ Nunc decet aut viridi nitidum caput impedire myrto, 
Aut flore, terrae quern ferunt solutes.” 
Now verdant myrtle in our shining hair, 
Or earth-born flowers appropriately we wear. 
