20 
be immersed in boiling water for a minute or two before 
putting up in this way. When packed, the whole should 
be deposited between two boards, and considerable weight or 
pressure applied upon them. They should not be allowed to re¬ 
main in this way more than twenty-four, and, if the plants be 
very succulent, not more than twelve hours; at the end of which 
time, they should be removed from this paper to other that is 
fresh and dry, and again submitted to the same pressure. Af¬ 
ter a few days, the change may be at greater intervals, until 
the specimens become perfectly dry. Then they are to be re¬ 
moved to the paper in which they are to be permanently kept, 
in which condition, an interval of one sheet is sufficient be- 
tweeen each specimen. If this care be not taken, the speci¬ 
mens are liable to turn black and be ruined. 
As soon as a specimen is collected, a label should be pre¬ 
pared and placed with it, and constantly kept with it in all its 
transfers. This label should state the place and time of col¬ 
lection ; whether the plant be of land or water; if the latter, 
fresh or salt, the kind of soil in which it grows; its name, 
where found ; its uses, if any ; its mode of manufacture, if con¬ 
verted to useful or other purposes ; the color and odor of its 
flowers, and any thing else interesting or important connected 
with it. 
The collector must not refuse to collect a specimen because 
he thinks it common at the place to which he wishes to send 
his collections. It is an important question to determine the 
geographical distribution of the vegetable kingdom, and this 
can only be done by knowing the various localities in which 
a plant may be found. 
Sea weeds should be immersed a few hours in fresh water 
before they are put up. 
If possible, the collector should obtain the fruit or seed, not 
only of the specimens collected, but of any other vegetable. 
These should be wrapped up carefully with a label. They 
should be retained in or accompanied by the pod, capsule, or 
other covering in which they have grown, if this be not of a 
perishable nature. De Candolle recommends that seeds from 
a moist country should be packed in charcoal pulverized. 
