DIRECTIONS 
FOR 
DRYING SPECIMENS OF PLANTS FOR A HERBARIUM * 
The object of all botanical collection is to secure such 
specimens of the various herbs, shrubs and trees to be met with in a 
particular district as are capable of being studied in a herbarium. 
To be of use specimens must be dried, and the great object is to dry 
them thoroughly and to dry them quickly. 
For this purpose it is advisable to provide— 
First .—A quantity of the thick grey blotting paper made in 
Indian jails. The sheets of this when folded once measure from i8 
to 22 inches long by 12 to i6 inches wide. It is very cheap and 
supplies of it can always be had at the Botanical Garden, Calcutta. 
This is not only the most efficient drying paper made in India, it is 
surpassed by no material in the world. But at a pinch other kinds 
of paper will do, provided the surface be not glazed. Specimens will 
not, however, dry between the leaves of a note book or in a letter ; 
it is impossible to absorb moisture sufficiently rapidly if paper with 
a highly polished surface, like writing paper, be used. 
Second .—A few split bamboo or cane wicker-work frames with 
open meshes. These frames should be of the same size as the drying 
paper and can be obtained of a basket-maker in any part of India ; a 
few annas will purchase as man}^ as one requires. In Assam, Burma, 
or Malaya an obliging villager will put them together for one on the 
spot. It is not amiss to provide a few pairs of wire frarnes 
* These directions, which are drawn up at the request of Dr. King, c. h E., F. R. s., 
Superintendent of the Royal Botanical Garden, Calcutta, are essentially a new edition of the 
“ Directions” issued by that officer in 1875 with added suggestions, the result of experience, 
personal and administrative, derived during the past fifteen years from botanical research by 
Dr. King himself and his officers in the Transgangetic Peninsula and in the Eastern Hima¬ 
laya, provinces where the difficulties of collection are many times greater than they are in 
most parts of India or in any part of the North-west Himalaya. They are meant for the 
assistance of Indian officers, and in them reference is made solely to articles that it is easy 
for a resident in India to obtain. 
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