( 3 ) 
of the same size and the same general character as the cane ones. The 
best kind of wire to use is galvanized wire: for sides of frame 
No. 7 W.G. (-fV') is a good size ; for meshes No. 14 W.G. (about yV”)- 
d'hese have the advantage of standing wear and tear, but possess the 
disadvantage of being heavier, and it is not advisable, especially if 
one is moving about a great deal, to lay in a large stock of them. 
Sheets of book-binders’ paste-board are useful when tying up bundles 
of dried specimens ; cane frames do, however, quite as well for this, 
and paste-board should never be used when drying the plants. If by 
any chance one comes into possession of the heavy wooden ‘drying- 
frames’ and ‘pressing-boards’ that are sometimes seen in Europe, it 
is advisable to take an early opportunity of burning them. 
Third .—Some thin dry waste paper is needed to put the speci¬ 
mens between when they are dry. Old newspaper is as good as any, 
and the handiest of the sizes available in India is that of the familiar 
Pioneer: the ordinary Daily needs folding or cutting ; the ordinary 
Weekly is too small to make bundles with measurements that accord 
with those of the drying paper and frames. A most fruitful source of 
trouble in transit and storage and of destruction to specimens is a want 
of uniformity between the size of the drying and of the storing papers. 
Fourth .— Some sheets of tarpaulin, in size 4 feet by 4^ feet. 
These are absolutely essential to tie the drying paper and the news¬ 
paper up in, and this is the most convenient size^ to provide. It is 
best to have about twice as many sheets as you possess “bundles” of 
emyty drying and storing paper combined. A number of sheets of 
thin oiled cloth— moj 7 tJdma~t\\Q size of the tarpaulin sheets, are also 
very convenient. 
Fifth. — As much stout rope as is necessary to tie up all the 
tarpaulin-covered bundles one is likely to have and a quantity of 
fairly stout string. 
Sixth —Something to hold specimens when out collecting. It is 
generally enough to see that one’s attendant cooly has the customary 
wicker basket ; make him line it with plantain leaves and put the 
specimens in it. But, especially in the rains, specimens come home in 
capital order if laid in a cloth or even if simply done up in a bundle ; 
* The size is regulated by that essential factor in all Indian travel—a cooly’s load. A 
comfortable load for an ordinary cooly in the plains is 30 seers (a hill man will carry more, 
but, all things considered, it is as well not to exceed the plains’ figure anywhere), and it is 
found best to divide this into two bundles, each w'eighing fifteen seers, measuring as it happens 
20 X 16 x 9 inches and containing 150—160 double sheets of drying paper. Bundles a foot 
in thickness with specimens that are being dried between the sheets weigh eight or nine 
seers and contain 90 to 100 sheets of paper. Of these a cooly easily carries three. News¬ 
paper for dry specimens weighs when empty, bulk for bulk, nearly the same as drying paper; 
when full of specimens one bundle nine inches thick becomes converted into five bundles a 
foot thick. 
393 
