It is, besides, incommodious for frequent study,
and a very expensive and bulky way of making an herbarium.
The greater part of plants dry with facility between the leaves of
books, or other paper, the smoother the better. If there be plenty of
paper, they often dry best without shifting; but if the specimens are
crowded, they must be taken out frequently, and the paper dried before
they are replaced. The great point to be attended to is, that the
process should meet with no check. Several vegetables are so tenacious
of their vital principle, that they will grow between papers; the
consequence of which is, a destruction of their proper habit and colors.
It is necessary to destroy the life of such, either by immersion in
boiling water or by the application of a hot iron, such as is used for
linen, after which they are easily dried. The practice of applying such
an iron, as some persons do, with great labor and perseverance, till the
plants are quite dry, and all their parts incorporated into a smooth
flat mass is not approved of. This renders them unfit for subsequent
examination, and destroys their natural habit, the most important thing
to be preserved. Even in spreading plants between papers, we should
refrain from that practice and artificial disposition of their branches,
leaves, and other parts, which takes away from their natural aspect,
except for the purpose of displaying the internal parts of some one or
two of their flowers, for ready observation.
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