HERBARIUM

From Agepedia

HERBARIUM, or HORTUS SICCUS ; a dry garden ; an appellation given to a collection of specimens of plants, carefully dried and preserved. The value of such a collection is very evident, since a thousand minutiae may be preserved in the welldried specimens of plants, which the most accurate engraver would have omitted. Specimens ought to be collected when dry, and carried home in a tin box. Plants may be dried by pressing in a box of sand, or with a hot smoothing iron. Each of these has its advantages. If pressure be employed, a botanical press may be procured. The press is made of two smooth boards of hard wood, 18 inches long, 12 broad, and 2 thick. Screws must be fixed in each corner with nuts. If a press cannot easily be had, books may be employed. Next, some quires of unsized blotting paper must be provided. The specimens, when taken out of the tin box, must be carefully spread on a piece of pasteboard, covered with a single sheet of the paper, quite dry; then three or four sheets of the same paper must be placed above the plant, to imbibe the moisture as it is press* The words of Camille Desmoulins and Herault; at their trial, and of Danton, at his execution, are strongly marked with the stamp of the men and the time. When Desmoulins was asked his age, he answered, " 33 cms, Page clu sansculotte. JesusChrist." Herault de Sechelles answered, when asked for his name, " Je ?n?appelle MarieJean, noms peu saillans, me me parmi les saints." At the foot of the scaffold, he offered to embrace Danton, who repulsed hiin bluntly, with the words, u Montez done, nos teies auront le temps de se baiser dans le panier." e<I out. It is then to be put into the press. As many plants as the press will hold may be piled up in this manner. At first, they ought to be pressed gently. After being pressed for about twentyfour hours, the plants ought to be examined, that any leaves or petals which have been folded may be spread out, and dry sheets of paper laid over them. They may now be replaced in the press, and a greater degree of pressure applied. The press ought to stand near a fire, or in the sunshine. After remaining two days in this situation, they should be again examined, and dry sheets of paper be laid over them. The pressure then ought to be considerably increased. After remaining three days longer in the press, the plants may be taken out, and such as are sufficiently dry may be put in a dry sheet of writing paper. Those plants which are succulent may require more pressure, and the blotting paper to be again renewed. Plants which dry very quickly ought to be pressed with considerable force when first put into the press; and, if delicate, the blotting paper should be changed every day. When the stem is woody, it may be thinned with a knife, and, if the flower be thick or globular, as the thistle, one side of it may be cut away, as all that is necessary, in a specimen, is to preserve the character of the class, order, .genus and species. Plants may be dried in a box of sand in a more expeditious manner; and this method preserves the color of some plants better. The specimens, after being pressed for 10 or 12 hours, must be laid within a sheet of blotting paper. The box must contain an inch deep of fine dry sand, on which the sheet is to be placed, and then covered with sand an inch thick; another sheet may then be deposited in the same manner, and so on, till the box be full. The box must be placed near a fire for two or three days. Then the sand must be carefully removed, and the plants examined. If not sufficiently dried, they may again be replaced in the same manner for a day or two. In drying plants with a hot smoothing iron, they must be placed within several sheets of blotting paper, and ironed till they become sufficiently dry. This method answers best for drying succulent and mucilaginous plants. When properly dried, the specimens should be placed in sheets of writing paper, and may be slightly fastened by making the top and bottom of the stalk pass through a slip of the paper, cut for the purpose. The name of the genus and VOL. vi. 23 species should be written down, the place where it was found, nature of the soil, and the season of the. year. These specimens may be collected into genera, orders and classes, and titled and preserved in a portfolio or cabinet. The method of preserving many of the cryptogamous plants is more difficult, on account of the greater quantity of moisture which they contain, and the greater delicacy of their texture.