Seeds
In collecting seeds, it is desirable that they should be well
ripened, and dried in the sun. Large quantities should never be
put together, but only a few, and these well selected. They retain
their vegetative powers much better if tied up in linen or cotton
cloth, than in any other substances; and if then packed up in small
boxes, and placed in an airy part of the ship, there is every probability
of their arriving in a sound state. The same remark applies to bulbous
roots. Bulbs should never be put in the same box with seeds. The boxes
with seeds, and with bulbs, ought never to be put into the ship's hold.
Dried Plants
The greater part of plants dry easily between leaves of books, or
any other paper. 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. Those plants which are very
tenacious of life, ought to be killed by an application of a hot iron, such
as is used for linen, after which they are easily dried. The collections to
be carefully packed in boxes with camphor, and closed in the same manner as
directed for quadrupeds and birds.
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