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.