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13 [indecipherable] 1759 - 1796
Rules for Collecting and preserving Specimens of plants.
Every kind of seed as well those which are cultivated for use, as grassses, Mosses, Ferns, and Even Weeds, howsoever despicable thay may appear to a Common Observer, will be acceptable to a Botanist; he is often able to Observe differences which escape the Eyes of those who have never studied science; and if the plants sent should Even be such as he has before often met with he will be amply satisfied by knowing that the are natives of any Particular Country the produce of which he was before unacquainted with
Modern Botanists have made use of the flowers and fruits of plants, as the principal Instrument of distinguishing their numerous tribes. when they have either one or the other of these, they Can guess, but when they have both they can determine with certainty, to what Class each plant belongs, and to which of those plants already known it bears an Affinity; from thence they are enabled often to Discover vertues, which those who have not Studied that Science Could never but by Accident have found out, hence the Cheif use of Botany, and from hence it plainly Appears, that the people of any Country where this Science is not Studied in its full extent may reap much Benefit, by Communicating their plants to Botanists of other Countrys who Amply repay the Obligation by Sending Back an account of those vertues and uses of Plants which they are Enabled to discover by such an Communication, but might Otherwise have Remained for ever in Obscurity
Such Communications may be made either by sending the plants plants themselves growing in Earth, the Seeds of them, or branches with fruits and flowers, gatherd when in perfection and dried in Such a manner as to be preserv'd from Corruption; this last Alone is Sufficient to Distinguish and Ascertain their Species; the others are only to be used in cases where either the Singularity Beauty, or Usefullness, of any Individual makes it desirable that it should be sent to a Correspondent in a growing State; I shall therefore describe the method of Drying plants very particularly, and then say a few words about the method of transporting them alive in case it might on the Course of this Correspondence be found desireable.
The day in which they are gatherd Should it possible be free from Rain, and the time just when the Sun has thouroughly dried the dew and All Extraneous moisture from them, this of plants which open their flowers in the morning, some few indeed open theirs in the Evening or night and of Course must be gatherd at those time, but will not when dried Look so Beautifull.
No plant need be gatherd unless it has either flowers or fruit -