We will assume that our collecting for the year has come to a close; that the long evenings are beginning, and that our dried plants have been brought together from their temporary resting-places to be revised and selected from, so that they may be intercalated in their places in the herbarium, if we already possess one, or, if we are as yet quite novices, that they may form a nucleus around which the whole British flora shall be gathered in due course. First of all, we must make all necessary preparation for-- _Mounting_, the first essential to which is paper. Much of the neatness of a herbarium depends upon its uniformity, so that it is desirable to lay down a definite plan at the beginning and to act up to it consistently. Amateurs often spoil specimens which they have collected and preserved with considerable care by transferring them from one sheet to another; from books--but it is only _very_ amateur botanists who keep their plants in this way!--to loose sheets, from small paper to large, and so on; each change being attended with some slight damage to the specimen so treated. It is, I believe, the common practice on the Continent to keep the specimens loose in folded sheets of paper; but this plan is not followed in England, and although advantageous, as permitting the fullest examination of the plant, it is attended with much risk to the specimens in the way of breakage; so that we may consider it settled that we are going to fasten our plant down upon a sheet of paper. This must be rather stout, and large enough to admit the full representation of the species. The sheets used at the Kew Herbarium are 16-1/2 inches long by 10-1/3 inches wide; those employed at the British Museum are 17-1/2 inches by 11-1/4 inches; but the former will be found amply sufficient for our purpose. The next consideration is the means by which the specimens are to be secured, which are more various than might at first be supposed. Some persons sew them to the paper; others place straps over them, which are secured with small pins; but the choice practically lies between fixing the whole specimen to the paper with gum, paste, or glue, or securing it with straps of gummed paper. The former plan, which is that adopted at our great public herbaria, is certainly better for specimens which are likely to be much consulted; but the latter is in some respects more satisfactory, if somewhat tedious, as it admits the removal of the plant to another sheet if necessary, and delicate portions, such as thin petals or leaves, are not injured as they are when gummed down. At the British Museum and Kew a mixture of gum tragacanth and gum-arabic (the former dissolved in the latter), in about equal parts, is used for this purpose; but very coriaceous specimens are secured with glue at the last-named establishment, while in the former the stems and ends of branches are usually also secured with straps. When the specimen is