THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



209 



unavailing. Those leaves which have 

 the toughest fibres are, of course, the 

 best adapted for the purpose, and conse- 

 quently the soft leaves of rapid-growing 

 plants are useless. Those best adapted 

 for the purpose, and which can be ob- 

 tained by everybody, are the leaves of 

 ivy, holly, magnolia, rose, pear, syca- 

 more, willow, oak, hawthorn, poplar, 

 orange, and lemon, the petals of hy- 

 drangea, and fruit of the apple, thorn, 

 and winter cherry. Each kind of leaf 

 has a peculiarity of structure and a 

 beauty entirely its own; so that the 

 differences in the fibrous network, and 

 the variety and elegance of outline 

 observable in the different subjects, give 

 to the pursuit a great charm. The 

 appearance of the skeleton is greatly 

 improved by bleaching, which is accom- 

 plished by plunging in spring water in 

 which has been dissolved some chloride 

 of lime. Two table-spoonfuls of liquid 

 chloride to a pint of water will suffice. 

 In some cases the skeletons will become 

 white in a few minutes, but leaves of 

 stronger fibre will take a much longer 

 time. When well bleached, dry them 

 carefully on blotting-paper, and then 

 arrange them tastefully in a vase, and 

 cover the whole with a glass shade, 

 "when you will possess a very elegant 

 ornament for your drawing-room or 

 boudoir. A shorter method has been 

 devised for preparing skeleton leaves, 

 which occupies but a few minutes, but 

 is perhaps applicable only to those of the 

 toughest fibre, as the process is some- 

 what rough. It consists in drying the 

 leaves between sheets of blotting-paper, 

 in a botanical press or under a weight ; 

 when ouite dry, place the leaf to be 

 operated upon on a soft pad, and beat it 

 with a brush until the pulp is entirely 

 separated from the fibre. Some very 

 good skeletons have been obtained in 

 this manner. A cushion and a clothes- 

 brush will he sufficient for the first 

 experiment, when, if the plan is approved, 

 you can easily devise means for carrying 

 it out properly. 

 Town Garden. — I have two places in mv 

 garden at Holloway I can do nothing 

 with, viz., the two ends. The back of my 

 house faces the south-east. Even with 

 the ground, and looking into the gar- 

 den is a little breakfast-room ; above it 

 is the drawing-room, with a projecting 

 balcony. In front of this room and 

 under the balcony is a strip of border 

 three or four feet wide ; it is so hot and 

 dry I can do nothing with it. At the 



other end of the garden are several tall 

 poplars and some shorterCanada poplars, 

 between and around them I have heaped 

 burrs, and grow many hardy ferns and 

 rock plants. They answer pretty well, 

 though I fancy ferns would prefer 

 some other kind of tree. Eight 

 or ten feet behind the tree is the 

 garden wall, against which, to raise it, 

 is a trellis on which I am growing ivy. 

 This is to hide the backs of houses. 

 There is a walk round the trees and 

 rock-work, and against the wall a nar- 

 row border. What can I do with it ? 

 The two questions are simply, What to 

 grow in a dry, hot place, and what in 

 a dark, dry place? An answer will 

 oblige Fanny Fern. [Fanny Fern may 

 make these two positions very inte- 

 resting by means of a little care. In the 

 hot, dry border under the window of the 

 breakfast-room, all kinds of zonale 

 geraniums would do well, if planted on 

 the 10th of April. When planted early 

 such things get well established before 

 hot weather sets in, and then they flower 

 superbly. But the time has come for 

 something else. If the writer of this had to 

 deal with the case forhimself,he would in- 

 troduce some soil of a rich, sandy nature 

 to raise the border, and then face it 

 with large burrs. He would then plant 

 it with all the hardy sedums and semper- 

 vivums, of which there are some dozens 

 to be had. Calandrinia umbellata 

 should be added to make lovely patches 

 of colour next summer. In the spring 

 Portulaccas to be sown in patches, and 

 a dozen or more species of Mesemhry- 

 anthemum planted out. Nearly every 

 kind of ornamental grass would grow 

 finely in the border. The following 

 would be especially suitable: — Eragrostis 

 elegans, Briza maxima, Agrostis nebu- 

 losa, Elymus glaucescens, Hordeum ju- 

 batum, Aira casspitosa, the variegated 

 Dactylis glomerata. The following hardy 

 perennials would also do well there : — 

 Achillea Egyptiaca, Alyssum saxatile, 

 Iberis sempervirens, Campanula carpa- 

 tica, Cineraria maritima, Diotis mari- 

 tima, Stachys lanata, and wallflowers. 

 These last should be planted now. In 

 the shady border under the poplar-trees, 

 ferns of several kinds would do well if 

 planted in peat. A common reason of 

 ferns failing is, that people will plant 

 them in the common soil of the place, 

 which is often unsuitable. Here Las- 

 trea filix-mas, common Hart's tongue, 

 Lady fern, Blechnum spicant, Lastrea 

 dilatata, and Osmunda regalis will do 



