138 THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. [June, 



size, and to order flowers that would look well in those vases ; and if the flowers 

 ordered arrived, all went well. But the best-intentioned of florists cannot always 

 supply what they confidently promise ; and my experience teaohes me that the 

 least trouble in the end is to get the flowers first, and having sorted them, 

 and put them into separate vessels of water, to look over the collection as a whole, 

 and then to determine the form of vases to be used. I have often thought of 

 sending you sketches from my collection, and now forward you one of a vase which 



1 have found more generally useful for either fruit or flowers than any other 

 form I know of. 



This vase consists of the following eleven parts : — A glass foot, half-an-inch 

 thick, into which is fixed a metal tube, 2 in. long ; six pieces of metal tube each 

 furnished with a male screw at one end and a female screw at the other, and all the 

 screws alike ; of these six, two are 1 in. long (flg. c), and four are 2 in. long 

 (figs. A b), two of these four having a projecting flange half an inch wide at the 

 end next the male screw (fig. a) ; three glass dishes, of the respective diameters 

 of 5, 9, and 13 in., and each having in the centre a tubular hole, so that it 

 can pass over any of the metal tubes and rest on a flange ; the dishes are about 



2 in. deep and the metal tube is nearly an inch in diameter ; the remaining 

 part is a trumpet-shaped piece of glass, having at one end a male screw, like all 

 the others, and at the open end an edge turned in more than half an inch. This 

 inversion of the lip is found to be of great use in holding the ends of the lateral 

 shoots of Fuchsia, which, by thus lying in a natural position, display their blooms 

 without crowding. 



When all these pieces are put together, it forms a vase of 28i- in. high, as 

 shown in the sketch. The dotted lines show that the top piece may be screwed 

 into the foot, without any intervening piece of metal tubing, when the height 

 will be only 18i in. It will also readily be seen that by the use of one or 

 more of the metal tubes, the height of the vase may be raised inch by inch to 

 any extent between these extremes. In the same way, by an alteration in the 

 distances between the flanged tubes, the dishes may be brought nearer to each 

 other, or placed farther off from each other. Again, the dishes may be used with 

 or without the rest of the vase, or the vase may be used with only one or with 

 two dishes, or one or more of the dishes may be used on the foot without the 

 top-piece. In short, the foot may be used Avithout the top-piece, or with it at 

 eleven different heights, and each dish may be used separately, or at ten different 

 heights upon the foot. 



When the dishes are arranged as shown in the sketch, loops of wire may be 

 clipped over the edges of the upper dishes, and thus tall grasses may be made to 

 stand ereet amongst a lightly-arranged pyramid of flowers. But if a pyramid of 

 fruit be wanted, it might be better to use the two flanged pieces without any 

 tubes between them, in which case the three dishes would rest one just above the 

 other. Supposing that a ring of Peaches were arranged upon the lowest dish, a 

 ring of Nectarines upon the second dish, and a Pine or a few Plums upon the 



