368 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



a heap of dry cloths of auy kind, his or her duty being to wipe the 

 surfaces of the leaves and throw them into clean baskets ready for 

 use. "Washing is bad practice — in fact, worse than letting the dirt 

 remain. Our country readers know nothing of the smoke-plague. 

 To them a twig of holly or mistletoe is as good an emblem of purity 

 as of Christmas fun and Christmas cheer. 



It is the custom to introduce plants and flowers on the dinner- 

 table, and in apartments appropriated to festivities. Very pretty 

 groups may be made at a very small cost of time and trouble for the 

 centres of tables, for side-boards, and especially for entrance-halls, 

 by means of pot plants and small twigs of variegated ivy clothed 

 with scarlet berries. The plants most suitable are Poinsettias, 

 Solanums, Skimmias, Primulas, and perhaps the Christmas Rose. 

 Branches of the glorious Pyracantha, or evergreen thorn, with its 

 huge bunches of fieiy or orange-red berries, may also be obtainable. 

 Now how are we to make our groups P We want, first, some kind 

 of frame- work to enclose it. The lattice flower-pot covers sold by 

 Carter and Co., Barr and Sugden, and other dealers in such things, 

 answer admirably, if cut through, for one cover will then draw out 

 and make two or three yards of pretty lattice-work. Moss is not 

 nice stuff to bring into a house, and therefore it is not advised to 

 use it for the substance of the bed, otherwise it would be the very 

 thing we want to fill in between the pots, and make a sort of back 

 to the lattice-work. Where there's a will there's a way. The ladies 

 of a household will soon find something cl:an and dry to serve for 

 moss to bed the pots in, but if they want a hint to give them a start, 

 I will suggest that Berlin wool of a bright deep grass-green colour, 

 clipped into inch or half-inch lengths, will make splendid artificial 

 moss, and may be put away when done with so as to come in again 

 and again for a series of years. When such a group is made, a finish 

 may be given by means of wreaths of holly arching over. These of 

 course should be made of wire let into blocks of wood at each end, 

 and bent to the required curve. The wire should first be bound 

 with common hempen yarn, and then the little twigs of variegated 

 holly, variegated ivy, and other variegated shrubs may be tied on. 

 Neatness must be aimed at in making such wreaths, as these and a 

 circular group will look best if arched over with two wreaths crossing 

 each other at right angles. A little sprig of something pretty should 

 be hung in the centre where the two wreaths cross each other. 

 Toere are two evils incident to the introduction of a decoration of 

 this kind to the dinner-table : first, it is likely to interrupt the view, 

 and so prevent people seeing each other ; aud, secondly, it is likely 

 to occupy more room than can be spared. I mention these matters 

 that they may be thought of in time, for I should be sorry to be the 

 agent in any case of marring the sociality of a Christmas board. 



Plateaux and epergnes should always be richly furnished, and 

 everything artificial should be rigorously excluded from them. To 

 devise systematic colourings in the filling of these things is I con- 

 ceive unnecessary and inadvisable at Christmas. In the summer we 

 see them dressed with masses of white, blue, rose, etc., etc., in a 

 most systematic way, though if grace is secured by mixtures it is far 



