DINNER TABLE DECORATIONS. 



THE prcUicst and most effective vase 

 that I have ever seen is a plain 

 dark green globe-shaped glass (Fig. 

 1 1 60), which I have found in four sizes 

 and wish very much I could find some 

 of still larger size than these. The rich 

 green harmonises perfectly with every- 

 thing I have put in it. Flowers look well 

 arranged in silver dishes and vases, if the 

 vases are plain, of simple outline and 

 artistic in design. Ordinarily vases are 

 better if clear or of neutral tint. 



All dinner table decorations should be 

 either very low or very 

 high — low enough to 

 look over from one side 

 of the table to another, 

 or high enough to look 

 under. Nothing is more 

 annoying to one seated Fio. UUO. 

 at table that to dodge about a mound of 

 flowers to catch a glimpse of one's oppo- 

 site neighbor. 



Where ribbons are used they must 

 always match either the flowers or the 

 foliage. They may be a lighter or a 

 darker shade, but the color must be the 

 same. Gilt and tinsel are in bad taste, 

 and in fact I have never seen either tin- 

 sel, gilt or ribbon used on a dinner table 

 with good effect. A common mistake is 

 in crowding the table with flowers and 

 ferns, leaving no place for the service. 



The prettiest dinner table decoration 



I have ever seen was this. The table 

 was long enough to seat twenty- four 

 guests ; it was si.\ feet wide and had oval 

 ends. A margin of eighteen inches of 

 pure white damask was left all around 

 the table upon which to lay the service, 

 and a set of pans an inch deep was made 

 at the tinsmith's to entirely cover the 



oval center left after reserving the eigh- 

 teen inches of margin. These pans 

 were made in sections so that they could 

 be used again upon smaller tables. 'I he 

 pans were filled with little plants, ferns, 

 palms, Ij'copodiums, etc., none of which 

 were over nine inches high. The shallow- 

 pans being in sections were readily ar- 

 ranged first, and then placed upon the 

 table. They also protected the table 

 linen, for the little plants were growing 

 in their own earth and were simply lifted 

 from the pots and arranged in the pans 

 with the higher ones in the center and 

 the lycopodiums, etc., drooping over the 

 edge. In among these were placed some 

 delicate cut flowers, violets, lilies of the 

 valley, small roses, etc. — American Gir- 

 denins;. 



Barnyakd M.\nl're suffers much loss 

 in leaching and drying. Prof. Roberts 

 shows that horse manure when thrown 

 out in a pile unsheltered from the wea- 

 ther, loses nearly half its value in six 

 months ; mixed barnyard manure when 

 piled in a close pile so that fermenta- 

 tion is very slow but without protection 

 from rainfall, loses about one-tenth of its 



value ; while the loss if thrown under 

 eaves to be leached by rains and thaws 

 of the winter, is much greater. At the 

 N. Y. Experiment Station, fresh manure 

 piled in conical heaps in January, shrank 

 65 per cent, in weight by April, and the 

 loss of its fertilizing ingredients was 

 equal to $3 per cord of manure.— Am. 

 Agriculturist. 



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