424 HOME LIFE IN FLORIDA. 



with, the side pieces made deeper, a slat nailed on the bot- 

 tom and battens laid across from side to side to support the 

 mattress. But this would not give as much spring as the 

 rope. If you have a fence made of pickets and wires, go 

 and look at it and get an idea. There is a good deal of 

 spring in that, and by driving staples in the ends of your 

 home-made bedstead, weaving some pliable wire in and out 

 around the laths or battens, and twisting the ends of the 

 wires through the staples, you will have a veritable spring- 

 bed. All cracks can be filled up with common brown soap, 

 and then there will be no trouble about vermin. 



About the head-board : If you are making the rustic 

 bedstead, stretch tightly across from post to post (a slat 

 nailed across at the top is an improvement) a piece of 

 muslin, satin or calico, plain satteen or muslin, a floral 

 design worked on it in outline stitch in the center makes 

 a very neat finish. If, however, the bedstead is made of 

 our Florida pine lumber, a pretty head-board could be 

 made from selected pieces nailed across from j^ost to post, 

 and the top board could be sawed into an arched form, 

 then, if oiled and varnished, or stained with walnut stain, 

 no one need wish for a neater looking bedstead. 



The mattress : Florida moss, pine needles, palmetto 

 leaves, or excelsior, are all good materials for the filling. 

 The moss should be buried for a month or more, then 

 washed and dried ; the pine needles should be washed and 

 then thoroughly dried, this is^all the preparation they need ; 

 for palmetto, procure the green leaves, cut them from the 

 midrib and strip each blade, a three-tined fork is a good 

 implement to use, let them dry thoroughly. Of these three 

 home products we prefer the latter, it makes a clean, sweet, 

 springy mattress that will last for years, so that the trouble 

 of gathering and preparing them is fully repaid. If you 

 have excelsior -at hand, this, also, will serve the purpose, 



