36 



The Art of ornamenting, blooming, 



s» 



with one hand straining it by the strip (keeping the whole steady 

 with the other) towards the fixed upright strip, so as to bring 

 it in a straight direction, and fix another peg. In ordinary cases, 

 you may make them perfectly straight at the first operation, 

 but in some of the most difficult it requires two or three. A 

 fruit may be straightened at any period of its growth, but it 

 requires to be left one night after the operation, to prevent 

 its return to crookedness." 



In the performance of this operation, the bloom will have 

 been injured, but this may be restored by the blooming 

 process. 



In order to restore the bloom to fruit, the following articles 

 are necessary : — A box with slides [Jig. 18. a\ a common pow- 

 der-puff (b), and a few ounces of finely calcined and perfectly 



dry magnesia. The box may be of any size, according to the 

 quantity of fruit which it is proposed to subject to the blooming 

 process at one time. That sold by Mr. Eddy is about 20 

 inches long, 18 inches deep, and 13 inches wide. The sides 

 and bottom are fixed, but the top, which fits on tightly by 

 means of a surrounding moulding, lifts off. Supposing the 

 top and one of the sides removed (Jig. 18.), on the bottom, at 

 one end, will be seen a brush-cylinder of three inches' diameter, 

 and the width of the box (c), which works out into a breast or 

 segment of a brush-cylinder (rf), in the same way as the drum 

 of a threshing-machine works against its cover. These two 

 brushes, working against each other, are for the purpose of 

 raising the powdered magnesia into a cloud of dust in the box. 

 In the end of the box will be seen a hole (e), to which 

 there is a stopper (J), and this hole is made exactly the size of 



