362 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



consists simply of a spiral coil made of sheet -lead cut into 

 ribbons. This can be bent about to suit the various sizes 

 of the stems. The weight of the leaden coil will balance flowers 

 and branches of considerable height, and it can always be 

 additionally weighted with stones if necessary. This fastener 

 may be used in almost every shaped vase, of no matter what 

 material ; for there is no danger, as in the case of the fitting 

 wooden fasteners, that it wUl crack glass or fine china. Any 

 plumber will supply the strips of sheet-lead, which should be 

 about 2 ft. long, | in. wide, and ^ in. thick, though the sizes 

 vary, of course, according to the vase. It is quite easy to bend 

 these strips into a spiral coil. 



These are simple ways of making flower-holders at home 

 with the most ordinary materials ; but, of course, with more 

 trouble a great variety of fasteners can be made. 



The next thing to be done is to get a branch of Bamboo or 

 other thin stick, not too brittle, and cut it up into pieces of about 

 an inch long, so as to have a heap of different thicknesses. 

 Before proceeding to out or buy your flowers, you must decide 

 in what part of the room to place the decorations, so as to have 

 an idea of what would be suitable as to colour, size, and form. 

 If for the corner of a shelf or mantelpiece, the arrangement 

 might be high on one side of the vase, with a long streamer 

 pendent on the other. If for a table under a picture, it might 

 tend upwards, and the Tertiary line form almost a right angle 

 —in complement, as it were, to the shape of the frame when 

 placed to one side underneath it. For any purpose special 

 kinds of flowers are required, as it would be contrary to the 

 fundamental laws of the art to try and make a stiff or upward- 

 growing plant hang downwards, or to try and erect a flower 

 with a limp stem. One place, too, requires a tall, narrow 

 decoration; another a wide or more solemn one. When you 

 have the destined situation of the decoration in your mind, go 

 out and choose flowers and shrubs accordingly, bearing in mind 

 as you pick them the directions the stems will have to take. 

 It is as well always to have a basin of water ready in which to 

 place the flowers immediately after picking them, as in the 

 process of selection, fixing in the wedge, &c. — especially until 

 you are practised in the art — the flowers are apt to wither and 

 the vigour in the curves of the stems to get limp, so that it is 



