170 HOME AND GARDEN 



All tlie powders are mixed together in a large bowl, 

 and the whole Mace and Cloves are in another bowl, 

 and now we are ready for the grand mixing. A 

 space is swept on the brick floor of the studio just 

 in front of the raised hearth of the broad ingle; 

 the full jars are brought into a wide half-circle ; 

 the home children and their elders, and perhaps 

 one or two neighbours, are convened to the Pot- 

 pourri party, with tea to follow; one mixer is posted 

 at each jar or bowl, and the materials are thrown 

 handful by handful on to the floor in the middle 

 space. 



When first I made Pot-pourri it could be mixed 

 in a large red-ware pan; as I grew more ambitious 

 the mixing was done in a hip-bath, in later years 

 in a roomy wooden tub ; but now the bulk is so 

 considerable that it can only be dealt with on a 

 clear floor space. 



The heap rises, and from time to time has to 

 be flattened as the jolly party all round throw on 

 their handfuls. The post of honour seems to be 

 the distribution of the Orange peel stuck with 

 Cloves, but the claim for the supreme dignity of 

 this office is clearly though tacitly contested by the 

 holder of the large basin of " sauce " of sweet 

 powders. The pressed stuff in the jars is so 

 tightly compacted that it has to be loosened by 

 vigorous stabs and forkings with an iron prong, by 

 one whose duty it is to go round and fork it up 



