The big winter bouquet that all children love best, 

 and I suspect some grown folks too, is the Christmas 

 tree. We gardeners are all children compared with 

 Santa Claus, and some time he ought to give us in Ameri- 

 can Gardening a chapter on Christmas-tree forcing, 

 telling all about how he grows such wonderful flowers 

 and fruits in winter, up in frost-land. But besides 

 Christmas trees, tiny, well-stuffed stockings, and pantries 

 full of toothsome and indigestible eatables, the good cheer 

 of Christmas everywhere finds expression in bright 

 wreaths and decorations. 



EVERGREENS. 



Hemlock and cedar, so plentiful everywhere, usually 

 form the ground-work of Christmas decorations. Making 

 "green ropes" is somewhat monotonous work, but the 

 best way to do it is to stretch the stout-cord foundation 

 between stationary objects, clip the evergreen into sm::ll 

 branches, and with small, dark-colored twine wind the 

 stems of these about the cord. Such wreaths should not 

 be large and heavy, as this gives a gloomy appearance, 

 but light and airy, with a few flowers or bright leaves 

 and berries woven in for an enlivening effect, especially 

 if the evergreens are dark and sombre, as they are apt 

 to be in winter. Some of the pretty wild everlastings, with 

 white plush-like flowers, look pretty woven in ; or they 

 are fine for covering letters cut from strawboard, if you 

 wish some mottoes scattered about among the evergreens. 



In some localities a much prettier material for making 

 Christmas wreaths and bouquets is found carpeting the 

 ground This is the lycopodium in two sorts, ground 

 and running-pine. Look for them on hillsides that are 

 partially shaded and somewhat sterile. Excepting smi- 

 lax, they make prettier Christmas wreaths than anything 

 else I can think of. If you cannot have the fun of 

 gathering armfuls of lycopodium yourself, florists will 

 sell it, the ground-pine for 25 cents a pound, and run- 

 ning-pine in packages of ten yards for 50 cents apiece. 



BRIGHT LEAVES AND BERRIES. 



Holly and mistletoe are given good space in Christmas 

 decorating. Hold them up together, and see what a fine 

 contrast they make against their shining, dark green 

 leaves — the mistletoe's pearly, milk-white berries and the 

 gleaming scarlet ones of the holly. Be careful of the 

 holly-leaves when you are decorating ; they have sharp 

 points along the edge that scratch cruelly. I like to use 

 generous branches of holly by themselves, thrusting the 

 stems behind large pictures in such a way that the rich 

 leaves and berries shall standout in light, sketchy clusters 



beyond the frames. In the folds of portieres and window- 

 curtains they may be arranged in a similar way, and small 

 branches laid about on the white cloth of a Christmas din- 

 ner-table make turkey and plum-pudding look more ap- 

 petizing. There are not half enough berries on holly 

 branches that our artists draw. At the south the twigs 

 are so thickly set with them that in the distance the 

 scarlet is quite as noticeable as the green. Robins feast 

 upon the berries all winter, and I have a memorandum 

 of some beautiful holly branches gathered April 4. 

 The winterberry. Hex verticillata, abounds in northern 

 woods, and in the west grows Ilex Icevigata, the smooth 

 winterberry. 



Euonymus berries, perhaps the most beautiful in the 

 world, bitter-sweet, snow-berries, mountain-ash and bar- 

 berries all are bright, and if branches of them are cut 

 before the winter's cold blackens them, placed in water 

 in a cool damp cellar, they will keep until the holidays. 



Galax aphylla leaves are plentiful in woods and are 

 as bright-hued as any of our berries about Christmas 

 time. Their colors range through golden green, yellow 

 and scarlet up to dark maroon, and their stiff, shining 

 surfaces keep bright as long as the holly. They have 

 long wiry stems that are easily managed in any kind of 

 work, and for wreathing in with the holly, or arranging 

 loosely in bowls and baskets, they are bright and pretty. 



FLOWERS. 



In the tropical atmosphere, which most of us think es- 

 sential to holiday cheer in our dwelling-rooms, cut- 

 flowers are apt to wither quickly. In a few hours feath- 

 ery sprays of stevia and astilbe begin to droop languidly, 

 and even the waxen, thick-petaled flowers do not keep 

 bright long. So the owners of blooming plants in 

 presentable pots will do well not to cut the blossoms, but 

 to use them as they grow for decoration. Even then the 

 leaves and petals of hyacinths, lilies-of-the-valley, ferns 

 and other plants that grow in a cool or medium tempera- 

 ture will often wither or curl if left too long in heated 

 dining-rooms or parlors. Give the roots all the water 

 Ihey can drink, and it is a good plan, when the arrange- 

 ment is not too elaborate, to set the plants back in their 

 old growing quarters during the night, using them to 

 decorate heated rooms only in the daytime. The same 

 rule applies to bowls of cut-roses, carnations, etc. Cut- 

 flowers should be given fresh water daily, and cutting the 

 ends of their stems off also helps to keep them fresh. 

 Sprinkling lightly with tepid water is good for them as 

 well as for the growing plants. 



