16 



PHAXTOM F LOWERS. 



The process through which the green and heahhy 

 leaves must pass is literally one of corruption, for 

 during the Avarm summer days, as the work goes slowly 

 on, they become blackened and offensive, and often 

 infested with insects ; and yet these conditions are ab- 

 solutely necessary to secure their final and perfect 

 beauty. But when the work of corruption and decay 

 is fully accomplished, there remains after all, in the 

 midst of that disgusting compound of offensive odors 

 and green slime, the beautifully faultless framework 

 of leaves and flowers, ready to be rescued and pm'ified. 

 On the conduct of this portion of the work, and the 

 subsequent cleansing and bleaching of the delicate 

 tissues, the whole thing depends. The operator may 

 consider herself eminently successful if she is able to 

 present, as finished specimens, one half the number of 

 leaves originally gathered. Yet if a single bouquet of 

 perfect phantoms, white and clear of blemishes, should 

 result from the summer's labor, she ^vill feel herself 

 abundantly compensated for her pains, and may delight 

 her eyes for many years to come with this unfading 

 remembrancer of the localities from which they may 

 have been gathered, or of the friends who may have 

 assisted in the pleasing employment. 



The substance of these curious leaf-tissues is gen- 



