THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
13 
the readers of the old Mechanic's Magazine 
fifty years ago. 
Individuals as well as the ages have their 
cycles of progress, and what is old to the man 
of fifty is new to the boy of fifteen. Too often, 
however, the man thinks that what is an old 
story to him must be well-known to the boy, 
and he therefore neglects to give the boy the 
benefit of his experience. And yet if the boy 
would attain to the knowledge possessed by the 
man, he must pass through just this experi- 
ence or something very similar. The time 
spent in discussing these old things revived is 
not therefore by any means lost, and we shall 
never hesitate to bring forward an old experi- 
ment, provided it is a good one. The firing of 
a cannon with an icicle is older than most of 
our readers, but it is just as interesting to-day 
as when first brought forward. 
Rustic Wall Ornaments. 
We had moved from the city into the country 
and within a short distance from the house was 
a stretch of woods where the children spent most 
of their time after school hours, collecting ferns, 
lichens, mosses, old nests of birds, etc., so that a 
great accumulation of these odds and ends of nature 
were on hand to be made up for home adornment 
and presents. 
One of these, a group consisting of ferns, and lichen- 
covered branches, with nest and birds, was bo 
greatly admired, that I have drawn and engraved it 
for the benefit of the readers of the Young Scientist. 
It consists of a shield of wood three-fourths of an 
inch thick, six and a half inches wide, and twelve 
inches high, to which small branches thickly covered 
with a natural growth of lichens were securely 
nailed. The center and largest branch extended 
well out from the front of the shield. The face of 
the shield, between the branches, was covered with 
a small fungus of a grey and brown color, that grows 
in masses on old stumps. These were well dried in 
an oven before they were glued on, after which they 
were touched up here and there with bright green 
wood mosses. 
An old nest of a blue bird, containing five eggs, 
was fastened to the largest branch, and beside the 
nest was a carefully stuffed hen bird looking in at 
the eggs. Above the nest was perched a male bird 
in the act of singing. 
Next came the disposing of the dried ferns. Know- 
ing that after being out of the press a few weeks they 
curl up and look misightly, and are also apt to fade, 
I prepared a colored wax stiffening, composed of the 
following materials : one quarter of a pound of bright 
yellow beeswax, and half a teaspoonfal of Canada 
balsam. These, when melted together, were poured 
into a large plate, well heated, so as to keep the wax 
melted. To this was added two parts of ground 
gamboge, and one part of best Prussian blue, ground 
to a fine powder with a table knife. 
These pigments require a deal of grinding in the 
hot wax before the transparent, light, sappy green so 
desirable in coating ferns is obtained. The coating 
or stiffening had to be done very carefully in the 
following manner: Taking two thicknesses of blot- 
ting paper or muslin, I placed between them some. 
Rustic Wall Ornament, 
of the prepared wax : then they were ironed over witfe" 
a moderately hot flat-iron, till the wax flowed freely- 
through the upper muslin. A frond of fern is then 
laid on, and over this another piece of muslin, iron- 
ing again, and adding more wax till the leaf was- 
well soaked and covered with wax, after which the 
fern was taken out, and found to be coated evenly,, 
and not too thickly so as to look clumsy. In ironing 
the climbing ferns, each leaf had to be done sepa- 
rately, and was afterwards held before a fire to 
slightly soften the wax, when each leaf was bent and 
shaped so as not to look flat and unnatural, as when 
they cameV)ut of the drying press. 
Only well seasoned and woody ferns can be used 
for this work ; all thin and delicate ferns, such as the 
maiden's hair, are useless. Another advantage this 
wax stiffening possesses, is that dry colors can be 
rubbed on just the same as in wax flower work, 
so that the leaves need not be all of one uniform 
green. In ironing, I avoided pressing on the mid- 
rib or stem of the fern for fear of breaking it, and 
thus destroying its natural support. 
Over the fungi and between the branches, I fas- 
tened small fronds of fern with pins. Toward th& 
