THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
169 
Ibe struck with tlie compasses, and cut 
out in plaster in a few minutes. But it is 
possible so to combine different leaves 
and fruits as to form most elaborate de- 
signs. In this latter case it^will generally 
be better to cast each leaf, etc., sepa- 
rately, and afterwards to fit them -in their 
Tig. 8.— LEAVES IN DIAPER WORK AS WALL DECOR 
ATION. 
places. If, however, the design when 
thus put together has to be repeated 
again and again iii course of the decora- 
tion, a gelatine mould should of course be 
taken of the "repeat," copies of which 
Avill thus be quickly multiplied. In Fig. 
8 two gelatine moulds are supposed to be 
employed. 
It will thus be seen that casting from 
nature may by itself, and for its own 
sake, be considered an interesting art, 
and one worthy the attention of the ama- 
teur. The directions given for carrying 
out work of this kind for decorative pur- 
poses will, it is hoped, be of service to 
anany to whom the utilization of natural 
■objects in this manner has not hitherto 
■suggested itselL 
A Chat About Mitres. 
IN almost every piece of furniture 
I that a cabinet-maker has to 
manufacture, one of the most 
important things to be done, 
sifter having framed the job together and 
got the " skeleton " finished, is to mitre 
in the mouldings, etc. To one unaccus- 
8ft 
tomed to examining the detailed construc- 
tion and manufacture of cabinet-work, 
the amount of mitering on any ordinary 
article of furniture such as a wardrobe 
would be truly astonishing. There are 
the mouldings to be mitered in the door 
frames, the mouldings, maybe, on the 
drawer fronts, the facings and 
mouldings on the cornice and plinth, 
and should the front of the job be 
broken by pilasters fixed on the 
doors, the mouldings of the cornice 
and plinth will have to be mitered 
round these also. Consequently 
there are a great many contrivances 
(some of which are purely local), 
known to most cabinet-makers, 
which are calculated to assist the 
workman, and remove some of the 
difficulties which mitering entails. 
Most of these, such as the mitre 
"cutting block," mitre "shooting- 
board," etc., can be bought at any 
tool shop ; but the one generally 
called the "mitre trap" cannot be 
Ijought at any tool manufacturers, 
and though well-known to the ma- 
jority of workmen in the form of the 
finished article, the method of making 
such a tool is not so universally known. 
To many amateurs, therefore, a short de- 
scription of how to make sach a tool will, 
we trust, prove of service. 
One form of mitre trap is shown 
in Fig. 1. It consists of three blocks, the 
Fig. 
faces of two of them being cut at an angle 
of forty-five degrees, which work in a 
frame by means of a screw. 
To make this tool, first get out the 
wood for the frame, which is separately 
sliown by Fig. 2. The inside size will be 
about 18 inches by 8 inches. This frame 
will for appearance sake be mortised and 
tenoned together, although of course it 
would do quite as well if dovetailed. The 
two ends must be cut about 15 inches by 3 
