298 
WjyD 0\r G ARDEXIXG . 
For short stemmed flowers, a mixture of damp sand and powdered charcoal 
in equal proportion^, answers very well ; but care must be taken that the dish 
does not get too dry ; so also do baskets of creeping moss, in which they may be 
placed with fine elFect ; still the moss gets dry so soon that the flowers fare bet- 
ter if a saucer is hidden below, partly filled with water, which they can reach 
with the tips of their stems 
Fi-;. V6. Uisli of Flowers aud Ferus for the Table. 
The prettiest and best arrangement for keeping cut flowers in beauty is a dish 
of velvet moss saturated with rain water. When this moss is brought from the 
woods, if a few fronds of fern, especially those of the delicate Maiden Hair, are 
Fig. 49. Oniairiental Silver ami G.ild Stand for Fruit or Flower*. 
taken with it, and suflered to form a part of the foliage of the group, you wil. 
find them a charming addition. Place the flower stems sparsely among the moss, 
and here and there a branchlet of green or a leaf. Just inside the edge of the 
dish pour a very little water twice a week ; and when any of the collection show 
signs of decay, remove them, and fill their places with fresh specimens; thus the 
dish may be kept filled with bloom and beauty for months 
