NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER, 1877. 
VARIOUS HOUSEHOLD SUBJECTS. 
Flowers are always appropriate for house decora¬ 
tion. Within the reach of all, they never “ go out of 
style,” and are always beautiful. I say within the 
reach of all, because to make a pretty bouquet does 
not require a great variety of flowers, or the petted 
darlings of the green-house. A few violets and leaves 
in a tiny vase are lovely, and many other wild flowers 
not so well known as the violets, are as delicate and 
pretty as some of the rare exotics. A little search in 
the woods, or on the cliffs, will reveal hundreds of 
them. The children, if once shown how to find them, 
will keep the vase always full. Nature’s great flower- 
garden is free to all. 
I differ with many persons as to what is a “pretty 
bouquet; ” not the stiff hunches of flowers of all col¬ 
ors we so often see, surely. Two kinds of flowers, 
one of them white, with plenty of delicate green leaves, 
will always make a pretty dish bouquet; and in every 
bouquet a good deal of white and green is necessary; 
they soften and harmonize the whole. White and 
variegated Balsams make a pretty saucer bouquet, 
using short moss or curled parsley for green. Gera¬ 
nium leaves are not a necessity either; small Rose 
leaves, Myrtle, any delicate leaf will do, and the mosses 
of the Lycopodium family are most beautiful of all. 
Small glass vases with a rosebud, a spray of Helio • 
trope and two or three Fern leaves in it, is “ a thing 
of beauty,” which, they tell us, “ is a joy forever.” A 
pretty jelly glass will answer equally as well. Scar¬ 
let Sage and Wild Parsley make an exquisite bunch. 
Wild Parsley is a treasure. Once planted, it “ volun¬ 
teers” to an amazing extent, and blooms from June 
to September. The flowers are white and lace-like in 
appearance, and give a refined look to any bouquet. 
Flat shells, filled with sand, are pretty bouquet- 
holders ; fringe the edge with green, fill with purple 
and pink Verbenas, with Wild Parsley between them. 
Don’t laugh at the combination of purple, pink and 
white, till you try it. 
The broken goblets, with scarlet covers, are pretty 
filled entirely with green; twine Geranium Ivy round 
the handle, fill up with Ferns, Dusty Miller and 
Coleus. If hung by a long cord in a window, twine 
long sprays of Madeira vine up the cord, putting in 
short ones to droop. German and English Ivy and 
Madeira vine keep fresh in water a long time. Fill a 
vase with them; put it on a bracket under a picture, 
and train them up the long cords. English Ivy in 
pots grows wonderfully if the top of the earth is 
sprinkled with bone-dust, and the cold coffee poured 
on it once a week. 
When the vines are all gone, the ferns, leaves, and 
grasses are a pretty substitute. Ferns will grow in 
shady, damp corners where nothing else will. They 
should be cut when well matured; the young, tender 
ones are too juicy, if I may use the expression, to 
press well. They should be kept in a warm room; a 
sudden change of temperature will make them curl. 
Arrange them in graceful bunches on the wall in the 
space where something is needed to “ fill up ” over or 
under a picture; wire them like autumn leaves, and 
put them round the picture frames. A few grasses im¬ 
prove these Fern bunches. Fasten them up with small 
pins. Fasten Ivies to the wall with double-pointed 
stack. 
My experience is in favor of waxed leaves ; they re¬ 
tain their colors better, and are less apt to curl. Put 
a piece of wax the size of a pea on each leaf, and iron 
with a warm iron till the coating of wax is smooth 
and very thin. Common beeswax will do. The Ly¬ 
copodiums pressed retain their color better than Ferns 
and never curl. 
Grasses should be gathered before they get dry; 
and, if possible, arranged as they are to remain; if 
not, hang them in their natural position, not heads 
downwards; they never recover their drooping spirits 
after such treatment. To crystallize them, dissolve 
alum in boiling water, a pound to a pint; take it off 
the fire and put the grasses in, a few at a time ; the 
solution is so stroug it begins to deposit the instant it 
stops boiling; leave the grasses in a few seconds. In 
this way the most delicate grasses will take a fine frost¬ 
ing of crystals that will not weigh them down. Leave 
coarse grass in longer. Another way is to wet them 
and dip them in flour. 
Don’t make grass bouquets too large and stiff; 
make the effect as airy as possible. Put in a few 
bright berries and leaves. Asparagus berries are pretty 
and stay fresh all winter. A few grasses dyed scarlet 
may be put in, but not many. Heads of wheat and 
other grains are pretty. 
By exercising a little forethought all these things 
may be secured in their season, and the pleasure they 
give more than repays the trouble, if trouble it is con¬ 
sidered. Let me conclude with an account of my 
Centennial bouquet. I bought a handsome bunch of 
grasses in the Florida department of Agricultural Hall. 
The tall plumes attracted much attention, and, before 
I left the grounds, eighteen ladies asked me where I 
got “ those beautiful grasses.” Wild Parsley. 
MOSSES, LICHENS, AND FUNGI. 
In this article I shall mainly treat of mosses, lichens 
and fungi, for the reason that, if prepared as they 
should be, in them lies a mine of floral wealth. They 
answer a purpose that flowers cannot reach, except 
everlastings. With them I shall combine some kind 
of grasses. They will make ornaments suitable to 
adorn a palace, or make the humblest cottage glad 
with beauty. 
When at the Centennial, in the Horticultural Hall, 
I saw in some of the departments bouquets and bou¬ 
quet-holders made up so pretty that you would al¬ 
most imagine that you were in Paradise. The bou¬ 
quets were of immortelles, that is, everlasting flowers, 
and grasses. 
In the season of flowers I have a great variety, and 
make many bouquets for home, friends, church, and 
fairs. It is often remarked, “ Your flower-stand is as 
pretty as your flowers.” I will tell you first of the 
stand, then its making up. It was first made to hold 
water for flowers. I trimmed and filled it with flow¬ 
ers, and carried it to fairs. It was much admired, but 
it took so many, and they lasted so short a time, that I 
concluded to change the programme. I trimmed with 
moss not colored and running pine; it was quite 
pretty, but faded before the year was out. 
In coloring fancy dyes, I experimented with mosses, 
fungi, and lichens. I brought out as nice colors as 
could be made on wool or silk; blue, black, green, 
orange, purple, scarlet, pink, all colors and shades of 
all colors that can be colored. 
The stand is three or four inches higher than a 
common stand. The top is a good sized cheese-box 
cover. The standard is round; to the bottom is a 
square box about two inches high. If to hold water 
they should be puttied. It stands on four legs. I 
tacked on flour-sack paper to sew the moss on. 
From the top of the standard to the bottom of the 
legs I sewed on green twirl moss. I tied up the moss 
in bunches before sewing on. Then I made small 
bouquets, roses; the roses I made from the fungies; 
took yellow everlastings for the yellow in the centre 
of the rose; the colored mosses and lichens make 
beautiful bouquets. The paper from the rim of the 
top of the stand is nearly three-quarters of a yard long, 
cut at the bottom pointed, the points four inches. 
The first row is green ; that is placed so it will stand 
up around the rim; then fill in as fancy dictates, but 
have the main body green. 
I have five varieties of moss, besides a large leaf 
moss that grows on trees. I could hardly do without 
it for trimming. Have the top rounding. I first fill 
it with dry moss, the shape as I wish ; make it quite 
high. At the end of each point make flowers that 
will hang from the point. I use grasses in the bou¬ 
quets. The variety I use the most is Briza maxima. 
Don’t forget the white. I use white everlasting; some 
fungi are white underside; those I turn the white 
side out; one kind of lichen is white, also one kind of 
moss. 
If you wish to make your floral designs cheap, you 
can color annato for orange, set with saleratus; also 
use soft soap; also aniline; then purchase a few of 
the fifteen cent fancy packages of dyes. I make 
crosses, wreaths, baskets, anything that fancy dictates. 
I have a fancy article I took to the fair and got a 
premium. I called it an ottoman. I have had it two 
years. It has not faded. 
I will say here, next fall, if any one wishes samples 
of those fungi, mosses, and lichens, send a two cent 
stamp, and I will send them. While writing this, a 
lady came here. When she saw the stand she ex¬ 
claimed, “ Oh, how beautiful, how did you make it so 
pretty 1 ” 
One word for the moss stand. I am too choice of it 
to put it on exhibition. To make nice fall bouquets 
of flowers, get a good variety of Gladiolus. You will 
not want much more. I have three autumns got the 
first premium on them over other bouquets of 
flowers. 
Mrs. C. Myers. 
