Jftorol ft iiliiiiet unci Pictorial 
ome 
ftom: 
jiaiuaii. 
NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1875. 
WINTER DECORATIONS. 
Those who live in the country have a large variety 
.of material, most appropriate for winter decoration, 
ready to their hands and to he had for the gathering. 
With just a little foresight, and a slight exercise of 
taste and skill, almost any one can render their winter 
rooms beautiful and attractive both to inmates and 
visitors, and rob the cold dark days of winter of half 
their cheerlessness arid gloom. A few hours now 
spent in pleasant labor will enable us to arrange our 
floral treasure's, gathered in many pleasant rambles in 
the woods and fields during the past summer and care¬ 
fully preserved, into many beautiful forms for home 
adornment. First of all in our list of treasures are the 
brightly-tinted autumn leaves—beech, oak, sumach, 
and maple—each with its own peculiar beauty of form 
or color. Nicely pressed and varnished they may be 
used in forming an almost countless number of pretty 
devices. Harps, anchors, crosses, and garlands may 
be cut from pasteboard and covered with leaves. 
Lovely lambrequins and cornices can be made of misty 
white muslin with the brilliant leaves, interspersed 
with delicate ferns, arranged upon them. 
Of the beautiful lamp shades, transparencies for the 
window, and, above all, the bouquets which shall 
crown your mantel vases, and perpetuate during all 
the winter the glories of October, I cannot allow my¬ 
self space to speak; the taste of each reader will be a 
sufficient guide in their arrangement. Among the 
grasses and sedges, too, there is unlimited variety. 
Just here let me venture a word of caution as to the 
way in which these are to be preserved. We are 
always told, in the written directions on this subject, 
“ to gather the grasses, tie them up in small clusters 
and hang them, stems upward, in a cool dry place.” For 
several years I trustingly followed these explicit direc¬ 
tions, and great was my disappointment, on taking 
down my grasses in the autumn, to find them withered 
and dried into stiff ungraceful masses; their filaments 
clinging closely together and their natural airy grace 
utterly lost. More recently, taught by sad experience, 
I have tried a different plan with much better results, 
and give it for what it is worth to others. I gather and 
arrange them carefully in the vases in which they are 
to remain, and place the vases in a dark dry placer 
Treated in this way they retain their natural graceful 
form perfectly, and will remain for years even, looking 
as if just gathered. A Parian vase, now standing on 
my centre table, filled with the very common variety 
of grass, known I think among farmers as red-top, 
and preserved two years ago, is often much admired 
by visitors. Another vase, which graces the top of a 
corner bracket, is filled with a late feathery variety of 
grass, which may be gathered in the fall in almost any 
New England corn-field, but so delicately beautiful is 
it that it resembles nothing so much as a cloud of 
smoke. 
Most country dwellers are familiar with the beauty 
of the Clematis, so often seen swinging its festoons 
from branch to branch of tall trees by the roadside, 
and transforming even a stump fence into a thing of 
beauty. These vines, with their feathery seed vessels, 
make beautiful garlands for mirrors and picture-frames. 
A basket of crystal beads, which I saw recently, was 
filled and heaped up with Clematis; the cords by 
which it was hung were twined with the same vine, 
and it had also branches of it looped back and forth 
beneath the basket. As it hung in a window I thought 
it one of the prettiest objects of its kind that 1 had 
ever seen. 
Hanging Basket. 
Another beautiful subject, easily available for deco¬ 
rative purposes is found in the dark evergreen leaves 
and trailing stems of the well-known ground laurel. 
It needs no previous preparation, and may be used 
as soon as gathered. It is beautiful for twining 
about picture cords, festooning brackets and walls, and 
filling vases and hanging baskets. Combined with 
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE MONTH. 
The Illustrations of the present number bring to 
our view most delightful scenes of rural and social 
life. Upon page 1 is the sketch of the residence of a, 
German prince. Observe the elegant mansion—so 
broad, so capacious, so architecturally attractive, with 
such charming surroundings, it affords many suggest¬ 
ive ideas to our American rural gentlemen how to 
adorn their country residences. Upon page 4, are two 
pretty sketches of “Bryn Mawr, Penn.” This is a 
very pretty little suburban resort, only eight miles 
from Philadelphia, on the Pennsylvania Railroad. We 
have often passed by it, and admired the exquisite, 
tasteful little depot, and the grounds in the vicinity 
laid out with enticing beauty. Philadelphia is sur¬ 
rounded by neat little country villages, capable of just 
as great improvement. 
Upon this page is a sketch of a pretty bulb and 
parlor propagating box, or a fern case. It is 17 inches 
long, 14 inches high, and 13 inches wide. It costs 
from $4 to $6 and is the cheapest fern case, of that 
form, which we are acquainted with. It can be placed 
on the table or mounted upon a stand in the window. 
Another illustration on this page is a hanging basket 
of the Baxifraga Fortunei Tricolor, a plant often very 
serviceable for such purposes. 
The remaining illustrations describe themselves. 
What more cunning and liome-like than the little 
“Peep Scene” between the sharp little girl and her 
mother, as they play and dodge out and in behind the 
curtain and the vail. What would home be without 
such wee treasures as this sweet little innocent. The 
contrasts of life, among the lofty and the lowly, find a 
sharp incident in the picture of page 13. When 
Christmas comes, the daughter of the lofty shakes her 
stocking to find it filled with jewels and bon-bons; 
but the little girl of lowlier life—who went to sleep 
the night before with full faith that Santa Claus would 
not forget her—awoke to find the stocking and shoe 
still unfilled, and with streaming eyes bewails her 
loneliness. 
Reader; how many poor have you comforted this 
winter? Remember that “The blessing of the poor 
maketh thee rich.” 
Propagating Box or Fern Case. 
the scarlet and orange bitter-sweet, or the brilliant 
red berries, of the so-called black alder, it makes beau¬ 
tiful wreathes, crosses, and mottoes for Christmas. 
Unless the room in which it is placed is kept very 
warm it will retain its beauty for a long time, and 
when at last it becomes discolored and unsightly it 
may be easily removed and its place supplied with 
fresh material. Hazel Gray. 
PUBLISHER’S ANNOUNCEMENTS. 
Grecian Painting. —C. S. J writes us to say that she can 
not give any private lessons in painting, her time being engaged— 
but it is probable her articles will be published this year in some 
convenient form, which we will duly announce to readers of The 
Cabinet. 
Greenhouses and Conservatories.— To any person possess¬ 
ing a Greenhouse or Conservatory, we will send a specimen of the 
Hort/iculturist free. Its Greenhouse and Floral Departments are the 
best of any journal in America. 
A Publisher’s Complaint.— The Publisher requests all sub¬ 
scribers, sending to him plants, or returning to him any books, papers, 
chromos, goods, &c., never to seal the ends , wily tie them. If the end 
is sealed, or pasted, or tied so it cannot be opened, it is charged at 
letter postage, and the defieency collected of us: after a sub¬ 
scriber has started an article at 2 cents postage, but from some in¬ 
advertence, has sealed it Bo tight, when it reaches us, we have had to 
pay 25 to 40c. With such large mails of letters as we receive, the bill 
of deficient postage to pay is a great tax upon us, especially as we are 
not at fault. Often we receive letters asking for specimen copies, 
with 8 cents postage to pay for over weight, upon opening we find 
only 3 cents inside- one a big copper. Another point is worth inffice, 
never write anything outside or inside of a wrapper, hut the ad¬ 
dress, never put the name of the sender—nor men mark the contents. 
Any mark, hut the address of the party to whom it is directed, sub¬ 
jects the article to letter postage. Any package tied or sealed so it 
can not be opened, must be prepaid at letter postage, or else the 
deficiency is collected here. Subscribers therefore will save us much 
inconvenience by a little attention to these points. 
Christmas Presents. —Very many orders reached ns too late 
to fill in time for Christmas. The demand for goods was unpre¬ 
cedented, and manufacturers’ supply was exhausted. We sent off as 
fast and promptly as possible, as far as we had supply. 
The Little Gem. —It is a pleasure to say that our new Young 
Folks’ Paper is a success. Subscribers to it being so well pleased and 
have responded so nicely that Its permanency hereafter is beyond 
question. 
Aggravating. —Fancy our feelings when we receive o beautifully 
written letter from a lady who proposes to send us a big club of sub¬ 
scribers. We immediately called for paper, &c., to send her, and help 
her, and alas! just as we got ready to write the address, discover she 
left off the name of the State. We can do nothing. Two or three weeks 
later she writes in immense disgust because we did not attend to her 
letter. If we had she could have got so many subscribers, but now 
she will not work at all. How ranch we have lost, and yet not our 
fault. Again, we receive an interesting letter from one of our club 
agents, she sends ns a club of many new names—hut alas! forgot to 
sign the letter. We can not send her her premium, and tired out 
with waiting for it, she resolves never to get up any more clubs. 
Alas! how much we lose because she forgot. Subscribers blame pub¬ 
lishers constantly for missing papers—but they forgot to give us 
some necessary direction, and we can do nothing till we hear from 
them again. From twenty-five to fifty letters a day reach us with no 
State mentioned in the letter. Sometimes we identify them from the 
Postmaster’s mark on the envelope, but that is too often unintelligible. 
Subscribers need a iesson to be more careful and more charitable. 
Prizes. —We need the address of some successful competitors to 
whom to forward prizes. 
