Fig. 44.
If you have in the house any broken-down arm-chair reposing in the oblivion of the garret, draw it out—drive a nail here and there to hold it firm—stuff and pad, and stitch the padding through with a long upholsterer’s needle, and cover it with the chintz like your other furniture and you create an easy-chair.
Fig. 45.
An ox-muzzle, flattened on one side and nailed to a board, as in Fig. 44, filled with spongy moss and feathery ferns, makes a lovely ornament; while suspended baskets holding cups or bowls of soil filled with drooping plants is another cheap ornament. A Ward case, which any ingenious boy can make of pine and common glass, is shown on the table at Fig. 41, page 193. It is a great source of enjoyment to children and invalids. The box at the bottom is to be lined with zinc, and have a hole for drainage covered with an inverted saucer, and there must be a door at one end. The soil must consist of broken charcoal at bottom, two inches deep, and over this some soil made of one-fourth fine sand, one-fourth meadow soil from under fresh turf, and two-fourths wood soil from under forest-trees. In this plant all sorts of ferns and swamp grasses, and make a border of money-plant or periwinkle. A bit of looking-glass, some shells, and bits of rock with a variety of mosses, flowers, and ferns that grow in the shade, can lend variety and beauty. When watering, set a pail under for it to drip into. It needs only to keep this moss always damp, and to sprinkle these ferns occasionally with a whisk-broom, to have a most lovely ornament for your room or hall.
An old tin pan, painted green, with holes in the bottom, thus supplied with soil and ferns, makes a pretty parlor ornament. Or, take a salt-box or fig-box, and fill them with soil and plants, and use for hanging-baskets. The Ward case needs watering only once in two weeks, and most of these plants grow without sun in north windows. The fuchsias flourish also in the shade, as do striped spider-wort, smilax, saxifrage, and samentosa or Wandering Jew. German ivy growing in suspended bottles of water is a cheap ornament, and slips of nasturtions and verbenas will grow in north windows all winter. A sponge filled with flax-seed, hung by a cord and kept wet, is another cheap ornament, as is also a carrot scooped out, after the small part is cut out and hung up, till its tall, graceful shoots will mingle with flowers placed in it. A sweet-potato in a bowl of water, or suspended by a knitting-needle run through it and laid in a bowl half full of water, makes a verdant ornament. The flowers for a Ward case, in a room without sun, are, ground pine, prince’s pine, trailing arbutus, partridge-berry, eye-brights, mosses. Fig. 45 is a stand for flowers, made of roots scraped and varnished.
Much of the beauty of furniture is secured by the tasteful combination of colors. There usually should be only two colors in addition to the white of the ceiling. Blue unites well with buff or corn color, or a yellow brown. Green combines well with drab, or white, or yellow. Scarlet or crimson unites well with gray or drab.
Those who cultivate parlor plants need these cautions: Too much water and want of fresh air make plants grow pale and spindling; so give fresh air every day. Wash leaves when covered with dust. Change soil once a year, or water with liquid manure. Pluck faded flowers, as much strength of a plant goes to make seed. Pick off fading green leaves. If flowers are wanted, use small pots. Do not shut out the sun, which human beings need as much as flowers. Use oil-cloth similar to the carpet, where flowers and sun abound. Shut out flies with wire netting in open windows, and also doors of the same. It costs much less than ill health and mournfully darkened rooms.