and possesses the great advantage of preserving the flowers for years, and keeping their most delicate fibres uninjured. They make invaluable specimens to sketch from, and though their beauty may be somewhat impaired by loss of color, their outlines remain perfect.
Place the flowers in a wide-mouthed bottle, fill it to the top with alcohol, cork it tightly, and cover the cork with plaster-of-Paris or melted beeswax, thus hermetically sealing it. Do not use sealing-wax, as experience has taught us that the fumes of the alcohol soften the wax, and not only spoil the neat appearance of the bottle, but allow the spirits to evaporate.
Another way is to
Bottle Flowers.
Carefully seal the ends of the stems with sealing-wax, place them in an empty bottle—both flowers and bottle must be perfectly dry—cork the bottle, and hermetically seal it with either sealing-wax or beeswax.
The next method has greater possibilities of beauty, and consequently the reader will be more interested in learning
How to Preserve a Vaseful of Flowers for a Year.
Take home your basket of wild flowers, “nodding violets,” cowslips, bright-eyed anemones, and all the lovely offerings of the woods, and before arranging them in the vase, carefully seal the stem of each flower. Place a glass shade over the vase; be careful that flowers, vase, and shade are perfectly dry; then fill up the groove in the wood, in which the shade stands, with melted wax. By covering the wax with chenille it can be perfectly hidden.
Flowers kept in this way will last for a twelvemonth.
The flowers preserved in an empty bottle may be taken out, the wax cut from the stems, and, if arranged in a bouquet, will last as long as perfectly fresh flowers.