My father has a nice cabinet of minerals, corals, shells, Indian relics, and other things. I would like to exchange spar of different colors, iron ore, and other minerals, with some little girls, for pressed flowers and shells. I have a great many flowers, and this fall, when the seed gets ripe, I would like to exchange flower seeds.
There is an abundance of lovely ferns here. Will you please tell me the best way to press ferns and flowers?
Edith Lowry,
Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Illinois.
Ferns and flowers should be laid carefully between two sheets of clean paper, the leaves artistically arranged in graceful shape, and placed under heavy pressure until they are dry. If the ferns are to be used for decoration, a warm iron, not too hot, must be passed over them, always putting clean paper between them and the iron, otherwise the heat of the room will curl them as soon as they are placed upon the wall. It is better not to iron them until they are dry, as the suddenly applied heat is liable to change the color of fresh ferns, causing them to look dull and faded. The sugar-maple leaf you send is well pressed, and beautifully varnished. What kind of varnish did you use? No doubt some little girls who are preserving leaves would like to know.
I would like to exchange postage stamps of foreign countries with some other boys who are readers of Harper's Young People.
Sidney St. W.,
326 East Fifty-seventh Street, New York city.
May 31, 1880.
I am making a collection of birds' eggs, and as soon as I collect a few more, I would like to exchange some with Samuel P. Higgins, if he will send me his full address. I have seen morning-glories in blossom this year, and would like to know if any other correspondents have seen them so early.