Buckeye cookery

To Keep Plants Without A Fire at Night.—Have made of wood or zinc a tray about four inches deep, with a handle on either end, water-tight— paint it outside and in, put in each corner a post as high as the tallest of your plants, and it is ready for use. Arrange your flower-pots in it, and fill between them with sawdust; this absorbs the moisture falling from the plants when you water them, and retains the warmth acquired during the day, keeping the temperature of the roots even. When you retire at night spread over the posts a blanket or shawl, and there is no danger of freezing. | The tray may be placed on a stand or table and easily moved about. Window Gardening.—All the varieties of English ivy, the hoya carnosa, _ the passion flower, the jasmine, the pillogyne suavis, and begonias @re espe-— cially suitable for window culture. Wery pretty effects may be produced at the cost of a few cents, by planting verbenas, morning-glories, cobea scandens, and the maurandias in baskets or flower-pots, which may be concealed behind statuary or bronzes. <The best fertilizer for them or any other house plants is that afforded by the tea-pot; the cold tea-grounds usually thrown away, if poured as a libation to these household fairies, will produce a miracle of beauty and perfume. To Prepare Autumn Leaves and Ferns.—Immediately after gathering, take a moderately warm iron, smear it well with white wax, rub over each surface of the leaf once, apply more wax for each leaf; this process causes leaves to roll about as when hanging on the tree. If pressed more they become brittle and remain perfectly flat. Maple and oak are among the most desirable, and may be gathered any time after the severe frosts; but the sumac and ivy must be secured as soon after the first slight frost, as they become tinted, or the leaflets will fall from the stem. Ferns may be selected any time during the season. <A large book must be used in gathering them, as they will be spoiled for pressing if carried in the hand. A weight should be placed on them until they are perfectly dry; then, excepting the most delicate ones, it will be well to press them like the leaves, as they are liable to curl when placed in a warm atmosphere; these will form beautiful combinations with the sumac and ivy. Keeping Cut-Flowers Fresh.—Cut-flowers soon drop and fade. Here are some of the ways in which they are preserved: Add to the water a few drops of camphor or ammonia, a little salt, a lump of charcoal; immersing the stems in hot water when a bouquet is first made, and then as thev commence to wilt repeating it, first cutting off the ends. Have a skillet or pan on ae 510 FLORAL. Bahia ite. Gee the stove with boiling water, in depth from half an inch to an inch, hold the stems in the boiling water for a few seconds, make into bouquets and place tn water; or if you wish to send to a distance, pack in a box, and send by nail, or any way you wish. When placed in the water a little salt or a rusty nail dropped in helps to keep them fresh. In making bouquets, be careful not to crowd too many flowers into one vase. They will last longer, to say nothing about their improved appearance, if they stand loosely. Never use cold water. Let it be lukewarm, and soft if possible. Sprinkling flowers in vases at night will help to keep them fresh, and, better still, lay them out on the grass where they will receive the dew, being careful to take them in early in the morning in summer, before the hot rays of the sun have wilted them.