You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
342 MEMORANDA.<br />
venient; and several quires of thin white blotting-paper. We will suppose wc<br />
are going to dry Scarlet Geraniums, Periwinkles, single Magenta Stocks, and<br />
Laburnums, as they are some of the flowers most liable to change colour.<br />
Take your blotting-pad, raise the whole of the blotting-paper from the cover<br />
on each side. For the Geraniums, Periwinkles, and Stocks, take each bloom<br />
out singly, and, having burned the stalks as directed, bore a number of holes in<br />
one of the thicknesses of blotting-paper suiBciently .large to admit the calyces<br />
of the flowers, and so far apart that, when the flowers are arranged, no on e<br />
bloom shall touch another ; pass the stalk and calyx of each flower through<br />
the pad, so that the petals of the flower shall rest flat upon the surface of the<br />
blotting-paper, and no part of them be pressed against the calyx. Arrange<br />
each truss of Laburnum (having passed its stalk through the pad) in such a<br />
manner that the blooms shall be distinct upon the paper ; now lay the other<br />
thickness of blotting-paper over the petals, and, holding the two pads together,<br />
turn them over on one of the covers. Gently press down the stalks and<br />
calyces, which will now be uppermost, and shut down the other cover upon<br />
them ; tie round and round both opposite edges of the pad with cotton, taking<br />
care to make all the edges meet perfectly. Prepare as many pads as you re-<br />
quire in this manner ; then prop them up at about a yard's distance from a<br />
bright fire, or put them in a very gentle oven. Wlien one side of the pad is<br />
80 hot that you can just bear your hand upon it, turn the other side to the<br />
heat, and repeat the process for an hour. Then open the pads, and examin e<br />
the flowers ; if they feel like smooth paper to the touch, they are sufiiciently<br />
dried, but, if tliey have still any feshy feeling about them, the pads must be<br />
reclosed, and the exposure to heat continued ; bxit after the hour they must<br />
be carefully watched, the pads being frequently unclosed for the purpose of<br />
examination, as a very little too muck heat will cause the flowers to scorch and<br />
turn brown. Some flowers will, of course, take longer drying than others even<br />
of the same kind ; so that it is impossible to lay down any exact rules as to<br />
the time required ; but no flower will need more than three hours. Great<br />
care must be taken in removing the flowers from the pad, as the process of dry-<br />
ing renders them exceedingly brittle. The best method is gently to enlarge<br />
the holes on the side on which the stalks are, and, having seen that the stalks<br />
and calyces are free, to take hold of the petals on the otlier side between a small<br />
ivory folder and one finger, and draw the flowers out ; put them away imme-<br />
diately between sheets of white writing-paper, taking care not to lay one flower<br />
over another. Eemove the top sheet of blotting-paper from each side before<br />
using the pad again. Double flowers, such as Stocks, small Roses, Narcissus,<br />
etc., must have layers of cotton-wool or small pieces of blotting-paper placed<br />
between the petals, after they have been arranged in the blotting-pads, and be-<br />
fore they are subjected to any heat or pressure. Calceolarias must have cottonwool<br />
or very fine sand very carefully put inside each flower ; tlie flower being<br />
just sufficiently filled to retain its shape without any fear of its bursting. The<br />
Fuchsia should have a part of its calyx passed through the paper, with a little<br />
cotton-wool put between the flower and tiie surface of the paper, and also<br />
between the corolla and sepals, so as to keep tlie form of the flower as much
Change language