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ARTISTIC FLOWER ALBUMS.

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EVERYONE is familiar with and admires the
variously tinted grounds of Christmas cards,
especially those where the design is a flower or a
group of flowers. When, a few years back,
these cards were first taken up by artists, and,
instead of the crude things that everybody re-
members in childish days, we were presented
with something truly artistic, such as a few
beautifully drawn and coloured autumn leaves
on a black ground, what perfection we seemed
to have arrived at! And, indeed, greatly as in
many ways of the art of card designing has ad-
vanced since that first dawn of a new era, and
beautiful in tone as many of the more recent
ones, there is no newer style or tint which for
such a subject as autumn leaves can surpass the
original black ground. We propose, having
drawn attention to this artistic fact, to
make a few suggestions as to the books in which
we arrange collections of dried flowers, leaves
&c.

Those who are fond of nature without under-
standing of botany thoroughly, will, during sum-
mer holidays in the country, have accumulated
quite a number of dried flowers and ferns,
pretty leaves, bits of moss and grass, all kinds
of odds and ends from Nature's wild garden,
such as would puzzle a systematic botanist how
and in what possible way to class them, but
which to the happily ignorant collector are
fragments of beauty rescued from oblivion, or
sweet records of some delightfully passed day.

When we settle down to quiet winter even-
ings, unless we are authors or artists, and
scribble and paint in alternation with reading
and working, our usual evening employments
are apt to become somewhat monotonous, and
the turning out of that varied lot of summer
treasures and their arrangement in a book
forms a pleasant change of occupation. Not
being botanists, we are free to place our speci-
mens according to our own fancy, and may
combine them in any way we choose, putting
flowers and leaves belonging to the most diver-
gent "classes" in proximity only to be found
in nature; and what pretty groups we can
make! But now as to backgrounds: Books for
this purpose are commonly made with pages all
of one colour, generally white; but this is a
mistake, the book we should choose would be
one made of many tints, but more especially
black. A book for this use should have quite a
preponderance of black pages, as so many of
the specimens look far more effective on that
ground than on any other. There should also
be pages of gray, drab, cream, &c., and some
should be white, for such delicate tracery leaves
as feather moss or tiny ferns are shown to
greater advantage on white than on anything
darker. All leaves from trees should have a
dark ground --- black is the best, so also it is for
many flowers, especially white or very lightly
coloured ones; but some look well, perhaps
best, on gray or drab. The arrangement we
must leave to the collector's taste, and anyone
who has that eye for beauty sufficient to gather
up and preserve the common things of the fields
and hedges will need no instructions in group-
in them artistically afterwards.

The only gum which should be used for stick-
ing down the specimens is gum tragacanth ---
commonly known as gum dragon, since this
preparation, even although brushed on care-
lessly, will, when dry, leave no trace behind,
as does gum arabic. You can prepare it your-
self very simply:--- Place a small piece of the
dry gum in a wide-mouthed bottle, and pour
cold water upon it; after a few hours you will
find the gum to have increased to an enormous
size, and to have absorbed all the water; now
add hot water, and it will dissolve to the con-
sistency that you require. This, well-stoppered,
will keep some days; but it is best to make
only a small quantity at a time, as it is apt
to go bad. It is best in a book of flowers to
use only the right-hand page for the specimens,
and each left-hand page --- which will be its
opposite --- for the name of the flower or any
little memento you may like to record of where
and when it was gathered. This will add much
to the interest of the book, at least to its owner.

If, pressed for room, you have to use every
page for your specimens, cut to fit, and neatly
gum, a sheet of tissue paper between each page,
to prevent rubbing. --- SKUG, in the Queen.

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THE Journal de Pharmacie d'Anvers recom-
mends pyrophosphate of soda for the removal
of ink stains. This salt does not injure
vegetable fibre, and yields colourless compounds
with the ferric oxide of the ink. It is best to
first apply tallow to the ink spot, then wash in
a solution of pyrophosphate until both tallow
and ink have disappeared.

A GENTLEMAN who had taken the right of
shooting over a moor in Ayrshire at a high rent
bagged only two brace the first day. After count-
ing the price, he grumblingly remarked to the
tenant of the moor that the birds had cost him
two guineas the brace. The tenant very inno-
cently replied: "Aweel, sir, ye may be thankfu'
ye hae gotten sae few o' them; they're far too
dear."