The herald., 1897-08-22
Summer C0ttagerS Need Not
Import Expensive Flowers
for FeStal Decoration.
HOW TO USE MEANS AT HAND.
Trail Vines From Jugs and Bottles
Hung at Tipsy Angles on
the Wall.

The proprietor of Summer cot
tage" of even the most bagatelle size,
is, of necessity, hospitable. That is one
or the statements that prove them
selves, as people who are not Hospitality
inclined go to summer hotels and board
ing houses. The raison d. etre of the
summer cottage is, that it permits us
to entertain and this we can do quite
as pleasureably in the little seven room
structure built around an open fireplace
and contained within an encircling
veranda, as in a Newport villa. The
only requisites are a positive intention
of enjoying ourselves and an intelligent
use of the simplest means at our COM
mand,
When in the country, even more than
the city, the presence Of flowers Is al
most essential to the completeness Of
the table. yet many times they are alb
sent because 1--WE cannot trouble our
selves with a garden and flowers are so
hard to procure, away from town."
Hard to procure? Why, the fields are
full of them! The evening walk should
send you home with arms laden Solo,
mons seal leaves and many of the tall
grasses are beautiful as palms, the gold
en-rod and spirea, the soft pink of the
groundnut blossom, the common fern,
the white daisy with golden heart, the
"ox-eye" daisy of glowing yellow with
deep brown center purple iris and aster.
crimson and yellow lilies-the list Is al
most endless. There is not month of
the whole long summer that does not
freely lend beauty of flower and leaf.
Gather them fearlessly and indiscrimi-
nately; selection comes later.
fho tha rriY1oip1a Of
selection must be vigorously applied.
1t is better usually to have only sin
gle kind of flower in the vase, with
leaf sprays of harmonizing form. The
matter of vases, by the way, is some-
times little perplexing as one does
not care to bring ones fine brio -a-brac
from the city home, but it Is really
easily settled. Preserve the pretty
wicker-covered bottles in which you buy
your Italian olive OIL keep the Chianti
TASKS with care; finger bowls are ad-
mirable for short-stemmed blossoms;
you may be surprised to find that some
sturdy bloom shows a rollicking aff1ni-
ty with a beermug!
| A Mason preserve jar placed in low
glass dish has amazing possibilities;
fill the central vessel with tall stalks of
the iris, in the lower arrange heavy
masses Of feathery timothy or similar
grass in such a way as to conceal the
| jar, among the grasses put the broken
stemmed iris blossoms, of which there
are certain to be more or less, and you
| have charming pyramidal erect
whose stiffness is broken by the droop-
ing grass. Or the same receptacle can
be used for any flower, by arranging
vines in the jar to trail over and con-
ifor ri q fSY1
A pretty way of using oil and chianti
TASKS, is to hang them in corners or
over the mantel, filled with trailing
vines. They may be made to do good
service in framing the magazine print
or color reproduction which is too pref
ty to throw away Immediately and yet
is not worth the expense of framing.
| Tackled on the WALL the vines caught
| loosely around the edges, tasteful
| frame is at once secured. good plan
| is to hang the TASKS at one upper and
the diagonally opposite lower corner
| The vines can be renewed as often as
necessary with only the expenditure OF
the requisite time.
Once become imbued with the idea
that genius consists in adapting every
thing to your needs and you will find
that "alls fish that comes to your net"
and no wild flower will be too common,
no vessel too unasthetic to be made
useful in decoration. A brown jug orig
inally filled with Holland gin, has been
converted into a really pretty vase for
ferns catkins and flower-de-luce, by
breaking off the small neck, leaving the
straight tall body. The rich brown
harmonizes admirably with the deep
greens and purples of leaf and flower.
The low stone preserved-ginger Jars.
also, can be used for many varieties OF
wild flower.
There are two general rules in ar
rangement that may be well to remem-
ber: Gather long stemmed flowers with
stems as long as possible; Nature knew
what they needed when she provided
the stalks; and keep the colors unmixed
or with not more than two colors in
howl With these limitations.
Pass freely thro: the wood is all thine
own
Unto the end of time.
Copyright. 1897. by Bacheller Syndicate