The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-09-25
Skeletonizine a Leaf

If they are not sufficiently softened
in four hours. leave them in till they are.
and then clear them and rinse them as
in the maceration method. They will
not only be skeletonized. but fairly
well bIeached. But as the process is
quick the delay of one hour may be
serious
Another and safer process is to boil
the leaves in soap. Take bar OF yell
low soap and cut it into thin slices
an eighth of an fnch~thick Lay two
or three OF these on the bottom of a
good sized saucepan. on that layer put
a single layer of leaves. and a layer
of soap. and build up the saucepan half
full with sandwiches in this fashion,
finishing with layer of soap.
Then fill the saucepan with water.
and set it on to boil md simmer until
the leaves are thoroughly cooked be-
tween the soap: then take out the
leaves one by one as IL they had been
rotted. clean them in hot water and
rinse them in cold.
1t is not a bad plan. in all the pro-
cesSes, to rinse the leaves in water
running from the faucet: and, instead
of drying them between the pads of
cotton. lay them out to dry on sheets
of blotting paper.
To obviate the difficulty of picking
out the pulpy leaves without breaking
them. slip a card under them in the
water and lift them out in the way
familiar to you in the preservation of
seaweeds.
There are other ways of getting rid
of the tissue and leaving the veinwork
OF the leaves, but we have said enough
and can proceed to the bleaching
with just one word of consolation. and
that is, that you will not be unlucky
if you get one leaf perfect out of every
dozen you begin with.
IL you try with a few leaves in any
of the processes you are almost sure
to fail; the only chance of success is
to make a huge brew of a hundred. at
the least
And now for the bleaching Get half
pound of chloride of lime. put IL in
a jar, add to it pint and half of
clean rain water, and mash IL well
against the sides OF the vessel so as
to leave no Jumps in il. Leave IL still
for an hour in some cool place. when
you viii find that most of the lime will
have settled to the bottom and some OF
1T Will be floating on the top. skim OF
the top lot and throw away and skim
OF the clear solution into a bottle and
throw the deposit down the drain.
Take few pickle bottles or any
glass jars with wide mouth. stack
In them carefully and gently the dry
leaves, choosing such leaves for each
bottle as are Of similar texture and
hardness. putting your fine leaves In
one bottle, your coarse ones IN another,
and so on
Pour into each bottle pint OF watsr
and add to it two tabiespoonfuls Of
your chloride of lime solution.
Observe to stack the leaves. and
not to lay them fat. and stack them 70
that the stems point downward The
stems require more time to bleach than
the rest of the leaf. and as the bleach
ing always begins from below you thus
prevent the finer portions from being
fAa
lions take the proper color; and by
using glass jar. you can see how
Things are going on without disturbing
the arrangement.
Some leaves will take 1e hours to
oIeach, some only six. but the time de-
Ponds so much on the quality OF the
chloride, the strength OF the solution
and the state of the Ie that II il i'm
possible to speak with more definite
ness on the subject
When they are white .sn, ont
and rinse them free from aching
solution In clean warm N1..r rfnsing
them again in cold water, inally let
ting the faucet run on them and then
drying them between plotting paper
or any unsized paper. as IL they were
ordinary botanical specimens. Make
them up in packets in the same wav
sandwfching them between the blot
ting paper, and. with bag OF sand
at the top and bottom, put them under
The quickest leaves to dry besides
those we have mentioned are those of
the poppy, the henbane, the willow
the maple, the tulip tree and the holly.
Magnolia leaves do very well. but they
may take six months, as NAV also tnr
leaves Of the india rubber plant The
leaves of the orange, lemon and ca
mellia also take a long time, but look
we'll.
Nothing looks better than the ivy.
Pyrus japonica is not a difficult sub
Ject; neither is box Acacia is a splen-
did subject on account of its pinnate
leaf; guelder rose is good: aspen is
not bad, but ii is inclined to be stub
oorn- The ordinary rose is an agree
able subject. and always recognizable
by its stipules. which are not so EASY
to keep as they might be.
When you have succeeded with
leaves. try seed vessels, but remember
TO sort them out in the same way: a
miscellaneous macerating, just the
same as a miscellaneous bleaching.
will inevitably be a failure
All the keys do we'll. particularly
those of the common varieties of ash
sycamore, plane and maple; nastur-
tiumS turn out well. as also do poppy
heads But IL you can manage poppy
head you want no further practice;
you are then master of the art, and
may take pupils.
Finally. be prepared for a large per-
centage of failures. and above all
things do not be in hurry.
Bernice Caronts. 200 Liberty street.