Evening star., 1941-09-20


the day after the party, to be made
into pot pourri, and spicy dried
mixtures that would give pleasure
for many years, as well as serving
as delightful memento of the great
day.
had done some work of this sort
in an amateurish way, from time to
time, for members of my own family,
but never on the scale with which l
was now confronted. And, thinking
that the method which 1 finally
evolved by the trial and error Sys-
tenn might save some one from going
through the same tribulations, 1
decided to explain the process in full
detail. Right now, when so many
flower shows are scheduled. it might
be that the proud owner of a prize
winning bloom would wish to pre-
serve his lovely" in all its fragrant
beauty TO enjoy for many moons.
Also. there will be the annual crop
of debutantes coming along soon
and the wealth of flowers received
by the girl of the hour" might be
transformed into a lasting pleasure
for her frilly boudoir.
To get on with the story
Procrastinator that am, I allowed
the big day to be almost upon me
before I got around to locating the
old recipe with which I had been
teasing my nose for many years. AS
they say in the movies, came the
day" and I still had not found it.
There was much dashing to the
library and phone, and consulting
the Department of Agriculture.
which informed me that it could
help me if I wanted to grow flowers
but that it had no section for ad-
vice on what to do with dead ones.
Oh woe. oh woel BY now I had the
flowers, scads and boxes of them.
l regarded them sadly. wondering
what to do first. MY attic contained
several dried bouquets. some of
which had lost their identity as far
as I was concerned, had a jar
which I had concocted with my hus-
bands annual Easter Offering as
base, few grape hyacinths, lilies OF
the valley and violets from the yard,
a little orris root and some lavender
from the Bishops Garden. That con-
stltuted my stock in trade and my
entire experience. was very dubious
about what was going to be my alibi
when should again see my friend,
when 10! Eureka and all the rest,
found another recipe!
My troubles were really over. tho
my work had just begun, and along
with it my fun.
Believe it or not, I have evolved
a most delicious potpourri which
am sure that any one who leans
toward sachets and spicy odors
would like and could make with not
too much trouble First of all, here
Is one mistake which I made that
should be guarded against if you can
bear to tear up a perfectly good
flower while it is still fresh and fra
grant. I told my young lady to keep
her flowers and enjoy them and
then to send them to me and
would work a miracle. What 1
should have done was this: taken
some scissors and shipped one or
two blossoms from each bouquet
while they were fresh and called it
day. AS it was, I had to throw
out lots of them because large, deli
cately colored "meaty" roses turn
brown and acquire a decided odor
after they have wilted, that doesn't
improve with drying, so I learned.
Now as to procedure. I saved out
the clearest, prettiest red roses and
pink carnations for special treat
ment which 1 will explain later on.
Then gathered together all the best
rose petals, shook the violet petals
from their stems, cut the carnations
just above the green pod and pulled
them apart. Carnations hold their
odor wonderfully I added a few
scatterings from freesias, chrysan-
themums, gardenias and an orchid
or two, these just for sentiment. With
many misgivings, l confess, pro-
ceeded according to the old formula
which had obtained. Placing about
2 inches Of petals in a tWo-quart
earthen jar, I scattered about a
tablespoonful Of salt on top, then
another layer Of petals. another