Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/187

 would be suitable for this — such as the red ornamental plum-tree, copper beech, golden elder, or the variegated maple ; the latter being especially effective. The contrast of the pale green and white is particularly light and pretty for table use. Use figure vases suitable for the time of harvest — such as a girl carrying corn and a sickle, and a boy with a hamper of grapes. The vases are plentifully filled with sprays of the variegated maple, so that each figure appears standing under a bower of it. Sprays of the foUage are also used to form a design on the cloth, wreaths of it being placed around the base of the figures, and lines of foliage arranged between the guests. Hips and haws may be used in white vases with sprays of copper beech. Use a set of five vases — one rather tall, two a little smaller, and two smaller still. Fill them with small sprays of the beech and a goodly number of the bright hips and haws. Then take a number of small ones or of any kind of red berry that is plentiful, and having cut off their stalks closely, thread them on to cotton or fine wire, and festoon these berry garlands from one vase to another, connecting the whole five in this way. Collect fir-cones, large and small, and you will be able- to make all kinds of pretty things with them during the long winter evenings. For example, a cigar-box can be made into a novel receptacle for ferns or growing bulbs. Remove the lid and hinges. Cut a number of small fir-cones in halves, and glue them on to the sides and ends of the box outside, covering the box with them. You can then enamel it any colour that you wish, or, what is perhaps prettier, gild it with good gold paint. Then purchase a tin that will go into the box, as nearly the same shape as possible, and in this plant little ferns, growing bulbs or lilies-of-the-valley, and you will have a very pretty centre for your table. The Use of the Mirror A mirror brightens the effect of foliage on the table, and the very simplest arrange- ment may be the most charming in reality. A long, narrow strip of looking-glass or any shaped piece that you happen to possess can be utilised. On the centre is placed a white china swan, filled with a maidenhair fern or any pretty foliage plant. [65 WOMAN'S HOME The edges of the mirror are then hidden by trails of tinted leaves and berries. Any kind of light creeper is suitable for this, and trails of it are also arranged to the edges of the table. The table shown on this page is an un- common combination of heather, white shaggy chrysanthemums, and the foliage of the purple plum. The vases are filled with the chrysan- themums and foliage, and clusters of heather are arranged round them on the cloth. Chrysanthemums in dainty vases and a liberal supply of foliage, with white heather beneath the stands, combine for a beautiful effect The purple plum is a charming contrast to the white chrysanthemums. Use plenty of foliage and just a few good chrysanthe- mum blooms. Stand them about the table, as shown in the illustration, and arrange the clusters of white heather in circles around each vase. If you have not any quantity of white heather, use purple ; it harmonises well with the foliage. You can then reserve any white heather you have to adorn the menus, guest-cards, and sweet-baskets. For the menus use cards in a pale shade of heather purple, and fasten a tiny sprig of white heather to the left-hand top corner, with a liliputian bow of satin ribbon the same hue as the card. For the guest-cards use .smaller cards to match and decorated in the same way. Tiny baskets in green rush would be pretty for the sweets, when trimmed with rosettes of the ribbon and sprays of white heather and filled with mauve and white sweets. The white fluffy wild clematis, traveller's joy, or what is more generally called " old man's beard " when it has gone to seed, is effective for table use in conjunction with any bright red berries. Use vases filled with them, and have trails of the clematis between each guest-place, with red berries placed here and there among the trails. This series will be continued.