For the leaves, maple ones and those that have a pretty shape are the best: To one pound of soda-ash add two quarts of soft water. After it is all dissolved by boiling, add as many leaves as your dish will hold; lay them in flat, boil until the epidermis will come off easily. Try a leaf in cold water, and if only the veins remain they are done sufficiently. Clean them with an old tooth-brush, and supply the missing stems with fine wire. After they are well cleaned put them in a solution of chloride of lime to bleach, ten cents' worth of lime is enough for leaves and ferns too. Gather the young ferns and put them in the solution of lime you have for your leaves, not the soda-ash, only the bleaching solution. Float them on stiff paper and put them in books to dry, after washing thoroughly in clear water to prevent them from turning yellow. Poppy-heads are very fine, also Molven balm fixed in this way is lovely for winter bouquets. Add more water to the leaves as it boils away.