ern is so delicate as to be ruined by maceration. Before
bleaching, the fern should be pressed, and as it becomes dry and
brittle, more care is required in the bleaching process than for
skeleton leaves. Hang your sprays in the jar, and fill gently with warm
water. Then pour in the bleaching solution in the proportion of half a
tea-cupful to a pint of water. Allow the jar, which must be covered
tightly, to stand in a warm place about twenty-four hours. The liquid
should then be renewed. It will take several days for the ferns to begin
to whiten. They must then be watched carefully, and each spray removed
as soon as it attains the required whiteness. The spray must then be
washed carefully in a basin of clean warm water, and floated on to a
sheet of paper, after the manner followed in pressing sea-weeds. It
should then be kept under pressure away from the air until you are ready
to make your bouquet, as otherwise it has a tendency to curl. Do not be
discouraged if you fail in your first attempts, as much experience is
needed to render the bleaching of ferns a success.

* * * * *

W. D. V.--In the outer wall of St. Mark's Church, Stuyvesant Street, New
York, is the original tablet from the tomb of Peter Stuyvesant, who was
buried in the family vault within the old church which formerly stood on
the site of the present edifice. On this tablet is inscribed the fact
that Petrus Stuyvesant died in August, 1682, aged eighty years.

* * * * *

JASPER B.--The insect called the death-watch is a small beetle that
perforates the small round holes often seen in old furniture or in the
panelling of old houses. If one of these beetles be concealed in a
panel, it will reveal itself by ticking in answer to any gentle tapping
on the wood-work.

* * * * *

Favors are acknowledged from F. K. Reasoner, Eva and Ella, Carter
Colquitt, Harry B. McGraw, Johnny R. Glen, Mabel Lowell, Julian Gresham,
Alma Hoffman, Claire B., Mantie Miller, Millie Etta Martin.

* * * * *

Correct answers to puzzles are received from Cora Frost, Graham B.,
Beryl Abbott, Charles F. Crane, Harry Starr Kealhofer, George W.
Raymond, Marion E. Norcross, Eddie S. Hequembourg, Dora Williams, Albert
E. Seibert, George Volckhausen, Eddie A. Leet.

* * * * *

PUZZLES FROM YOUNG CONTRIBUTORS.

No. 1.

DECAPIT