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on the subject, I give you my own way, which is very simple and quick. In two pints of water dissolve 3 ozs. of washing soda; let it boil, and add 2 ozs. of slaked quicklime; boil again for ten minutes, then remove from the fire and let it settle, and pour off the clear liquid. This is what you use for the leaves. In choosing the leaves you wish to skeletonise, do not pick them too young; as a rule, soft leaves do best, but with this process almost any will do. Some of the scrub trees have very pretty leaves for the purpose. The best plan is to pick out the whole group you wish skeletonised beforehand. Put the prepared liquor on to boil, and then throw in your leaves; boil for a good hour with the lid kept close, only lifting it now and then to add a little water as it boils away. To see if done, remove a leaf into cold water and rub gently between finger and thumb. If the pulp separates easily it is ready; if not, boil a little longer. When rubbing the skin and pulp off, be very gentle or you will break the veins—after a little practice you will become quite expert; the great thing is to keep the leaves under water while you are rubbing, so that the pulp is, as it were, washed off. Now, to bleach them, make a solution of chloride of lime and clean water, and let them lie in it several hours. Rinse the leaves after bleaching in some strong vinegar and water. Directly they are removed they must be pressed between sheets of blotting paper, and then they are ready to be treated with the diamond paints. Mix your gold and silver paint according to the directions, and with a small brush gild the leaves you wish to treat. Anyone with taste can arrange a group, and either with or without the dyes and paints they make a handsome centre ornament for a drawing-room table. For mounting, the finest copper wire should be used, though I have used the ordinary wire off beer and porter bottles.

Upholstery.—There are many ladies capital upholsterers; it only wants a

little practice and a great deal of patience to make and upholster almost any article of furniture. My first attempt was on an old sofa, and for the benefit of those ladies who may happen to have an old sofa discarded as too unsightly for the drawing-room I give my method of proceeding:— My sofa was covered with rep; this I carefully picked off, but first I pulled the whole thing to pieces—took the back off and any other parts that were screwed or nailed together. You will find this best in doing up any piece of furniture, as you are then able to finish off your work neatly. Next I took out the old springs and all the stuffing, and thoroughly cleaned and brushed every part of the wood. I was living in the bush, so was unable to buy either fibre for stuffing or new springs. However, I was near a large swamp, and the rushes happened to be in seed, so I gathered a quantity of the soft fluff, which is beautifully soft and makes as comfortable mattresses as feathers almost. I teased out the old stuffing and laid it in first, but for springs I was greatly puzzled, as the old ones were very little good. However, I had a quantity of steel by me the ordinary steel that used to be worn in the old petticoats; it was the widest, and very strong. This I cut into lengths some inches longer across than my sofa, and fixed seven or eight of these across in my stuffing; it did not give the same effect as the springs, but it kept the stuffing in its place and from sinking flat. Over all that I tacked strong canvas, and on top of it put another layer of stuffing; this second layer is not actually necessary, though it really is an improvement. Over that again I tacked unbleached calico; and now you must be very careful to have this last cover without a crease, for any creases will show when you have your chintz on, therefore it must fit as perfectly as possible; don't spare the tacks, and don't draw your cover too tight over the stuffing, of which you must put in as much as you possibly can. In putting on they chintz or whatever you intend for the