lding the Shade is Made from an
Old Umbrella Rib]

hold the shade. The rib can be cut to fit a pendant arm of any
length.
--Contributed by Edward Keegstra, Paterson, N. J.

** To Longer Preserve Cut Flowers [419]

A good way to keep cut flowers fresh is to place a small amount of
pure salt of sodium in the water. It is best to procure this salt
at a drug store because commercial salt will cause the flowers to
wither, due to the impurities in the soda. Call for pure sodium
chloride.

** Glass Blowing and Forming [420]

Fortunate indeed is the boy who receives a stock of glass tubing,
a Bunsen burner, a blowpipe, and some charcoal for a gift, for he
has a great deal of fun in store for himself. Glass blowing is a
useful art to understand, if the study of either chemistry or
physics is to be taken up, because much apparatus can be made at
home. And for itself alone, the forming of glass into various
shapes has not only a good deal of pleasure in it, but it trains
the hands and the eye.

Glass, ordinarily brittle and hard, becomes soft and pliable under
heat. When subjected to the action of a flame until dull red, it
bends as if made of putty; heated to a bright yellow, it is so
soft that it may be blown, pulled, pushed or worked into any shape
desired. Hence the necessity for a Bunsen burner, a device
preferred to all others for this work, because it gives the
hottest flame without soot or dirt. The Bunsen burner, as shown in
Fig. 1, is attached to any gas bracket with a rubber tube, but the
flame is blue, instead of yellow, as the burner introduces air at
its base, which mixes with the gas and so produces an almost
perfect combustion, instead of the partial combustion which
results in the ordinary yellow flame. All gas stoves have Bunsen
burners, and many oil stoves.

If gas is not available, an alcohol lamp with a large wick will do
almost as well. The blowpipe, shown in Fig. 2, is merely a tube of
brass with the smaller end at right angles to the pipe, and a fine
tip to reduce the size of the blast, which is used to direct a
small flame. Besides these tools, the glass worker will need some
round sticks of charcoal, sharpened like a pencil, as shown in
Fig. 3, a file, and several lengths of German glass tubing.

To bend a length of the tubing, let it be assumed for the purpose
of making a syphon, it is only necessary to cork one end of the
tube and heat it near the top of the Bunsen flame, turning th