from the funnels. Then weigh again, and the difference in the weight will
represent the quantity of moisture contained in it, dried at a
temperature of 212 degrees Fahr., that of boiling water.--_The Miller_.

* * * * *

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING BOUQUETS.

For some years past, the sale of flowers has been gradually increasing.
Into the larger cities, such as Paris for example, they are introduced by
the car load, and along about the first of January the consumption of
them is extraordinary. All choice flowers are now being cultivated by
improved methods that assure of an abundant production of them. What
twenty years ago would have appeared to be an antiquated mechanism, viz.,
an apparatus for making bouquets, has now become a device of prime
necessity by reason of the exigencies of an excessive demand.

Mr. Myard, a gardener of Chalon-sur-Saone, and vice-president of the
horticultural society of that city, has devised a curious apparatus,
which we represent herewith from a photograph.

This bouquet machine, which the inventor styles a _bouquetiere_, consists
of a stationary rod (shown to the right of the figure), upon which slides
a spool wound with twine, and the lower part of which is provided with
three springs for keeping the twine taut. A horizontal arm at the top
supports a guide or pattern whose curve is to be followed, on placing the
flowers in position. This arm is removed or turned aside after the
binding screw has been loosened, in order that the rod to the left that
carries the bouquet may be taken out. A guide, formed of a steel ribbon,
is fixed to the arm and to its movable rod by means of binding screws,
which permit of its being readily elongated. This central rod can be
raised or lowered at will, and, owing to these combinations, every
desired form of bouquet may be obtained.

[Illustration: APPARATUS FOR MAKING BOUQUETS.]

The rod to the left is provided with a steel pivot, and contains several
apertures, into which a pin enters, thus rendering it easy to begin
bouquets at different heights.

The bouquet is mounted upon the rod to the left, as shown in the figure.
The pin passes through the rod and enters a loop formed at the extremity
of the twine, and thus serves as a point of support, and prevents the
bouquet from falling, no matter what its weight is. When the pin is
removed in order that the bouquet may be taken out, the loop escapes.

At the lo