cloth and polished up with a brush. On the Continent it falls to the lot of the waiters to rub up the polished floors, which they do by fastening a brush to their feet, and taking violent exercise all over the room. Some people prefer varnished floors, a great mistake if it is a room that is ever likely to be danced in. If to be varnished, the floor must first be sized (working size, i.e. one pint of melted size to four pints of warm water). Use it quickly, and always brush one way along the boards; it is a good plan to put the pot of size to stand in a basin of boiling water, which will keep it from getting cold and becoming a jelly.* When the floor is once more quite dry, which it will not be for some hours, the varnish is put on in the same way as the size. Varnish also works more easily when warm; the basin into which you have poured it had better be placed to stand in a larger basin of hot water. Never attempt to varnish in frosty weather—the varnish becomes quite opaque, like milk. Remember also to dry the brush with which you are going to varnish. A very good varnish for floors, called Hard Oak Varnish, can be obtained for 12/6 per gallon. In buying varnish, you should mention whether you require it for wood or for paper.

The second method is to buy the oak stain in

* Some people recommend washing the floor with beer instead of size, but I have never tried it.

powder, 6/- per lb. One pound of stain diluted in a gallon of water covers about 100 square yards. Half this quantity would be enough for a large room. It may be put on with a brush or sponge. The rest of the proceeding is just the same as for the other method. If the floor is very soft and absorbent, it should be twice sized before it is varnished.

The third method is to make the oak stain, but this involves a good deal of trouble, and there is no particular object in doing it, as stains can be bought so cheaply—not only oak, but mahogany, rosewood, walnut, etc. Messrs. Carson & Son also sell an imperishable size at 1/- per lb. In hot weather a little Condy's fluid or carbolic acid may be added to size and to distemper; it will make them more pleasant and more wholesome.

PAPERING.

THIS is so simple an operation that it is scarcely necessary to describe it; still it is as well always to begin at the beginning. First, then, measure the room and calculate the amount of paper required, remembering that there are twelve yards in a piece. Where the paper has a pattern on it, you must get an extra quantity to allow for joining the pattern, you will also require a narrow bordering to run round the room, round the doors and windows, and round the top of the wall; it will generally be found of use in hiding unevenness and other defects. Of course, if you mean to have a dado you will only measure the wall to the top of the dado when you are calculating the amount of paper required.

As soon as the old paper is scraped off, the wall must be sized (1 lb. size to I gallon water), and left to dry, while you prepare the paper.

Cut the paper into strips of the necessary length, remembering to make the pattern join, then cut off the plain paper edge on both sides. Have some paste prepared (it should have been well boiled and strained) and a little size and alum should be mixed

with it; the proportions are a quartern of flour to 4 oz. of alum; half this would be usually quite enough. Place the strips of paper on a long table, face downwards, and cover evenly and quickly with paste; leave it for a little to swell evenly. The strip of paper is then folded with the pasted side inwards in two or more folds; one operator then gets on the scaffolding, table, or other contrivance on which he stands, and fixes the top of the paper evenly on the wall; he lets the folds fall down gradually, and dabs out creases and bubbles with a cloth, always proceeding from the centre to the edges. Care must be taken to make the pattern run the same way; and of course if there are flowers on the paper they should tend upwards or downwards according to their natural mode of growth. The prettiest and easiest way of papering a room is to choose a plain paper of some subdued and tender tint, and to find a dado to match it. Where that is difficult or inconvenient, or where the room is rather low and you wish for a dado not so high as those usually printed (including the border about 2 ft. 4 in.), the plain paper may be taken down to the skirtingboard and a dado painted on it either in distemper or in body-colour, i.e. water-colours mixed with Chinese white. Very beautiful colours may be got in powder from Messrs. Winsor & Newton, 38, Rathbone Place (or any good artists' colourman), which

would have the same effect as water-colours and would not be so expensive. They are sold by the Oz. The most useful colours are the following:

French Ultramarine I O

Cadmium Yellow. 10 O

6

I

O

2

I

Prussian Blue

I 6

9

Cobalt Blue.

6 o

(ozs. may be obtained.)

I have not included the most beautiful pigment of all Genuine Ultramarine, its highest price reaching up to 147/- the oz., though there is a genuine Ultramarine sold for 42/-, but still it is rather an expensive article with which to decorate a wall. There are numerous other colours sold, but many of them are not permanent, and therefore I have not mentioned them. Of course, no dado would require all these colours; as a rule, two would be sufficient, especially as they may be supplemented from the box of water-colours. Where the plain