There are also various useful implements, called by the work-people "irons," for cutting out petals, calyxes, and bracts, and for giving to leaves those various serrated and other forms which produce such wonderful variety in foliage. These cutting tools, two of which are shown in Figs. 6 and 7, are of iron, with a hollow handle, flat at its upper extremity, that the hammer may be readily applied. They are about four or five inches long, and of numerous sizes and varieties. That they may cut rapidly and clearly, the edges are occasionally rubbed with dry soap. When a leaf becomes attached to the interior, and cannot be shaken out, a little ring of wire, Fig. 8, is introduced in a hole _j_, Fig. 7, left for that purpose to disengage it. The material is doubled several times under the cutter, so that several petals or leaves may be cut out at once. The block on which the leaves are cut out is rather a complicated affair. It is placed near a window, and as far as possible from the workers, that the blows of the hammer may not interfere with their employment. Sometimes it consists of a very stout framework of timber, on which is placed a mattress of straw to deaden the blows, and upon this mattress a thick smooth piece of lead, forming a square table, Fig. 9. In some cases a solid block of timber is used, a portion of the trunk of a tree taken near the root, and on this the mattress and the leaden table are placed. The hammers used at this work are short and heavy; one is especially adapted for smoothing the surface of the lead when it becomes indented all over by the blows of the workman. [Illustration: Fig. 9.] [Illustration: Fig. 10.] [Illustration: Fig. 11.] [Illustration: Fig. 12.] [Illustration: Fig. 13.]