1. USING A HAT
Effect. The magician causes a flower to appear in his button-hole; he grows a bouquet in a tumbler and then produces a number of bouquets from a borrowed hat and distributes them to the spectators.
Preparation. Fasten a black silk thread to a real or artificial rose or carnation; pass the thread through the buttonhole of the lapel, then through an eyelet in the cloth beneath, and attach it to a length of elastic—the other end of which you loop over a suspender button on the left side. The length of the silk must be so adjusted that the flower can be pulled from the lapel to the back of the left armpit without drawing the elastic through the buttonhole.
Place the bouquet, which must be not more than six inches in diameter, on a small wire shelf at the back of your table, the stem pointing upwards (Fig. 1). The small bouquets or nosegays, with stems a little longer than usual, you pack together in a bundle as tightly as possible and pass a rubber band round the stems to keep them in that condition. Pass a strong thread under the rubber band and tie it, making a loop about three inches long. Hang the bundle on the back of a chair on the right-hand side of the stage on a short, stout needle driven into the rail obliquely upwards (Fig. 2). The chair must either be a solid-backed one or have some cover—a large silk handkerchief, for example—thrown over it.
On the table you have a tumbler and a little box, about the size of a pillbox and on the seat of the chair a second small box. These are supposed to contain the seeds for the flowers. Just before entering, draw the flower from your buttonhole back behind the armpit and hold it there by pressing the left upper arm to the side.
Method. Enter wand in hand and announce a demonstration of flower growing by magic, first a single flower. Take the little box from the table and open it; pretend to take a seed, naming the flower you have under your arm, and place it on your lapel.
Wave the wand to the left, then to the right, and strike it smartly against the lapel, at the same time throwing up the left arm and seizing the wand with the left hand. The flower appears instantly; adjust it with the right hand.
Borrow a hat; explaining that as you will use it as a hothouse you require as much room in it as possible, you pull down the sweatband and push out the dent in the crown. Stand behind the table; hold the hat in the left hand— crown upwards, the thumb on the brim, fingers inside with the first and second fingers free—so that the hat comes directly over the bouquet.
Lean forwards to take a pinch of the supposed seed from the box with the right hand and place it in the tumbler; at the same moment let the front edge of the brim of the hat touch the rear of the table, grip the stem of the bouquet between the first and second fingers of the left hand, and introduce it into the hat. The moment it is safely inside move the hat away, retaining hold of the stem with the first two fingers; lift the glass with the right hand and move to the center of the stage.
Making the excuse that any draft of air would spoil the experiment, place the hat over the glass, keeping the crown tilted a little forwards—which will make the insertion of the stem of the bouquet into the glass easier and prevent the spectators getting any glimpse of the flowers. A few moments later uncover the glass and reveal the bouquet, a charming surprise. Pretend that a lady requests it and say, “With pleasure, but first allow me to produce a larger quantity.” Turn toward the chair on the right as you remark that you want another variety of seeds. Bend down, put the glass and bouquet on the seat of the chair, open the little box with the left hand and pick it up; at the same time your right hand, with the hat held mouth upwards, goes behind the chair and scoops the bundle of flowers off the needle as you straighten up with the box in your left hand. In the whole action keep your attention fixed on your left hand.
Move forwards, pretend to empty the seeds into the hat, wave the wand over it, and use your magic formula; then dip your right hand inside, remove the rubber band, and spread the flowers—giving them the appearance of overflowing the hat. Toss the little nosegays to the ladies and finally present the large one to the lady you previously addressed. Note particularly that each bouquet should have a little card attached to it with the date and your name.
With regard to the flower in the buttonhole, there has recently been introduced a wand with a hollow tip which will hold a small feather flower with a sharp protruding hook. A downward tap of the wand engages the hook in the lapel and the flower is instantly pulled out. Its appearance is so rapid that it is impossible to detect the method.
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