In order to make a tree two feet in height cut the wires varying from four to fourteen inches in length. Prepare some nougat with chopped almonds (No. 3621). incorporating sufficient cocoa to color it brown; rollout enough of this to be able to cut out a piece a quarter of an inch thick, sixteen inches long and seven inches wide in the part intended for the base and slightly narrower for the top. Wrap this piece of nougat around a wooden support in imitation of the trunk of a tree and leave to cool; coat the wires with nougat proportionately thick according to their length, and thicker on the ends that are to be attached to the trunk; bend them as soon as covered to shape them into knotty and irregular boughs, and leave to cool. Color some white nougat (No. 3622) a pistachio green, roll it out on a marble to a quarter of an inch in thickness, and from it cut a round bottom sixteen inches in diameter, then attach it to a board of the same size. At two inches from the edge fasten the trunk of the tree on solidly and decorate it with the boughs, having the heaviest attached to the trunk, and the lighter ones attached to these.

Melt some cooked sugar, mix in a little cocoa and chopped almonds, and with a knife coat over the trunk and the branches to imitate the bark and the roots at the foot of the tree. Pull some dark green-colored sugar, a very little at a time, and with it form leaves as described in No. 3618; trim the branches with these, and also with cherries made of almond paste (No. 135) and glazed, or else substitute pears or little apples, or better still green almonds, but any imitated fruit can be used. Place a ladder against the tree, made of wire covered with chocolate-colored sugar, and on this stand a small image to represent a cupid stealing the fruit, and at one side another cupid receiving the picked fruit. Make these figures of gum paste (No. 3624). Make the boughs and bushes around the foot of the tree of pulled sugar (No. 3618), also the rope that surrounds it. These trees can be varied as regards both size and subject. One or more trees can be arranged on a single board without any figures or subjects.

Fig. 758.