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LITTLE GARDENS

X-!

•j*

MYRJA MARGARET HIGGINS

GIFT OF
Agric. Educ. Division

LITTLE GAKDENS

FOE

BOYS AM) GIKLS

AN EARLY FAILURE (page 3)

POSSIBILITIES (page 3)

LITTLE GARDENS

FOR

BOYS AND GIRLS

MYRTA MAKGAKET HIGGINS

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

Cambnti0e
1910

*&2*

Published February IQIO

TO THE BOYS AND GIRLS

WHO HAVE HELPED ME TO FIND

WHAT IS WORTH WHILE

IN A GARDEN

6- 1
< O ^

PREFACE

THIS little book has been written out of my
own experience in trying to help hundreds of
boys and girls to find the true value of gar-
dening. It is written for the larger number of
boys and girls who have neither greenhouses
nor old established gardens, and I have hoped to
answer some of the questions which I have been
obliged to answer orally many times.

My aim has been twofold, — first, to make
plain subjects that at first mention seem so
simple they are seldom explained even in
books for boys and girls, — such as the best
way to take a weed out of the ground, or
how a garden path should be cleaned; sec-
ondly, to arouse an interest in plant life that
will be lasting and helpful.

This book is written in the hope that it
may become a companion to the young gar-

vii

PREFACE

dener and a guide to those who are trying
to help him. It does ndt claim to furnish ex-
tensive information on gardening, but rather
to give the right suggestion at the right
time and the inspiration for a further search
for garden knowledge and experiences. First
arousing interest in the larger world-garden,
and in the plant, which is the garden unit, it
begins with the fall months, when a garden
should be begun, and follows through the sea-
sons. If allowed to become a part of the gar-
den experience year after year, the meaning
of its words will become clearer to the boy or
girl, for of necessity, and in order to lead them
into garden paths and the terms of a gar-
dener, I have used some words which must
be turned over in the mind many times.

If the right point of view shall have been
attained by the young gardener, the purpose
of my book will have been fulfilled.

CONTENTS

I. THE GREAT WORLD-GARDEN . . . . , . . 1

II. THE PLANT STORY . . . . . . 17

III. TOOLS AND PLANS . 29

IV. WHEN AND How TO BEGIN* 45

V. AUTUMN WORK IN THE GARDEN .... 53

VI. THE GARDEN IN WINTER AND INDOOR GARDENING 63

VII. GARDEN FRIENDS AND A DREAM GARDEN . . 73

Vin. GARDEN HANDICRAFT . . . c „ . V 81

IX. THE PREPARATION FOR SPRING " *. ". . . 89

X. SPRING WORK IN THE GARDEN .... 103

XI. Do ROSES GROW FROM SEED ? 113

XII. GARDEN HELPS AND HINDRANCES . . . 121

XIII. SUMMER IN THE GARDEN 131

XIV. THE HARVEST 141

XV. IN THE YEARS TO COME ... . 149

ILLUSTRATIONS

An Early Failure 1

> (page 3) . . . * Frontispiece
Possibilities )

A Glimpse of the Great World-Garden . 4

Before . . . . . . . . ., . . 12

After . . . . . . . . . . 12

A Young Gardener with her Tools . . . . .32

Facing down . . . . ... . . . 32

Garden Plans ... . . . . . 40-44

Diagram showing Depths and Distances for planting Bulbs 59
A Cold-Frame . . . . . . . . .61

Garden Stake . . . . . . . ..84

Markers . . . . ... . . .84

Sweet Alyssum . . 94

The Vegetable Garden . . . , . . .94
A Flower Garden just started . . . . * * 108

The Same Garden in Full Bloom 108

The Hight Way to weed a Flower-Bed .... 134

Watering the Garden . * 134

A Trellis .... *S . . V . . 137
The Reward of the Harvest .- ..... 144

THE GREAT WORLD-GARDEN

O world as God has made it ! All is beauty.

BROWNING.

The very world, which is the world
Of all of us.

WORDSWORTH.

God gives us with our rugged soil
The power to make it Eden fair.

WHITTIER.

LITTLE GARDENS FOE BOYS
AKD GIEL8

CHAPTER I

THE GREAT WORLD-GARDEN

How happy are the faces of the children in
the frontispiece of this little book ! They are
happy because they are learning to make gar-
dens. Even the little girl who has failed to
make a weed grow in a tin can is not discour-
aged, and the children hovering over the bas-
ket of flowers are happy as bees. It is a great
delight to have a garden all one's own. Yet
what seems to belong to ourselves alone is
shared by many another. Not to the seedsman
alone, but to many others al&^we/Qwe^oiir
thanks for aid in making o^ux/ga^^.^P^^fe
ourselves alone is all the pleasure and the profit.

LITTLE GARDENS

Even the passer-by shares in the joy of the
bright colors. Together we have a common in-
terest in the great world-garden about us, which
supplies us with the material for all our gardens.

Let us look at that great world-garden and see
what it means to us. An all- wise Gardener must
have planned the great garden that spreads over
the hills and valleys. If you go out into the fields
and woods you see flowers blossoming that no
man planted or tended, trees that no man cared
for, making shelter for the birds, and cool, shady
places for man and beast. There, too, is food for
all the wild creatures.

It may seem to you that all these things have
grown up without any plan or care, but if you
look carefully, and learn what the past history
of this earth tells us, you will see that our world-
garcfen il-dfe^igtped along a most careful plan ;
th#i IS is;I>eing^r]4nted and tended by winds and
streams, storms and birds, and all the many forces

THE GREAT WORLD-GARDEN

and creatures of nature. Men who have studied
the face of the earth tell us of an ice age when
great rivers of ice flowing down over the land
crushed the great boulders of rock, grinding
them together until parts of them were made
into gravel and sand; and how the heat and
cold and the acid substances have cracked and
broken the stones, and the storms have swept
down upon the land, and washed the finely
ground sand in between the huge boulders and
made the fertile valleys, leaving the fine soil on
top and the coarse sand below to provide a good
drainage for the world-garden. A wonderful
life, both animal and vegetable, has sprung up
on this field of soil. For centuries men did
little with the wonderful forces that were in
their hands. Deserts remained deserts; dry
lands became drier. Only here and there crude
efforts were made to renew the land's fertility.
But with the dawn of our century of electricity

LITTLE GARDENS

and science we began to watch and work for
the possibilities that lie in this great earth of
ours, and lo! we found that the desert could
be made to bloom again and the dry land per-
manently watered, the barren soil renewed, the
starved plants given new life, and the plant
world made subject to man's use.

We are learning not to neglect our forests
and waterways, our fields, and our friends of the
animal world, but to care for them, protect and
control them in such a way that nothing shall
be wasted, but all made to serve its purpose in
the great world-garden. Some men are working
wonders in the plant world, creating new fruits
and flowers that will be stronger and more use-
ful than the old. Luther Burbank, whose name
is of world-wide fame for his wonderful crea-
tions, has produced a cactus that is good food for
man, and that can be raised on our own barren
deserts where once we thought nothing of any

THE GREAT WORLD-GARDEN

value would grow. Others are using the discov-
ered powers of the twentieth century to hold
back the rivers and turn them into the dry lands,
where they make the waste country bloom and
yield food for man. Still others are searching to
find out the use of birds and insects, and all the
other wonderful forms of life that exist in our
garden.

When we look about us we see that the places
which are not clean and beautiful are the result
of man's neglect or abuse. Now we each and all
can do our part to make and keep this world-
garden a place pleasant to live in, and a place
filled with good things. It is better for us to
begin by doing a little and doing it well. We
should be careful to help and not hinder, and
work with others in unity, so that a harmoni-
ous result shall be attained. Wherever we make
our own little garden, we should remember that
we must do nothing to mar the home-grounds

LITTLE GARDENS

about us, but help to make them beautiful. We
should remember that no matter where we live
we have neighbors near or distant, we are a part
of larger families, — the town or city family, the
country family, the great world family. The
interests of the fields, forests, and waterways are
our interests; the interests of the parks and
common grounds, and streets and buildings, are
our interests ; and the health, cleanliness, and
beauty of our home city, town, or village di-
rectly concern and affect us for good or for evil.
Some day it may be the duty and privilege of
many of us to help in forming a town or city,
or to help in caring for streets and common
grounds ; and we are not too young to begin to
think about such things now, and to look about
us to see how such things are done. We like
clean streets. Have the people provided boxes
for waste paper and rubbish ? Do the boys and
girls help to keep the place clean by putting

THE GREAT WORLD-GARDEN

things in their proper places instead of scatter-
ing them ? Look about the streets of your town.
Which streets do you likebest ? The broad street
shaded by beautiful street-trees where the homes
are surrounded by green lawns, trees and shrubs,
with flowers and vegetables in abundance. Are
you helping to care for the trees on your street?
Are you doing all you can to keep the lawn
clean and green, and to protect the garden?
When you visit parks and commons, do you re-
member that they belong partly to you and that
they are to be enjoyed and not abused?

One of the problems to be met in every place
is the disposal of ashes, refuse and rubbish. It
is sometimes partly controlled by the town or
city, sometimes partly controlled by an im-
provement society, and too often not properly
controlled by any one. Refuse, if not used as food
for animals, should be buried deeply away from
buildings, or burned and then buried, or carried

LITTLE GARDENS

away and disposed of as the town may provide.
Rubbish should be carefully stored in barrels or
boxes and frequently hauled away. It should be
dumped only in places that need to be filled in,
and only when the owner of the land consents.
The owner, or the Improvement Society, should
see that such places are frequently covered with
soil, or at least that small spots here and there
are given a little soil and planted with vines such
as the wild cucumber or the virgin's bower, so
that the place will be covered, at least in sum-
mer. Wood ashes are excellent for lawn and gar-
den, but coal ashes tend to harden the ground
and are usually good only for filling in hollows.
Ash barrels, garbage pails, and rubbish heaps can
at least be protected and hidden by trellises and
vines, just as clothes-lines and small buildings
about the place are often cared for in such a way
that the landscape is not made ugly by their
presence. There is a way to dispose of every-

THE GREAT WORLD-GARDEN

thing so that nothing shall become a menace to
health or an unsightly object.

What each one does toward making the
world-garden more beautiful may be yery little,
but it all counts. It may be that some can have
only a window-box, or a single plant, or a tub
or a box of plants. Some may have a single tree
or shrub to care for, while others may care for
a whole lawn, grass, shrubs, trees and flowers,
and walks. If you have a shady corner where
many flowers will not grow, fill it with ferns from
the dry woodland. Some people think they can-
not have any flowers because they have only shady
corners, but with ferns for a background you
may have forget-me-nots and lilies-of-the- valley
for early flowers, and fairy lilies and pansies for
later bloom. The fairy lily is sometimes called
zephyranthes or zephyr flower. It grows from a
bulb, and its pink or white star-like blossom is
very pretty among the ferns. There are other

LITTLE GARDENS

flowers that bloom in the shade, but these are

the prettiest, I think.

You need not fail to have flowers because of
lack of plants or seeds, for if you live in the city
seeds are inexpensive, and if you live in the
country there are many wild flowers that will
flourish in your gardens. What can be more
beautiful than golden-rod in autumn and violets
in the spring?

As I was saying, there is something for each
of us to do to make the world-garden more beau-
tiful, and some of us find very much to do.
When the garden idea came to one boy he found
that the small ground space around his home
was almost as bare as the street. He made a
lawn and a small flower bed near the house and
in the corner of the fence. At the back of the
house he planted vines to cover the fence and
an old building, and where the coal ashes had
been, he planted a vegetable garden which grew

BEFORE

AFTER

THE GREAT WORLD-GARDEN

so well that you could hardly believe that he
had had no fertilizer. How did he do it ? He
spaded and raked the soil very thoroughly.
He planted carefully. He had no roller to roll
his lawn, so he pressed it firmly with a board.
He had no watering-can, or hose, or lawn
mower. But he poured water on his lawn and
borrowed a mower to mow it. All this was done
in a place that had been bare for eight years.
He kept his garden well weeded. It was small,
but he reaped a harvest of vegetables and
flowers. He had never done any gardening
before, but was willing to ask advice and use
it, and to learn from his own experience.

Many boys have raised vegetables for selling
and have netted good sums for their labor.
Hundreds of boys and girls are beginning to
know the enjoyment that comes from reaping
fresh vegetables and flowers raised by their own
care. Some children living in tenements have

LITTLE GARDENS

made good use of the only bit of land they had,
which was under the clothes-lines. By hauling
in soil and banking it with sod they made flower
beds around three sides and a circular one in the
centre, still leaving room to walk about under
the lines. There is no spot where it is not pos-
sible to have a garden of some kind.

If you are going to make a flower bed or a
garden, the first thing to do is to look about, and
think and plan. So many boys and girls put the
spade into the ground before they think, and
wonder afterward why they met with failure.
" Thought before Action" must be your garden
motto. The first thing to think about is what
you haye to deal with, — namely, the plant.
The soil, the air and water, and the plant food,
all these and many other things will haye to be
reckoned with, but your means to your end and
the centre of your interest is the plant. As you
study the plant to find out how it liyes and how

THE GREAT WORLD-GARDEN

you can help it to become a useful and beauti-
ful thing in your garden, remember that you
are learning to do your part toward making and
keeping the great world-garden a place both
pleasant to live in and filled with good things.

THE PLANT STOEY

Flower in the crannied wall,

I pluck you out of the crannies,

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,

Little flower — but if I could understand

What you are, root and all, and all in all,

I should know what God and man is.

TENNYSON.

CHAPTER II

THE PLANT STORY

PULL a full-grown plant out of the ground.
Here you haye root, stem, leaf, flower, and per-
haps partly developed fruit or seed; all this
from the tiny green sprout you saw breaking
its way up out of the ground a short time be-
fore. In order to grow it must have eaten. The
root that held the plant in the ground searched
for its food in the soil. The many rootlets tell
you how diligently it searched. From these root-
lets many short-lived hairs reached out, clung
to the soil, and sucked its substance. The plant
food must become liquid before the root can
take it up, so you see the soil must be very fine,
in order that the acid in the root and the water
in the soil may dissolve the food in the tiny
particles. The food is taken up the root and

LITTLE GARDENS

stem into the leaves, where it is spread to the
air and sunshine. The leaves are the stomach
of the plant. From the air, from water, and
from the plant food that is brought up from the
soil, they manufacture substances that can be as-
similated or made over into parts of the grow-
ing plant body. Some of these substances are
often stored in the root until a fruit or seed be-
gins to form in the blossom, when they are
needed there. Let a radish go to seed, and cut
open the root. What has happened ? The radish
is beginning to look hollow. The food has been
taken up to nourish the seed.

The flower of the plant may be formed in
different ways, but you will find that nearly
always it has an outer covering to protect the
bud, called the calyx ; then comes the corolla,
which is usually the part we admire in our
flowers, the expanding, showy part. The parts
of the calyx are called sepals, and the parts of

THE PLANT STORY

the corolla are called petals. Inside are the sta-
mens, holding pollen in their anthers, and in the
centre of the flower is the pistil, usually a tiny
knobbed stalk leading down to the very heart
of the blossom, where it enlarges to form the
little seed-case that will come to view when the
petals fall. This may develop into a fruit like
the apple, or the seed-cases may just harden and
hold the seeds until they are ripe. Some of the
flowers, such as the poppy and the china pink,
form very pretty seed-boxes to hold the seeds.
Some seeds fall directly to the ground, while
others haying feathery tufts are carried by the
wind to a greater distance. The seeds of your
plants are not less interesting than the showy
flowers which came before them.

Now it may seem to you that all this has no-
thing to do with gardening, but I wished you
to understand why you ought to make and keep
a fine soft bed of soil, and to furnish plenty of

LITTLE GARDENS

water for those tiny rootlets. If you realize what
the plant is trying to do, you will not let it
die, unless by so doing it serves a high pur-
pose. This little plant is trying to live forever,
and it has in it that which would enable it
to live, though its outer form might die many
times.

A plant either grows a seed which, planted,
will carry on the life within it ; or it sends out,
from root, stem, or leaf, another little plant to
continue the life within. Some plants do this
readily, while others have to be helped. A plant
may die, or, we might say, change its outer form
every year. If so, we call it an annual plant. If
it continues two years, we call it a biennial. If
it continues many years, we call it a perennial.
Nasturtiums are annuals ; hollyhocks and sweet
Williams are biennials; peonies and roses are
perennials. Lettuce is an annual; parsnips are
biennials, though we use them before they de-

THE PLANT STORY

yelop the second year; rhubarb is perennial.
Nowadays, plants have been so changed by cul-
tivation that we often have both annual and per-
ennial varieties of the same kind of plant, and
biennials and perennials which formerly did not
bloom the first year from seed are now devel-
oped so that they can be made to do so.

The plant needs to be kept clean, so that it
can breathe through its pores, and, like us, needs
plenty of water and good air as well as food to
nourish it. Just as our bodies need food to make
blood, bone, and muscle, so plants need their
kind of food to produce the substances which
make up leaf, flower, and fruit. Much of the
plant's food is decayed animal or vegetable mat-
ter and pulverized mineral matter. So, you see,
the world is so well planned that when a thing
becomes apparently worthless it is food for an-
other kind of life, and that life, in turn, feeds
another form of life. How dependent each form

LITTLE GARDENS

of life on another! How bound up together that
which seems divided!

The kinds of food which our plants need may
not be in the soil where we have chosen to have
our garden, so if we wish a good growth we have
to supply the lack in the form of special plant
foods which we call fertilizers. When a chemist
takes the soil and analyzes it he finds it contains
nearly seventy elements. Only twelve of the sev-
enty are essential to agriculture, however.

Four of these — nitrogen, phosphoric acid,
potash and lime — are so much used by plant
growth that sufficient quantities for the garden-
er's use are seldom found in the soil. They can
be bought in different forms, as they are found
in certain rocks, in bone and other materials,
and are ground up for the gardener's use. They
are sometimes combined in a fertilizer which is
often called the commercial fertilizer. It is a
study in itself to know just what fertilizers to

THE PLANT STORY

buy and how to apply them. You may be told
that nitrogen is best for vegetables grown for
leaf development, as lettuce and cabbage; pot-
ash for root growth and brilliant bloom ; and that
phosphoric acid produces seed and fruit.

Experiment as much as you like, but never
forget that the best all-round fertilizer is a
well-rotted stable manure, from a stable where
horses, cows, and pigs are kept, as on a farm.
Remember that though you should have this
if you can get it, it is not impossible to make a
little garden with a few pounds of commercial
fertilizer, or without any at all ; for there is
always some plant food in the soil, and plenty of
water and sunshine will do a great deal if you
hoe your garden well, so that the little plant
may get its food and the air and water it needs
so much. "Wood ashes are good for your plant,
and waste water from the sink, which often
contains some grease, has fed many a plant into

LITTLE GARDENS

better growth. Manure from the poultry-yard

may be used, but not in large quantities unless
combined with wood ashes.

As we haye said, the plant food must finally
become a liquid, and though we may help in
this matter by giving water to our gardens, yet
there is always more or less water in the soil.
It comes in the form of rain, snow, hail, or dew.
It sinks into the soil and covers the particles
like a film.

The soil holds the food and water for the
plant. A rock contains mineral food, but only
small plants like mosses can grow upon it.
When the processes of ages have worn the rock
down to a fine sand, the food it contains more
easily becomes liquid, and it supports more
plant growth. Certain kinds of rock finely
gound make a heavier soil than sand, which we
call clay. Besides sand and clay, there is de-
cayed animal and vegetable matter in the soil,

THE PLANT STORY

which we call humus. "We find humus in large
quantities in the woods where leaves and other
matter have decayed for years. The heavier
soils hold more water, but they do not part
with it as readily as sand. A good garden soil
is a good mixture of sand, clay, and humus.
The humus or organic matter contains the
greatest amount of plant food.

There is something else in plant life that we
ought to know about. Some time pull a few
bean or pea plants out of the ground and ex-
amine the roots. It may be that you will find
tiny knobs on the roots of the plants. These we
call nodules. It takes a strong microscope and
a man of science to tell you what they are. As
far as we know they indicate the presence of
bacteria, now considered to be a low form of
vegetable life. The work that the tiny forms
do for us is very wonderful. Nitrogen is a pre-
cious element much needed by the agricultur-

LITTLE GARDENS

1st, and it is the work of these bacteria to

gather it from the air. The class of plants
known as legumes (peas, etc.) encourage these
bacteria to such an extent that they are often
planted and ploughed under as a " green ma-
nure/' where nitrogen is needed in the soil.

Thus man finds much to learn from the study
of the plant and its ways of living. Time was
when every plant was what we call wild, un-
cultivated and untrained. Man steps in, takes
the wild fruits and makes them sweeter, culti-
vates the wild flowers and makes them larger.
The inhabitants of our vegetable garden are
the descendants of plants from all parts of the
world, often much changed from the original
plant. Let man cease to cultivate nature and
soon all would run wild again. But man is not
disposed to give up his kingship, and so he is
making nature serve him and yield him ever
increasing returns in the plant world.

Ill

TOOLS AND PLANS

Through cunning, with dibble, rake, mattock, and spade,
By line and by level trim garden is made.

TUSSER.

CHAPTER III

TOOLS AND PLANS

TOOLS do not make a garden. It is the will
behind the tool that does the work, and it may
be that one boy will do more with a stick than
another with a whole set of tools. You need
not be kept from gardening because you have
no tools, for with the aid of a stick you can
raise lettuce which, sold at four or five cents a
head, will soon buy a hoe, and when you have
a hoe you can raise beans which, sold at seven
cents a quart, will soon give you money for a
spading-fork, and when you have a hoe and a
spading-fork, you have the most necessary tools
for gardening. Remember that a spade, which
resembles a flattened shovel, is different from
the spading-fork, which has tines. The latter is
much more useful in breaking up the ground.

LITTLE GARDENS

A rake, a trowel, and a weeder are the next
most necessary tools for you to have. It pays to
buy good tools. They last longer and do better
work. It pays to keep your tools clean and to
sharpen them once in a while. Better work
more easily done is the result. It pays to have
a good place for each tool and to see that it is
always put in its place when you have finished
using it. It always pays to keep things in order.
Orderliness in outward things helps to keep an
orderly mind, without which we are of little
use in the world.

A knee-mat is a good thing for a gardener to
have, because with it he is more inclined to
take an easy position when working at his gar-
den beds. The chapter on Garden Handicraft
will give suggestions for making knee-mats.

Watering-cans are rather expensive for the
amount of good they do. Pails can be used if
you are careful to hold them down low when

A YOUNG GARDENER WITH HER TOOLS

FACING DOWN

TOOLS AND PLANS

pouring the water, so that the force of a stream
will not wash away the soil. A tin pail with
holes driven in the bottom might serve the pur-
pose of a watering-can. There is a great deal in
using tools so as to make them do their best
work in the easiest way. Farther on I shall
have more to say about watering and about the
uses of the different tools.

Here are some good things to remember.
When you start to do your gardening do not
try elaborate schemes that never look well un-
less given elaborate care. Make simple plans.
Keep flowers, shrubs, and trees for the most
part near the boundaries, leaving the open space
for lawn. Trees and shrubs make a background
for the flowers. If planting near the house,
vines or tall flowers come first, then masses of
a lower growth, lastly the edgings. This we
call facing down. The same idea may be used
in planting near fences or walls. Cover the

LITTLE GARDENS

background with vines, shrubs or tall plants,

J|§

then put in the plants of medium height, and
last of all the edgings, just as trimming is put
on a dress. Now you may have very little to do
with all this, but it is well for you to know about
it. In choosing the spot for your own little
garden, if you have an opportunity for choice,
don't try to make an elaborate flower bed on
the centre of the lawn if there is any other place
for it. If you wish to have vegetables or any
flowers but the shade-loving ones, select a
sunny spot. It would be a very good plan to
have one tree and one shrub all your own to
care for, not necessarily in your garden spot,
but in a suitable place on the lawn.

If you intend to have a wild-flower garden
always remember in bringing wild flowers to
your home grounds that flowers growing in wet
places cannot live if carried to dry places, and
unless you have a wet ground to put them in

TOOLS AND PLANS

don't try to move them. Wild flowers growing
in shady woods must be put in shady corners.
If you wish wild flowers to grow in a sunny
place, get some from the open field.

Now for the plans. We haye spoken of the
plan of the entire home grounds ; next we shall
talk of the plans for your yery own flower gar-
den and vegetable plot, and of the general prin-
ciples of garden planning.

You cannot make a plan for a garden until
you know where it is going to be. You must
know how much sun and shade it will haye,
from what direction the sun will shine upon it
at noonday, what kind of soil it contains, and
how much space you have for it, also whether
it is to be alongside a fence or walk, against the
house, or in a large or small open space. When
you have decided where your garden will be
you should note all these things, and draw a plan
on paper or on the ground, before you do any

LITTLE GARDENS

spading. Keep a plan on paper for future refer-
ence. Every place chosen for a garden should
be suggestive of a plan to suit, but here are a
few good suggestions as to method in planning.

If you have not learned to draw at school,
you had better make a very simple plan, or let
some one make it for you. If you know how to
use a ruler, pencil and compass, and can com-
bine circles, squares and oblongs, practice a
while on paper and try different plans. When
you lay out the garden you should have in
place of the ruler a yard measure or a stick
marked off by feet ; in place of the pencil a
pointed stick ; and for a compass, a line and two
stakes, one to swing around the other. If you
are going to draw a plan on paper, let each foot
of ground be represented by an inch, or you
may take any other scale you choose.

In drawing garden plans you must remem-
ber that a design which is very good on paper

TOOLS AND PLANS

may be a very poor plan for a garden. Keep
your plans simple. Study the size and situation
of your space and make the plan to fit it. Never
make a bed so wide that you cannot reach the
centre without stepping into it. Make paths
not less than two feet nor more than four feet
wide. Don't forget that if you are going to
have a little flower garden or vegetable plot, it
is safer and more cosy to fence it around. A
wire fence may be used. Consider this part of
your garden when drawing your plan. It will
prove a support for vines. In planning a vege-
table garden run your rows as nearly north and
south as possible. Plant high growths such as
corn at the north. Make beds for small things
in a sunny situation, not behind the corn.
Plant squashes and other vines only where they
will have a chance to run.

As you study gardening more, you will be-
come interested in the different forms of gar-

LITTLE GARDENS

dening. Nations show their individual charac-

_,<+

teristics in gardening, as in other arts. If there
should be a world exhibition of gardens, where
each nation planted a garden after its own
manner, we could easily recognize the English
garden with its bright-hued flower gardens in-
closed by well - trimmed hedges ; the Italian
garden with its evergreen trees clipped into
strange forms, its fountains, and its marble fit-
tings ; and the Japanese garden, a tiny world
by itself, delightfully ordered from the step-
ping stones to the sunset tree ; waterfall and
lakelet, hillside and valley forming a miniature
landscape. Here in America our gardens, like
our cities, have been cosmopolitan, a combina-
tion of the gardens of all the other countries,
a little of everything ; but now, in our estab-
lished independence, we are seeking in all
things the "natural method," and so in gar-
dening we are coming to a form of our own.

TOOLS AND PLANS

We are not trying to crowd a whole landscape
into a small place, nor are we trying to make
our out of doors look like a well-fitted drawing-
room, however beautiful, but we are taking
Nature as she is, and only making her look a
little more abundant ! In one word, " natural-
ization " is the keynote of our gardening to-
day. We are planting the crocus and narcissus
where they fall in the grass, the ferns under
the apple trees, and the lilies in clumps by the
wall. So much for garden principles and the
gardens of other people ! Now we can see bet-
ter for ourselves.

Do not make a large garden the first year,
because you cannot take care of much space
until you have learned how, and when the
weeding season comes you will become discour-
aged if your garden is more than you can care
for. Here are a few plans and ideas that may
help you.

LITTLE GARDENS

Although the general outline of your plan should be
made in the fall, it may not be completely filled in until
you select your seeds in preparation for the spring.

Flower beds for various places

For a corner.

For a circular bed, 5J feet
across.

a Mass of plants,
b Edging.

a Mass of flowers, b Edging.

For a border at the side of a lawn.

a Tallest plants, b Next in height, c Considerably lower, d Edging.
A simple straight border along a walk.

16'

a Mass of flowers. b Edging.

TOOLS AND PLANS

A group of flower "beds

a Tallest flowers.

b Flowers of medium height.

c Edgings.

Eadius of inner circle is 2 feet.
To make edging, increase radius ^ foot.
To make path, again increase radius 2 feet.
To make second edging, again increase radius

foot.

LITTLE GARDENS

A flower garden which may not be attempted the
first year in its completeness, but beginning at
the centre it may grow year after year with your
experience

a Tallest plants.

b Plants of erect growth, but not extremely tall.
c Plants of fair height, more spreading growth.
d Edgings, rather stiff, as Dwarf French Marigold,
dd Edging, more branching, etc.
e A garden seat could be placed here.

TOOLS AND PLANS

An idea for a vegetable garden

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a Drills 2 feet apart for short vegetables, such as

dwarf beans, beets, etc.
b Drills 1 foot apart ; short rows, assuming they may

be reached only from one side. Good for onions,

lettuce, etc.

LITTLE GARDENS

A vegetable and flower garden combined

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aa Vines over trellis above garden seat,
a Flowers.

b Tall plants, preferably pole beans.
c Lower, more spreading plants, preferably tomatoes,
d Drills, 2 feet apart, short growths.
e Hills of running vines, preferably summer squash.

IV
WHEN AND HOW TO BEGIN

A good beginning is half the battle.

PROVERB.

CHAPTER IV

WHEN AND HOW TO BEGIN

You may begin a garden at any time of the
year. There is always something you can do
about it, but the best time for beginning, and
the time that you should set aside for renew-
ing your garden each year, is in the autumn,
when the frost has killed the weakest plants,
and the leaves begin to fall.

Select a sunny spot for your garden, if pos-
sible, for most flowers and vegetables are sun-
loving plants. Select as good a soil as you can
find in a sunny place. As we have said, there
are sandy soils, and clay soils, and soils made
up almost wholly of humus or decaying animal
and vegetable matter, such as you find under
trees in the woods, where a rich black soil is
made from decaying leaves and roots. A good

LITTLE GARDENS

garden soil is the right combination of these
three, — sand, clay, and humus. In color it is
neither light as sand, gray like clay, nor black
as humus, but it is brown, dark when wet, and
light when dry.

Some boys and girls have no good soil in the
place where they must have their garden, and
they sometimes go to the woods or fields and
bring in soil. If the place is wholly stone or
gravel, it may be necessary to dig out or bank
up a place to fill in with the new soil. Some
boys and girls have only window or piazza boxes,
or even boxes or tubs on the ground or roof. If
you live in the country you will probably find
plenty of good land, so that you need not carry
any soil. If there should be none around your
house, there are plenty of people willing to lend
the use of land, if the privilege is not abused.
If your place is sodded over, the sods should
be taken out and put in some place where grass

WHEN AND HOW TO BEGIN

sod is needed, or piled up to rot and be used
for a fertilizer later on. Save all the soil you
can by shaking the sod, for this soil around
the grass roots is fine for your garden.

When your ground has been selected, you
should begin to measure and make your plans.
See how much land you have, from which direc-
tion the sun shines at noon upon your gar-
den, whether or not any shade falls upon it,
and what is the general shape and situation
of the spot you have chosen. Draw your
plans, then with measure, line, and stake, lay
them out on the ground. With a hoe make a
slight trench in the ground under the lines you
haye drawn ; or, by putting in a spading-fork
and moving it a little back and forth, break
the ground just at the edge all around your
garden bed, so that when you spade, the ground
will not break beyond the line. Clear the
ground of all stone, rubbish, and weeds. The

LITTLE GARDENS

paths may be simply cleaned and made hard, or

*4t

they may be filled in with gravel. Grass paths
are very pretty, if well sodded, mowed, and
kept trimmed.

If you haye any manure, spread it on your
ground now thickly enough to make a two-
inch covering, and spade it in thoroughly. If
you are going to use commercial fertilizer, wait
until you are ready to plant, then scatter a thin
coating over the surface of the bed or drill, and
mix thoroughly with the soil. Whatever fertil-
izer you use should always be mixed thoroughly
with the soil and forked in deep.

There are wrong and right ways of using tools.
Learn to handle them lightly and effectively,
and your gardening will be much more easily
done. Learn the use of each kind of tool, and
see how much you can do with it. We shall
talk more about the use of the different kinds
of tools as we go on.

WHEN AND HOW TO BEGIN

A LESSON IN SPADING

The best tool for breaking the ground is a
spading-fork. When you are ready to spade,
stand inside your plot facing one edge and
haying another edge close at your left side, so
that your spading will always be from left to
right as in writing. Put in your fork not more
than ten or twelve inches from the edge, ac-
cording to your strength and the size of your
tool. Press it into the ground with your foot
as straight and as far as you can. When you
try to lift the soil, if it comes hard move your
fork back and forth, break the ground a lit-
tle, give another push, break again. You must
finally lift up the forkful of soil, turn it over,
and break up the lumps with the tines of your
fork. Don't pack your soil. Keep it light and
break it up as much as you can. When you
throw the soil back in its place, leave a slight

LITTLE GARDENS

trench just where you put your fork in, so that

•S*

you can see when you take the next row just
how far back you spaded. Don't leave an inch
of ground unspaded.

A LESSON IN RAKING

Raking is the next process. Rake hard and
deep, back and forth, to break up the lumps
and shape your garden. When finished, a gar-
den bed should be level on top, and not more
than a few inches higher than the ground around
it. A bed that is sloping and trenched around
sheds the water like a roof, and is hard to care
for and keep even. The only good reasons for
ever making a bed up high are to get a greater
depth of fine soil and good drainage in low
land. Now that your garden bed is made, and
your paths put in order, you are ready to do
your first planting.

AUTUMN WORK IN THE GARDEN

The aster by the brook is dead,

And quenched the golden-rod's brief fire,

The maple's last red leaf is shed,
And dumb the birds' sweet choir.

The cricket is hoarse in the faded grass ;

The low brush rustles so thin and sere ;
Swift overhead the small birds pass,

With cries that are lonely and sweet and clear.
The last chill asters their petals fold

And gone is the morning-glory's bell,
But close in a loving hand I hold

Long sprays of the scarlet pimpernel,
And thick at my feet are blossom and leaf,

Blossoms rich red as the robes of kings ;
Hardly they 're touched by the autumn's grief ;

Do they surmise what the winter brings ?

CELIA THAXTEB.

CHAPTER V

AUTUMN WORK IN THE GARDEN

THE autumn is the best time of year to set
out most trees, shrubs, and small perennial or
biennial plants, and to separate plants that are
too thickly grown. It is the time to plant
many bulbs, such as tulip or crocus, and it is
also a good time to sow many kinds of seed,
such as poppy-seed, grass-seed, or spinach.

In setting out plants remember that the root
is the important part, for it holds the plant in
place, and it takes in the food and water for
the plant, besides often acting as a storehouse
for food. Cut the top from a plant and it may
spring into life again, but cut off the root and
it will surely die. Then give careful attention
to the root. Dig a hole deep enough and broad
enough for its rootlets to spread without being

LITTLE GARDENS

cramped. Put some manure into the hole, and
mix it thoroughly with tie soil. Hold up the
plant in the hole to try it and see if the place
is large enough, just as you would try a new
suit to see if it fits. Work at it until it is just
right, then set in the plant, carefully arranging
its roots. Supporting it with one hand, care-
fully pack the earth closely about it. Give it a
generous amount of water. If the soil should
be very dry it is a good plan to fill the hole
with water and let it soak into the ground be-
fore setting the plant. Never heap the soil
about a plant ; rather leave a circle of lower
level than the ground about it to hold the wa-
ter, except when winter is coming on ; then
the ground should be level about it so that the
water will drain off and not form ice. When
setting out small perennial or biennial plants,
place them at one side of the garden where
they may remain undisturbed for some time.

AUTUMN WORK

They may be set some distance apart and an-
nuals may be grown between them. Foxgloves
and larkspurs are two of the best perennials to
have. The foxglove is very thrifty and a great
attraction to bees. The larkspur is so superior
to many flowers, one can hardly look on its
heavenly blue and not be good.

Bulbs ! There are bulbs and bulbs ; hardy
and tender ; fall bulbs and spring bulbs ; and
there are tubers and corms, which you probably
call bulbs. They are all underground stems.
The tuber bears buds or " eyes " on its sides,
like the potato ; the corm is short, thick, and
fleshy, and sends off roots from its lower face,
like the crocus ; the bulb consists of thickened
scales or modified leaves, as in the onion. The
important thing for you to learn about under-
ground stems of this kind is whether to plant
them in fall or spring, for the tender ones de-
cay if left in the ground through the winter.

LITTLE GARDENS

You can learn much by looking over a good

*»

bulb catalogue. Dahlia/ canna, and gladiolus
are spring bulbs ; tulip, crocus, and jonquil are
fall bulbs.

Arrange the bulbs on the surface of the
ground just as you wish to plant them, or
scatter them and plant them where they fall.
Then take a stick or trowel, if you have not a
dibble, which is the proper tool for this work,
and plant each one where you haye arranged
for it to go. Be sure to put the root end
down and the top up. Rules for depth and
distance of planting can usually be found in
the catalogue of bulbs. Plant tulips about five
inches deep and five inches apart ; larger bulbs
deeper and usually farther apart. Bulbs should
never be planted in a low place where wa-
ter will settle ; they need a well-drained bed.
Often when planting in the grass it is a good
plan to put a little sand in each hole first and

AUTUMN WORK

a little fresh loam. Though bulbs do better
for being enriched with manure, they should
never be allowed to come into contact with it,
as it causes them to decay. Bulbous plants
usually blossom only a short time and make
little display of foliage, therefore it is best to

Depths and distances for planting bulbs.

By permission of J. Horace McFarland Co.

plant them in the grass or among other plants
in the garden. Bulbs planted in the fall may
be left in the ground the year round ; but if
they are removed to give place to something
else, and are to be planted again, they should

LITTLE GARDENS

not be taken up until the foliage has ripened.
The bulb you take up is not always the same
bulb you planted, but a new one grown beside
the old, which has given its life and is decayed.
Some bulbs need more than one season's
growth to make them large blooming bulbs.

Some seeds may be planted late in the fall,
such as poppy-seeds in the flower garden, or
spinach-seeds in the vegetable garden. Scat-
ter them and rake them in, or plant in drills,
which are like tiny furrows, and press, the earth
firmly over them.

When your fall plants, bulbs, and seeds are
planted and the cold weather has come in good
earnest, cover the beds with leaves and pine
boughs, or something to keep them from blow-
ing away. Oak or maple leaves are best. Never
burn leaves. Pile them where they can decay
or mix them with manure. In another year or
so they will be good to enrich your soil.

AUTUMN WORK

It is a good plan in the autumn to carry a
small box of earth into the cellar to use for win-
ter or spring house-gardening. Autumn is the
time to make a cold-frame or hotbed. Heavy
planks sunk in the ground and slanting toward
the south make the framework. Glass or cheese-
cloth will complete the top. A cold-frame is
filled with rich soil, but a hotbed has in addi-
tion a foundation of fresh horse-manure to pro-
vide heat. Have your frame ready in the fall.
In the spring add the glass or cheese-cloth, and
plant as soon as the condition of the soil permits.

A cold-frame.

THE GAEDEN IN WINTER, AND INDOOR
GARDENING

The speckled sky is dim with snow,
The light flakes falter and fall slow ;
Athwart the hill-top, rapt and pale,
Silently drops a silvery veil ;
And all the valley is shut in
By flickering curtains gray and thin.

But cheerily the chickadee
Singeth to me on fence and tree ;
The snow sails round him as he sings,
White as the down of angels' wings.

I watch the slow flakes as they fall
On bank and brier and broken wall ;
Over the orchard, waste and brown,
All noiselessly they settle down,
Tipping the apple-boughs, and each
Light quivering twig of plum and peach.

On turf and curb and bower-roof
The snow-storm spreads its ivory woof ;
It paves with pearl the garden-walk
And lovingly round tattered stalk
And shivering stem its magic weaves
A mantle fair as lily-leaves.

JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE.

CHAPTER VI

THE GARDEN IN WINTER, AND INDOOR
GARDENING

SOME people think of a garden as affording
only a few months' pleasure in flower and fruit,
but we should learn to see that a garden's full
value is not found until everything that enters
into the life of it has become a part of our
experience. The great world-garden presents
studies all the year round, and we shall find
this equally true of our own little garden.
When our daily observation is centred on a
spot to which we give our love and labor,
we often find more knowledge and experience
within its small boundaries than we should gain
in many wanderings.

It may be that during the first winter your
garden will contain only sleeping life ; but the

LITTLE GARDENS

life is surely there. Many a brown toad is
sleeping where he burrowed into the ground
when the wintry weather approached. The
plants themselves are settling into their beds
and resting and waiting for spring sunshine.
The insects and the weed-seeds are there and
will show themselves in the warm weather,
but I hope you have partly rid yourself of
these troublesome things by spading your gar-
den thoroughly and thus exposing them to the
freezing weather.

A winter garden such as we may enjoy some
day would contain choice evergreens, shrubs
with bright berries, and trees beautiful in line
and covering ; but even now we may some-
where plant or find at least one tree to call
our own, and if it has many seeds like the
birch it will attract the birds ; then you will
have life indeed in your winter garden. You
may further entice the birds by offering them

THE GARDEN IN WINTER

special food and protection. Tie a piece of
suet on the tree for food. Place a piece of tin
or wire-netting, in the shape of an inverted
tin pan, about the trunk of the tree several
feet from the ground, in order to keep the
cats from climbing after the birds. One of the
best of our birds is the chickadee, who some-
times whistles the phoebe note. He wears a
black cap and broad, dark cravat and a blue-
gray coat.

The real garden is always out of doors, —
and the great world-garden in winter is more
beautiful and more abounding in life than any
indoor garden can be. Nevertheless, windows
full of bright leaves and blossoms are enter-
taining and make home cheery. One plant
well-grown is better than a lot of scraggy ones ;
and when you have found how much interest
may gather around a single plant you will care
less about having a large number. You will

LITTLE GARDENS

be surprised to see how much you can do for

one plant and how well it will repay your care.
It is best to keep your plants in unpainted
flower-pots, but tin cans or wooden tubs will
sometimes do if holes are made in the bot-
tom for drainage. When potting a plant see
that the flower-pot is thoroughly clean. Let
it soak in water for several hours at least be-
fore using, so that when the plant is first set
into it the moisture in the soil will not be
taken up by the flower-pot. Always place a
few pieces of broken flower-pot or other coarse
material in the bottom for drainage, taking
care not to cover the hole in the centre. Fill
the pot with finely sifted soil well shaken
down. For potting soil use one third good gar-
den loam, a little sharp sand, and either leaf
mould from the woods or old rotted stable-
manure. Fresh horse-manure is always too
heating. Hen-manure is strong, and should be

INDOOR GARDENING

used in small quantities only. The scrapings
from grass sods are good. Well-rotted cow-
manure, or well-mixed and rotted manure from
a farm, is good. Bone-meal may be bought for
a few cents a pound, and is all right, but be
sure to get that which is finely ground.

Mix the parts together thoroughly. When
the pot is filled, take out enough soil to make
room for the roots of the plant. Set in the
plant, carefully arranging the roots. Support
it with one hand and put the soil in about it,
pressing firmly. Water thoroughly, and keep
from a hot sun until well rooted.

When a plant is well started in a pot, never
water it until the soil looks dry, then give it
an abundance. Stir the top soil about a plant
occasionally, in order to let in the air and also
to help the rootlets to find the food in the
soil. When a plant is preparing to bloom, give
it a little extra water and plant food, — a tea-

LITTLE GARDENS
spoonful of fine bone-meal or bone-dust, or a

little liquid manure. To make the latter, turn
hot water oyer manure. After it has set a
while, use the water which can be drained
from it. It is possible to overfeed plants and
thus make them weak.

The dust in a house is a great hindrance to
plants. Protect them from it as much as pos-
sible. Like us, plants desire cleanliness, fresh
air and good food. Smooth-leaved plants are
much benefited by shower baths. If insects
attack plants, use Ivory soap suds, much weak-
ened, as a wash.

The air in our houses is usually too dry and
dusty, and often too warm for plants, and they
require more attention than when out of doors.
They also need especial protection on very cold
nights. If a double window is not used, the
plants should be drawn away from the window,
or protected in freezing weather. Fresh air

INDOOR GARDENING

should be let into the room daily, but in such
a way that it will not blow directly on the
plants. The window might be lowered at the
top and the air allowed to pass in above them.
The dryness of a heated room may be partially
overcome by keeping a dish of water on the
stove, radiator, or register.

Turn the plants in a window once or twice
a week so that they will get the light on all
sides and have an even growth. Cut back your
plants in such a way that they will make a
bushy, compact growth and have more surface
for blooms.

The best place for house-plants in summer
is on a sheltered piazza, or in a protected nook
where the pots can rest on a board or stone or
ashes, or on the saucer of the flower-pot. If
placed directly on the ground, the roots creep
through the drainage-hole and have to be torn
away in the fall, and this injures the plant. If

LITTLE GARDENS

put into the ground, the roots spread so that
it is hard to get them into shape again.

Re-potting will be necessary when the growth
of the plant demands it, but a plant blooms bet-
ter if a little crowded for root-room. Always
make changes gradually in spring and fall. A
scorching hot sun and a strong wind should be
avoided. Most house-plants are increased by
slips, and another chapter will explain how this
work is done.

If a few winter-blooming bulbs, such as jon-
quils, are desired, put the bulbs into the pot
in the fall and set them in a cool, dark place
for several weeks. Bring gradually to the light
and water them. They should also be watered
when set away, but not again until very dry.
Bulbs need rich soil, but should never come in
contact with manure. Use a little sand about
them for protection.

VII

GARDEN FRIENDS, AND A DREAM
GARDEN

One seed for another to make an exchange
With f ellowly neighborhood seemeth not strange.

TUSSEB.

CHAPTER VII

GARDEN FRIENDS, AND A DREAM GARDEN

THERE is nothing in the world that makes
strangers become friends more quickly than
the discovery that each loves a garden. The ex-
change of ideas, plants, and plans is the delight
of garden neighbors. We find many a garden
friend, not only in a neighborly way, but also in
the world of books, and the winter is the time
to seek them out. Gardens have been loved
and written about so long that there is no end
to the delightful things we may find in old au-
thors as well as new. Some of the books you
may not care to read until you are older, but
I fancy a peep into them even now would
heighten your interest in your own little gar-
den spot. The names of Parkinson, Gerard,
Evelyn, and others, you will see again and

LITTLE GARDENS

again. When some of the old writers wrote
about gardens, they made large volumes de-
scribing the peculiar medicinal qualities of
plants in a way that is strange to our day, but
not wholly without value, and certainly enter-
taining. These old garden-books were some-
times called " Herbals."

Very little has been written for boys and
girls about gardening, because it is only within
a hundred years or so that there has been a
deep interest in children's gardens. Some time
ago there was a lady in England who loved
children and gardens, and wrote interestingly
about them. Her name was Mrs. Ewing, and
she wrote "Mary's Meadow," and "Letters
from a Little Garden," and " Our Field." More
books are being written for boys and girls
nowadays, and some have been written about
gardens, but only a few that you could en-
joy-

GARDEN FRIENDS

Some of the newer books on gardening writ-
ten for older people would interest you after
a few years' experience. There are magazines
and magazine articles that ought to help you
now, and perhaps our best friend of all is Uncle
Sam. The United States and the State Boards
of Agriculture are searching for knowledge all
the time, and the results of their searches are
published in pamphlets for free distribution.
If you write to the Boards of Agriculture
telling on what subjects you are in need of
information, whether insects, weeds, or any
garden-subject, pamphlets will be sent to you.
So you see we have plenty of garden friends
to help us, and they are increasing all the
time.

In this as in any subject of study it is a
good habit to take one topic at a time, — for
instance, the soil, plant food, or a single kind
of plant, as the aster or the corn, — and see

LITTLE GARDENS
how much you can find out about that one

subject both by your own observation and
by a pursuit of that subject on the library
shelves.

Make a garden note-book. In one half write
the name of every garden-book you read or
look into, its author's name, any helpful notes
you glean from it, and your opinion of it. In
the other half keep a record of your own gar-
den, plan, dates of planting and gathering of
crops, kinds and varieties planted, etc.

As you read the different ideas of people who
love gardens, you cannot resist dreaming a lit-
tle in the wintry days when your garden is rest-
ing and waiting for spring sunshine, — dream-
ing of an ideal garden which would be all that
you desire. A little garden with a dainty hedge
about it and a swinging gate, a winding walk,
and blossoms, blossoms everywhere, — the heav-
enly blue larkspurs and pure white madonna

A DREAM GARDEN

lilies, canterbury bells and spikes of foxglove
attracting the bees, roses and lilies, pink and
purple columbine, — all these and many more !
In the shadiest corner a little garden -seat,
where we may sit and enjoy the work of our
own hands, and watch and listen for the little
visitors that come to our garden, — the lit-
tle brown toad, the happy bird, and all the
flying and creeping things that we do not al-
ways see unless we sit thus and watch for them !
Take with you to your garden-seat paper and
pencil or paint and brush, and this will become
a delight. Not that we are artists, but in trying
to draw things we see more plainly, for we are
seeking a clearer mind-picture of the things
around us. And last of all, let us forever dream
and work for better gardens, beautiful and use-
ful, not for ourselves only, but for all who may
enjoy them !

Do not awaken from this dream to say it

LITTLE GARDENS

never can be true ; for as true as you and I are
friends, where there 's a will there 's a way, and
a dream is the very beginning of things that are
going to be real some day.

VIII

GARDEN HANDICRAFT

Let all your things have their place ; let each part of your busi-
ness have its time.

FRANKLIN.

CHAPTER VIII

GARDEN HANDICRAFT

IN the wintry days there is still something to
do for your garden. It is the best time to make
a hundred and one little things that will be
useful later on. If you have practiced at sloyd,
or can use carpenter's tools, and like to paint,
with very little expense you may make many
things. Sometimes, if you have a very definite
plan of what you are going to make when you
go to buy the wood, a carpenter can saw the
pieces into just the right shape and lengths, and
they will be all ready for you to put together.
Use a dark green or soft gray-green paint.
Bright colors spoil the harmony of the garden
color-scheme. Very pretty gates, fences and
seats can be made from rough, unbarked wood.
This is called rustic work. Many small things

LITTLE GARDENS

can be made from material you already have.
It is well to know how to make a finished article
from good material, but it is also essential to be
able to make the most of what you have at hand.
Butter boxes and tubs, and other small wooden
articles out of use, suggest many possibilities.

LIST WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR MAKING

1. Garden Stakes and Line. Make stakes
about 1 foot long and 1 inch wide; make
notches on both sides 1| inches from top.
Point lower end. Get ball of strong, brown
cord that will not kink, to use with stakes.
Round holes are made in each article when
possible that they may be held to-
gether, or hung on a nail when not in use.
2. Markers. These are wooden labels on
which are to be written names and notes of
plants which are important. Make 3 sizes.
Small, 3|xl inch to attach to plants. Me- V

dium, 9x1 inch, to keep in ground during summer.

GARDEN HANDICRAFT

Large, 15x2 inches, to stand through winter. Paint
these labels white, so that marking will show.

3. Stakes for Plant Supports. Make length and
strength according to plants to be supported. Paint
green.

4. Cold-frame Covering. The cold-frame may re-
quire extra covering on cold nights. Make tiny flat
bundles of straw, and tie them together with raffia side
by side so that they will form a mat.

5. Knee-mat. A knee-mat on which the gardener
may rest his knees when working close to the flowers not
only saves his clothes, but enables him to take an easier
position. Though many things might be used for this,
perhaps the easiest to make is such as might be made
from straw sewed or tied with raffia, as is often done with
cold-frame coverings. I have seen boys make good knee-
mats from the coverings of tea-chests sewed with raffia.

6. Garden Baskets. If you have learned the simplest
steps of basketry, why not fashion garden baskets ? Make
the gathering basket rather shallow, and put a high
handle on it. Make a basket for carrying small tools.

7. Trellises. These may be made of wood, or wire, or

LITTLE GARDENS

both. Make them along simple lines and according to
the plant and situation.

8. Window and Piazza Boxes. Make about 1 foot
deep and 1 foot wide, and as long as the place permits.
Make holes in bottom for drainage. Paint. Tubs with
drainage holes and painted green will serve for some
needs.

9. Arrangement for Care of Tools. Arrange a place
for every tool, and keep every tool in place when not in
use.

10. Fences. Garden Seats. Garden Gates. These
are prettiest when made of rough, unbarked wood, and
are then called rustic. It is hardly wise to attempt them
the first year of your garden, but keep them in mind
and you will get ideas about them.

11. Bird Trays. Make box about 9x10 inches and
8 or 10 inches deep. Make drainage holes. Fill with
earth except in centre, where a dish or bulb pot with
cork in drainage hole is to be kept filled with water.
Make strong wooden brackets on which it is to rest
some distance from the ground, on a tree or strong pole
erected for the purpose.

GARDEN HANDICRAFT

12. Bird Houses. Make from old wood or partly de-
cayed limbs of trees, or paint green, and tack bits of
evergreen on the top. Make the roof to slant downward
over the hole, and make the hole near the top of the box
leaving the depth for the nest. Ten inches is not too
deep for most nests. Make hole according to size of bird
to be invited : for chickadee, 1^ inches ; for bluebird,
1 inches.

THE PREPARATION FOR SPRING

The snow still lay in the hollows,

But the smile of the sun was kinder,
The breath of the air was sweet ;

There shall be spring again !

Worth all the waiting and watching,

The woe that the winter wrought,
Was the passion of gratitude that shook

My soul at the blissful thought !

Soft rain and flowers and sunshine, •

Sweet winds and brooding skies,
Quick-flitting birds to fill the air

With clear, delicious cries ;

Nearer and ever nearer

Drawing with every day !
But a little longer to wait and watch

'Neath skies so cold and gray.

CELIA THAXTBB.

CHAPTER IX

THE PREPARATION FOR SPRING

IN January you must begin to think of
spring. You should send to a good seedsman
for a seed-catalogue, because if you select your
seeds at home, where you can take plenty of
time to think of the needs of your garden and
study the descriptions of the flowers and vege-
tables, you will make a better choice of seeds.
The catalogue will also contain many helpful
facts about gardening. If you order your seed
from a large seedsman or buy directly from
a large seed-store, you can often obtain pam-
phlets or books containing just the information
you need. Perhaps you will buy your seed in
penny packets at school. If so, it is best to
buy only a few packets and save five cents to
buy from a seedsman one packet of some kind

LITTLE GARDENS

of seed that cannot be bought in penny pack-
ets, or a flower of some special color, for most
of the penny packets are mixed colors. It
is well to buy white sweet alyssum, or some
other white flower, which will aid you in har-
monizing the medley of colors that is likely to
come in your penny packets. Beginners often
make the mistake of buying too much seed.
A few seeds well planted and tended give more
pleasure, and produce a better effect. Five or
six packets of seed would be sufficient for most
children's gardens the first year.

You will find in the catalogue that the plants
are classified by the terms of which we have
spoken, — annual, biennial, and perennial ; also
as hardy, half-hardy, and tender, according to
their ability to endure frosts and cold weather.
You will find, also, that each plant may have
several names. Plants often have more than
one common name. Thus the cornflower is

PREPARATION FOR SPRING

also called blue-bottle and bachelor's button.
Aside from their common names in all lan-
guages, plants are given scientific names. These
scientific names are in Latin, and are used all
over the world, so that no matter in what coun-
try or what language gardeners and botanists
may speak, they have one name for a plant.
That name may have different parts just as
do ours, telling to what family we belong, and
giving to us also particular names of our own.
Every name has a meaning, and the name of
a plant is often a key to some of its character-
istics.

Look at the plan of your flower garden which
you made in the fall and see what it calls for:
— vines ; tall, medium, or short growing plants ;
edgings; shade-loving or sun-loving plants;
plants of upright, stately growth, or branching
or clinging habits ; flowers for cutting, or for
a beautiful effect out of doors. On these points

LITTLE GARDENS

alone there is .opportunity for years of study
and enjoyment, and each season ought to bring
you some new experience of value and the ac-
quaintance of at least one more flower. A few
suggestions only can be given here.

White sweet alyssum is the safest edging
plant for a beginner. It blooms throughout the
season, and is not easily killed by frost. As
its color is white, it will not spoil the color
harmony of any flower bed. It can be easily
trimmed into shape, or if not trimmed is
always graceful. It is easy to grow. Dwarf
French marigolds make a good formal edging.
California poppies are good in rocky soil or
clambering over rocks, and grow well if given
enough moisture at the start. If asters are de-
sired only for cutting, grow them in rows like
vegetables, at least a foot apart. If wanted
partly for effect in the garden, set them two feet
apart, and plant earlier blooming plants like

SWEET ALYSSUM

THE VEGETABLE GARDEN

PREPARATION FOR SPRING

yerbenas between them, so that there will be
some bloom in the bed through the summer-
time. Plants that are killed by the first frost,
like balsams, may be planted among hardier
ones, and in the fall those which die first may
be removed to giye way to the others.

We haye been talking just now of those flow-
ers raised from seed which die the same season,
and are called annuals. The raising of perennial
plants from seed, and the care of plants raised
in other ways, will be considered later on.

There are so many varieties of flowers nowa-
days that experience alone can tell you how to
make a good combination in a flower bed, but
these ideas may help you : —

First grouping.

African Marigolds, edged with
Dwarf French Marigolds; com-
bined with

Cornflowers, edged with Mignon-
ette.
95

LITTLE GARDENS

Second grouping . J Petunias (mixed), edged with
(for a single bed). \ Sweet Alyssum.

Running Nasturtium, back-

Third grouping
(for a border).

ground.
Coreopsis, mass.

Dwarf Nasturtium, edging.
As for vegetables, some are excellent food,
while others have little food value. Peas and
shell beans have a high food value. If you wish
to have wax beans get a variety that is string-
less, fleshy, and not prone to rust. Plan to have
a rotation of crops, that is, when an early crop
has ripened put a later one in its place. It is
better to follow a crop with one of a wholly
different kind, which will take from the ground
a different kind of food ; for instance, a vege-
table grown for leaf development, as lettuce,
should be followed by pod-bearing or root crops.
Turnips are not very valuable, but they are an
easy late crop as they develop quickly. If you
have a small amount of room always plant rad-

PREPARATION FOR SPRING

ishes at the same time with lettuce, and haying
the lettuce drills at least one foot apart plant
the radishes halfway between them. The rad-
ishes grow quickly, and when pulled leave room
for the cultivation of the lettuce. Some vege-
tables, such as tomatoes and celery, require such
a long season that they are usually started in
cold-frames or hotbeds. Certain vegetables re-
quire special culture and the right kind of soil,
so that it is not wise to try to grow them with-
out a knowledge of their needs.

PLANTS FOR BOYS AND GIELS TO EAISE
FROM SEED

FLOWERS

PERENNIALS AND
ANNUALS BIENNIALS

Sweet Alyssum.
Candytuft.

• j Dwarf Nasturtium. China Pink.

^ ^ ' Dwarf French Marigold.
Mignonette.
California Poppy.
97

LITTLE GARDENS

Medium
Height

Taller

Vines

SHORT

Beans.
Beets.

Carrots.

Parsley.

Lettuce.

Radishes.

Onions.

Potatoes.

Spinach.

ANNUALS

Petunia.

Phlox Drummondi.

Calendula.

Verbena.

African Marigold.

Zinnia.

Aster.

Cornflower. "]

n . \ Slender.

Coreopsis. J

Nasturtium.
Morning Glory.
Scarlet Runner Bean.
Wild Cucumber.

VEGETABLES

TALL

Corn.
Pole Beans.

PERENNIALS AND
BIENNIALS

Sweet William.

f Foxglove.
\ Larkspur.
I Hollyhock.

VINES

Pumpkins.

Squash.

Cucumbers.

PREPARATION FOR SPRING

SHORT

Turnips.

Tomatoes. 1

_ f Kequire support.

Peas. J

Starting seedlings under the protection of
cheese-cloth or glass is a good plan if well done.
If not done well, it had better not be attempted,
for a strong plant from a seed planted late in
the ground gets ahead of a weak seedling started
early, half-cared for, and not transplanted pro-
perly. The fact is that special care must be
given to house-plants and seedlings, for Mother
Nature does much for the outdoor plant for
which we do not always give her full credit. If
you wish to try early seedlings, however, salvia
and asters are all right for flowers and tomato
plants for vegetables. If you intend to sell the
vegetables or flowers, remember that as the
early bird gets the worm so the early mar-
ketman gets the high price. If you can raise
seedlings well, and so get ahead of the season

LITTLE GARDENS

with your vegetables and flowers, so much the
better !

Seedlings may be raised in a cold-frame or a
hotbed, which should have been started in the
fall as told in the chapter on Autumn Work in
the Garden. Radish and lettuce may be raised
and matured in these without transplanting.
The glass may have to be partly lifted or pro-
tected on hot days late in the spring.

In starting seedlings the two essential points
to remember are, — first, to maintain the right
amount of moisture ; second, to maintain the
right temperature in the soil. Seeds, if kept too
wet, may mould. If allowed to become hot and
dry at times the little plant after starting may
die. Seedlings may be started in many different
ways if moisture and temperature are carefully
regulated. Grass sods may be taken into the
house, placed in a box upside down, and seeds
planted in them. They may be planted in egg-

100

PREPARATION FOR SPRING

shells, in strawberry baskets, or in small boxes
haying coarse material in the bottom with holes
made for drainage.

A good garden loam is all right for starting
seedlings. Do not let fertilizer or manure come
in contact with the seed. If seeds ,-irfe har.d to
germinate or sprout they may te placed, iji a, ^
box or flower-pot near the kitchen range to
insure plenty of heat. In order to keep them
moist also, place a piece of paper over the soil
and keep it wet. As soon as the seedlings start
into growth they need not only heat and mois-
ture, but sunlight also. Whatever is used for
starting them, remember it is important to have
them in something that can either be broken
apart or set in the ground, as sods, so that the
little roots will not be disturbed. Paper flower-
pots may be bought at the seed-stores, and these
may be removed easily, leaving the little ball of
roots unhurt.

101

LITTLE GARDENS

The day of transplanting them into the
ground is an important' one. If the roots are
torn the plant suffers a shock from which it will
not speedily recover. Thoroughly water the
little plant about half an hour before removing
it. Prepare the places and fill them with water.

Tf , * * . r' T ' • * *c «e

„- jLift and.set the plants, carefully arranging the
roots. Shelter them from a hot sun for a week,
but uncover them at night so they may receive
the dew. Water them twice a day. A straw-
berry-box if high enough is a good covering for
plants just set out. It lets the air in at the cor-
ners. Paper tents may be made and fastened
down at the corners with stakes or stones or
lumps of earth. Do not set seedlings into the
ground until all danger from frost is past, and
do it in dull weather if possible.

SPKING WORK IN THE GARDEN

This rule in gardening ne'er forget,
To sow dry and set wet.

PROVERB.

CHAPTER X

SPRING WORK IN THE GARDEN

WHEN the birds come in numbers and begin
to sing their songs we are sure that spring has
come. Wake up your brown bulbs now. Un-
cover them a little each day. The winds of
March sweep the earth and April's showers
wash it, but still a rake with a boy behind it
can reach the corners and crevices, and make
the place look cleaner. Fallen leaves are excel-
lent for mixing with the soil after they have
decayed, but they should be gathered together
for this purpose. Leaves lying about on the
ground harbor the nests of insects. Take the
leaves to the compost heap !

What is the compost heap? It is what will
make your garden grow, — decaying leaves and
sods, bones, any greasy substances from the

105

LITTLE GARDENS

cooking kettles,, manure, if you have it, lime,
all mixed together and allowed to decay until
the day your garden needs an extra dose.

Another good recipe for weak plants is liquid
manure. Get a tub or barrel. Put manure in
the bottom. Fill with water. Drain or dip off
the water, and pour it about the roots of your
plants. Be careful not to put it on the tops as
it might burn them. Why is this any better
than manure put into the ground? Do you
remember in the Plant Story that we said the
rootlets sucked in the food through tiny hair-
like tubes, and that therefore their food must
be taken in a liquid form ? Then you see
why this liquid manure can be taken in more
quickly.

When the ground is warm and dry spade
your garden again as in the fall. You do not
gain anything by spading and planting while
the ground is wet and cold. It does not break

106

SPRING WORK

up nicely, but lies in lumps, and it is wise to
wait for the right conditions.

Again rake your garden thoroughly. Use
stake and line to make the edges neat and even.

In planting seed remember two rules : First,
for depth of planting, about three times the size
of the seed. Second, for distance of planting,
according to future growth of the plant. Some
seeds are scattered, some sown in hills, and
some in drills. Poppy-seed is often scattered on
the bed and raked in. Grass-seed is scattered,
then raked and pressed into the ground. Sweet
corn is planted in hills. This does not mean
that the ground is heaped up at the beginning
of the season, though it may be in the fall by
reason of the hoeing. It means that small cir-
cular beds are planted at equal distances, and
the corn instead of standing in drills is in groups
of four or five stalks each. Parsnip, carrot and
many other seeds are planted in drills, which

107

LITTLE GARDENS

are like tiny furrows. In drills there may be
more than one line of seed. It is a good plan to
sow them alternately in two lines. When you
haye had more experience you can scatter them
along the drill, but not too thickly. That is the
danger with young gardeners, — sowing seed
too thickly. Because the seed is small do not
forget the size of the plant. Even if you intend
to " thin out " your plants, they will be injured
if sown too thickly. All seeds should have the
ground pressed firmly about them. The soil
holds the food, moisture, and warmth for the
little plant, and we are helping it to come close
to its needs when we press the ground around
it. Seeds must have the right amount of heat,
moisture, and air in order to sprout. When the
plant begins to grow, it must have light and
food besides. The plant just beginning to grow
has within the seed-case a small amount of food
to give it a start. Cut open a bean that is partly

108

A FLOWER-GARDEN JUST STARTED

THE SAME GARDEN IN FULL BLOOM

SPRING WORK

sprouted. Find the tiny plant and the starchy
food about it for it to feed upon. After this
store is used up, the plant must obtain food
from the soil in which you have placed it.

In order to sprout, seeds must haye the right
amount of heat and moisture. If too wet, they
may decay. If allowed to become dry, the little
sprout may die. If the spring should prove to
be a very rainy one you cannot help conditions,
but if dry and hot you can water your seed-
lings twice a day and protect them from a hot
midday sun with newspapers for a few days. If
you use fertilizer, be careful not to let it come
in contact with the seed, but mix it thoroughly
with the soil.

It is pretty safe to plant seed when the leaves
have started out on the trees. Peas, both for
flowers and for vegetables, may be planted
earlier. In fact, they are about the first seeds
to be planted in the spring. The peas should

100

LITTLE GARDENS

be sown in rather deep drills, but covered only
the ordinary depth. As they grow, the earth
can be gradually put about them to help sup-
port their weak yines and to give the roots a
greater covering and a stronger foothold.

Young plants must be watched and cared
for, or they will grow too thickly or be killed
out by weeds and insects. In thinning out
plants it is best to choose a time when the
ground is wet, so that the roots of all the
plants will not be disturbed as they will be if
you do it when the soil is dry. In order to
save your plants from disturbance place your
left hand nearly flat upon the ground, letting
the stem of the plant you wish to save come
between your index and middle fingers, but
not grasping the stem, while you pull out the
other plant with your right hand. If your ex-
tra plants are weak and worthless, throw them
away ; but if they are good strong plants, and

110

SPRING WORK

the roots are not broken, either set them in
another place or give them away.

This brings us to the question of trans-
planting, — which is a very important one. In
the first place, do not keep plants out of the
ground any longer than you can help. Haye a
place all ready for them if possible. If they
cannot be set immediately, place damp soil
over their roots and protect them from the
sunshine. A cloudy day, when the ground is
wet, is best for transplanting. Decide upon
the arrangement for your plants, then make
all the holes, and make them large enough to
place in the roots without cramping. Fill the
holes with water, unless the ground is very
wet, and let it settle. Set each plant carefully,
and support it with the left hand while you
pack the earth about it with the right. Press
the earth firmly at the last, and see that the
plant is erect. Protect it from a hot sun for a

111

LITTLE GARDENS
week or more with strawberry-boxes or news-

«r«*

paper tents, give it water twice a day unless it
rains, and uncover it to the dew at night.

The ground should not be disturbed where
young seedlings are just coming up; but if
they are in definite lines you can safely pull
everything between and even risk a few seed-
lings, rather than let the weeds get a start.

One word about veranda and window boxes.
They are splendid if well cared for. The box
should be about ten inches deep and one foot
wide. It should be filled with good garden soil.
Plants raised in a box need more water than in
a garden, because the soil dries more quickly.
Geraniums, fuchsias, petunias, and moneywort
are perhaps the flowers most easily grown in a
window or veranda box.

DO EOSES GROW FROM SEED?

The lily has an air,

And the snowdrop a grace,
And the sweet pea a way,

And the heart's-ease a face,
Yet there 's nothing like the rose

When she blows.

CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI.

CHAPTER XI

DO ROSES GROW FROM SEED?

" Do roses grow from seed ? " This was the
question of a very little girl who loved flow-
ers and unknowingly shared the opinion of all
flower-lovers when she said, "I love roses."
Yes, roses may be grown from seed, but they
are oftener started by means of cuttings. This
brings us to the question of how to increase
plants in other ways than by sowing the seed.
In the chapter on Indoor Gardening we spoke
of increasing our plants by " slips," which are
green or soft cuttings. Propagation is the word
used by gardeners in speaking of the increase
of plants whether by seed or cutting.

The little girl who loved the roses very wisely
said, " I have n't learned to grow them yet."
She did not know that very few people have

115

LITTLE GARDENS

learned to grow roses, nor did she know that

more people, even boys and girls, might start
roses and grow them if they wished to giye
them the necessary care. Really, the care of
cuttings is not much harder than the starting
of seedlings. People often fail in this and count
it an ordinary loss !

A cutting from a rosebush should be taken
from the part that is neither such old wood
that it will not root readily, nor so green that
it will be weak and liable to decay. Make
a clear cut with a sharp knife below a joint
and secure a piece haying two or three joints.
Leave only a few leaves upon it. Fill a flower-
pot or box with sharp sand. Make a hole.
Place the cutting in it, and press the sand
around it so that one or two joints will be
covered. The sand must not be allowed to be-
come dry, neither must it be kept too wet. It
must not be placed in the hot sunshine until

116

DO ROSES GROW FROM SEED?

the little plant has begun to grow. Plants so
started are not strong enough to be wintered
the first season out of doors without protection,
but if set out during the summer or early fall
months, so that the young roots get a good
hold before cold weather, and protected with
earth and leaves, they may stand the winter.
They could be kept in a cold-frame packed
with leaves and perhaps with manure about
the sides.

There are different kinds of cuttings. "When
we plant potatoes we make cuttings of the tu-
bers, being careful to have one or two " eyes "
in each piece, for that is where the sprout starts.
Cuttings may be started by being inserted be-
neath the bark of another and stronger plant,
as apple trees are started ; then they are called
" grafts." There is an interesting way of start-
ing plants called " layering." This method is
often used with carnations. Instead of cutting

117

LITTLE GARDENS

a piece entirely off, a sharp cut is made just
below a joint, but a bit of the stem is left un-
cut. The cut part is bent down and covered
with earth except for a few inches, and the
roots form there while the " slip " is still re-
ceiving some strength from the parent plant.

Do not be afraid to experiment with cut-
tings even if you lose them all the first time.
It is fun to have a tiny nursery of cuttings, —
a box of sharp sand in a protected place where
they will receive good light and air, but not
hot sunshine. Roots usually are well started in
a few weeks, and the cuttings may then be care-
fully set into soil, but they must be watered
and carefully tended. Hardy chrysanthemums
are easily started in this way, and are splendid
plants to own because of the lovely bloom they
give us in the late fall.

When people are trimming their plants they
are quite willing to give away cuttings. The

118

DO ROSES GROW FROM SEED?

kind of plants that are started by means of
cuttings require much the same care as other
plants, only they need more pruning, which
is the term gardeners use for trimming. In
pruning a tree or shrub, cut away all old wood,
and the numerous small shoots which start
about the base and which are called suckers
because they take the life from the old plant.
When a tree or shrub is in a dormant con-
dition, — i. e., is not bearing developed buds,
flowers, or fruit, — cut away a part of last
year's growth evenly throughout, so that the
future growth will not be too thick and thus
weakened, but that the sunshine and air may
reach all the parts.

XII

GAEDEN HELPS AND HINDRANCES

I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of
cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.

ADDISON.

CHAPTER XII

GARDEN HELPS AND HINDRANCES

PETS and babies, — babies of all kinds, —
hens and chickens, cats and kittens, dogs and
puppies, rabbits and all the rest, threaten the
doom of our garden. In fact, it seems as if all
the lovable creatures of the animal world were
our enemies in the garden, because their wide-
awake time is spent mostly in eating and play-
ing. What is the remedy ?

Nothing but the fence for most of them.
Fence them in or fence them out, and give
them a plenty of food and play elsewhere. If
you protect your garden, when it is first coming
up, by spreading brush over it, it may be able
to stand by itself later on, but a fence or a
hedge is a great protection. What of the little
brothers and sisters who like to play at gar-

123

LITTLE GARDENS

dening and in the garden, and with or with-
out mischievous intent make trouble for us?
We cannot so easily fence them about ! Then
teach them to make play gardens of their own,
— with sand and stones, sticks and weeds, show
them how to make a little play garden.

There are tiny creatures that we cannot
fence out, for they fly over the fence or crawl
under through subways of their own making.
Lady Butterfly, Madame Dragon-fly, and all
the winged creatures, Mr. Caterpillar, Master
Cutworm, and all their crawling neighbors,
come to visit us. Ah ! but some of these are
our friends, and we would not fence them out
if we could.

In time we shall find out our friends from
our foes. The butterflies and bees are friendly,
though some butterflies and moths lay eggs
from which come dangerous enemies. The cut-
worm is an enemy, and his mother is a night-

124

GARDEN HELPS AND HINDRANCES

flying moth. If we put paper collars about our
larger plants we may sometimes save them from
being destroyed. Tobacco dust, chalk lines, or
ashes will sometimes prevent an enemy from
reaching the plant. If you see a plant lying on
the ground with its stalk cut, you should dig
in carefully near the surface of the ground for
the cutworm, who is usually greenish brown
in color. He must be taken out and killed. A
wilting aster is often found to be troubled at
the roots by ants or grubs.

The insects that trouble the gardener are
treated according to the ways in which they
eat. Some chew the plant; others suck the
juices from it. The former can be killed by
poisons on the plant which they will eat ; the
latter must be killed by contact poisons, or
those that, touching their bodies, will suffo-
cate them. There are many insect poisons on
the market, and any seedsman can tell you

125

LITTLE GARDENS

which are needed for the kind of insect that
troubles you, but most of them are dangerous
to man, and it is often best to use simpler
remedies. Sometimes a heavy spray of clear
water will wash off the insects. Sometimes they
can be knocked off and gathered in a can of
kerosene. Ivory soapsuds cooled and weakened
is often effective ; kerosene may be added to it.
Then there are the birds, most of them our
friends, — yes, all of them if we are not stingy
with them. Even the crow eats grubs as well
as corn, and the rose-breasted grosbeak takes
the potato-beetles, though he does steal a few
peas. The birds are of such great assistance
in ridding us of insect pests, we should protect
them as much as possible. In every garden
should be a bird-tray, erected some distance
above the ground. In the tray and about the
support plant vines, — morning-glory for the
support and moneywort for the box. Petunias

126

GARDEN HELPS AND HINDRANCES

may also flourish in the box. Food may be scat-
tered about, or tied to the tree or post. A dish
in the centre of the tray should be kept clean
and filled with water. Sometimes a flower-pot
saucer, or shallow dish, filled with water, and
partly hidden among the flowers, is used as a
bathtub by the birds. Twine, feathers, moss and
other material used in the making of nests may
be placed near the tray for the use of the birds.
Bird-houses should also be erected. The making
of bird-houses and bird-trays is explained in the
chapter on Garden Handicraft.

Last of all, let us talk of him who reigns
King of the Garden. He with the bright eye,
the quick tongue, — if he could talk, I 'm sure
he would be witty ! He of the brown coat and
pale yellow waistcoat, sturdy and harmless,
helpful and true ! May we never harm him !
And if perchance we happen to turn him sud-
denly from his resting-place in the ground, let

127

LITTLE GARDENS

us not frighten him, but gently move away and
giye him time to see what has happened.

Ah, Mr. Toad, you are my friend indeed !
Only the other day an aster in my garden was
dying, A large white grub was found at the
root. I was about to move him out to the hard
ground to kill him, when from somewhere
among the leaves came Mr. Toad with a hop-
pity hop ! Mr. Grub began to put his head to
the ground and burrow again to hide himself.
Mr. Toad saw the necessity for haste, and hop-
pity hop, gulp, gulp, gulp ! Oh, what a swallow !
Well, my trouble was over, the aster plant res-
cued, Mr. Toad my protector. And he is for-
ever catching flies and other insects. He likes
a cool shelter from the hot midday sun; an
overturned box or a flower-pot with a slight
excavation near one side will make it possible
for him to stay in your garden.

An aquarium or basin of water is a fine thing

128

GARDEN HELPS AND HINDRANCES

to have in your garden, but it is difficult to keep
it clean. However, the toad will assist you in
this matter if you will put in the basin some
stones just reaching the surface of the water so
that he may hop on them. A dish of water may
be used and cleaned often, but a permanent
aquarium should be made of cement.

With whatever kind of life we may be deal-
ing, let us remember this, never fear, nor make
afraid. Fear never did any good in the world.
It makes a coward of you to be afraid. It hurts
you to make another life have fear. You may
think it does not hurt you to tease and frighten
creatures. But it doesn't harm the creature
half so much as it harms you. It hurts the little
boy or girl inside, and when you are grown up
you may find it out some day. So kill merci-
fully when you must kill, and try to find some
good use for all life. If an insect must be killed,
put it on a hard place and kill it quickly.

XIII

SUMMER IN THE GARDEN

And hushed is the roar of the bitter north

Before the might of Spring,
And up the frozen slope of the world

Climbs Summer, triumphing.

Storm the earth with odors sweet,
O ye flowers, that blaze in light !

Crowd about June's shining feet,
All ye blossoms bright.

O the fragrance of the air

With the breathing of the flowers !

CELIA THAXTEB.

CHAPTER XIII

SUMMER IN THE GARDEN

THE first part of summer in a garden is tedi-
ous, — the hardest part of the garden year ; but
the harvest soon follows, and we are rewarded
according to our faithfulness. If you keep a
garden thoroughly weeded and in first-class
condition until the first or middle of July it is
little trouble after that, and if you wish for a
week's vacation, you can then leave your gar-
den for a few days and not much harm will
come.

Perhaps you think the greatest problem in
your garden now is how to deal with the weeds.
It is a problem, but easily solved. Be observant.
When your plants first appear then come the
weeds also, but if you have planted in straight
rows, you are safe in destroying everything

133

LITTLE GARDENS

between them. If you have not planted in rows,
or if weeds are badly mixed with your plants,
discover which are your plants by noticing the
leaves. This may not be easy the first year of
your garden unless you can get some one to tell
you, but if you watch carefully you will soon
know all the common weeds. The first two
leaves of a plant are often very different from
those that follow, but you will learn these dif-
ferences in a little time with patience.

You should keep the soil stirred between
your plants after they are started so that the
weeds will never grow. There ought never to
be any weeds large enough to pull, for a stick,
or a weeder, or a small hoe or i*ake, will destroy
all tiny sprouting weeds ; but if a weed has
mastered you so that it must be pulled, then
grasp it near the root and do not break it off,
for it will grow again. If the weed is near a
plant, place one hand firmly on the ground

134

THE RIGHT WAY TO WEED A FLOWER-BED

WATERING THE GARDEN

SUMMER IN THE GARDEN

about your plant so that the soil will not be
moved, and pull the weed with the other hand
at one side. There are a few weeds so strong
of root that pulling is not enough without pry-
ing. Take a trowel, or a fork, and work it well
down by the root, being careful to put in the
tool straight and not slanting, so that it will
not cut off the root. Lift, pry, and pull the
weed until you have root and all. The point
of a hoe is often more effective than the full
edge of the blade when weeding.

Not only should your garden beds be free of
weeds, but no weeds should be allowed to grow
about your garden. The paths should be kept
clean. In cleaning a path start at one end with
the weeds and path ahead of you, not behind.
First take out each weed with the point of
your hoe. Then rake and level your path.

Watering is always a problem in the garden.
In the first place, you will find that a good gar-

135

LITTLE GARDENS

dener does not always depend upon a daily
watering except in drought, though of course
water is what makes a garden look so refreshing
in summer, and it is welcomed by most plants
in large quantities in the summer time. What
is more necessary than water is the constant
stirring of the soil, — a shallow hoeing. Learn
to use a hoe lightly and effectively. If the soil
is allowed to become hard tiny holes can be seen
on its surface. These are little water-ways, and
the water that is down in the soil is coming up
to the air and sunshine. Break up these water-
ways with a light hoeing and the water must
stay in the soil where it is needed by the roots.
The moisture is often kept in the ground in
hot weather by laying grass cuttings about the
plants. This is called mulching.

The neatness and thriftiness of a garden
in summer depend much upon careful train-
ing and trimming of plants. Some plants need

136

SUMMER IN THE GARDEN

stakes, some need trellises. Plants like toma-
toes, if not given support, should have plenty
of grass cuttings thrown on the
ground about them in order that
the fruit may not rot on the
ground. Peas should always have
support, for they bear better, and
in damp weather mould if al-
lowed to lie on the ground. If
pea brush cannot be obtained,
buy wire netting, which will last
for some time if preserved from
the weather when not in use. Many little an-
nual plants, especially petunias, do better for
being cut back.

When stirring the soil in summer, if a little
fertilizer is added the plants will do better.

August is the time to start plants for the
winter garden. Potting and repotting should
be done now, so that the plants will be well

137

LITTLE GARDENS

started when taken into the house. Some gar-
den plants bloom well in winter if potted now
and cut back very closely. Petunias and salvias
are easily grown, and are good bloomers in the
house.

The starting of perennial and biennial plants
from seed is often done at this time of year.
If started in the spring they will be larger,
stronger plants to stand the winter, and their
blooms may be larger the next season. But in
the springtime we are usually too busy with
our annuals to give any care to perennials, and
the latter part of July, or the first of August,
there are usually cloudy, moist days that give
us again almost the conditions that we had for
the spring seedlings. Nature is sowing many
of her seeds now, for some have ripened, and
even in your garden you may find tiny seed-
lings starting close by the mother plant. The
seedlings that come up most quickly of them-

138

SUMMER IN THE GARDEN

selves are often found beneath the shelter of a
large leaf which has protected them from too
hot a sun ; and if there is one special thing
that seeds need at this time of year in case
the sunshine is hot and the air dry, it is a
protection of lath or newspaper until they are
fairly started. Give them water twice a day
unless it rains. August is just the time to sow
pansy seed, and thus get strong, early blooming
plants for another season. Sweet Williams and
foxgloves are easily raised at this time of year.

XIV

THE HARVEST

Then came the Autumn, all in yellow clad,
As though he joyed in his plenteous store,
Laden with fruits that made him laugh, full glad
That he had banished hunger. . . .
And in his hand a sickle he did hold,
To reap the ripened fruits the which the earth had yold.

SPENSER.

CHAPTER XIV

THE HARVEST

THE harvest is your reward. Yet it is not all
play. It is serious though enjoyable work to
gather the crops and dispose of them in the best
way. The harvest begins as soon as there is any-
thing ripe to gather, and that happens all along,
though the abundance comes in the fall of the
year when the farmers gather the fruit of their
season's labor.

The harvesting of flowers is an enjoyable
study in arrangement of color, line, and texture.
Ofttimes a single flower in a vase gives us more
enjoyment than a mass of flowers, because then
we see all the beauty of stem and leaf and the
shape and color in each petal. Though we
usually prefer a delicate blending of color in a
bouquet, sometimes our color thirst is quenched

143

LITTLE GARDENS

by a wild blaze of color and plenty of green foli-
age to blend it. Such a combination may be had
with zinnias and mignonette. White sweet alys-
sum or candytuft often serves the same purpose
in a bouquet that it does in the garden, some-
times encircling the bouquet, and sometimes
mingling with it and blending the flowers.
Have three kinds of vases for your flowers, —
one tall and slender, another broad and shal-
low, and a third strong and large to hold a mass
of flowers.

If flowers are to be marketed cut them in
the cool hours of the early morning or else
at night, and keep them in water. Do not cut
flowers that are over-ripe. Poppies should be
cut before they open, if used as cut flowers at
all, because their petals fall so quickly. Protect
cut flowers from strong light, unless they are
such as need it to make them open.

In marketing vegetables remember, as we

144

THE REWARD OF THE HARVEST

THE HARVEST

said in the chapter on Spring Work, " As the
early bird catches the worm, so the early mar-
ket-gardener gets the price." An early crop is
desirable, but a good crop at any time brings
a good price, and quality should be considered
more than quantity. Vegetables should be gath-
ered in the early hours of the morning and de-
livered early in the day. They may be washed
in cool water, and often some old dead leaves
removed; but the root must sometimes be
allowed to remain, as cutting it off causes the
vegetable to lose some of the juices which make
it palatable. This is especially true of beets.
The roots of lettuce may be cut, leaving a good
stem. Vegetables, when gathered, should be
protected from the sun.

Both vegetables and flowers are usually at
their best marketable stage for only a few days,
and therefore a daily round of the garden is
necessary for the market-gardener. Peas must

145

LITTLE GARDENS

be nearly full size, yet tender and green. String
beans must not have developed to the point
when they become leathery and stringy. Beets
should be at least two and one half inches
through the widest part, unless they are sold
top and all when very small to be used as
greens.

Let me say right here that some vegetables
which grow wild and may not be marketable
are good wholesome food for the table. One
is that troublesome weed called " pusley." It
makes good greens, and in hot weather is much
better for us than many things. It needs plenty
of butter and salt and a little pepper mixed
with it when taken from the stove. Every one
knows the dandelion greens, and some know
that a delicious salad may be made from the
first fresh buds just as they start from the
ground in the springtime. Some people use
" lambs' quarters " and other of our wild vege-

146

THE HARVEST

tables, but it is never safe to use any except-
ing those which we thoroughly know.

Seed gathering may be considered a part
of the harvest. Some people will say, " Never
gather any seed. Buy it from the seedsman,
who knows best how to raise it and gather it."
This may be true of certain kinds of seed, and
true of all seed if you buy of a first-class seeds-
man; but the seed gathered from your own
garden often proves itself to have more vital-
ity than seed bought at the stores. Only learn
this : if you wish to save seed, save only a small
quantity and only the best. Mark the plants
that are well developed and of good quality.
Remove the smaller, poorer blooms from them
and gather only the best seed.

In harvesting, always gather everything that
has ripened and dispose of it in some way. Make
and keep the garden clean.

IN THE YEAES TO COME

And still the constant earth renews
Her treasured splendor ; still unfold
Petals of purple and of gold

Beneath the sunshine and the dews.

'T is God who breathes the triumph ; He who wrought
The tender curves, and laid the tints divine

Along the lovely lines ; the Eternal Thought
That troubles all our lives with wise design.

CEEIA THAXTER.

CHAPTER XV

IN THE YEARS TO COME

PERHAPS this has been your first serious
garden season with its successes and failures.
Learn lessons from your failures and your suc-
cesses alike. Both are stepping-stones to better
things. All the time, I suppose, you have not for-
gotten the great world-garden of which yours
is a part. If we all loved this God-given garden
as we should, and cared for it, and thought and
planned to keep it a beautiful place, how much
we should do in the years to come to make our
own little garden expand and help to start
many another garden ! Plant life is so great a
part of our life we cannot ignore it. We de-
pend upon it for life. It clothes the earth in
thousands of forms, to feed animals, to house

men, to give pleasure, food, and raiment. When

151

LITTLE GARDENS

I hold a plant in my hand I hold a secret. Its
secret of life I cannot guess. None can tell me.
But I learn of its ways a thousand lessons, and
I am satisfied.

Had you thought that this garden-work was
only a pastime for the present ? I hope not, for
no matter what your work in life, you will do
it better if you always keep one corner of your
mind for the helpful friendship of a garden.
There is no end to the pleasure to be found in
a garden. It is a source of much knowledge and
experience that will help you far beyond the
garden's limits.

Aside from your garden, it is interesting to
have a little plot for experimenting, for odds
and ends, and for starting new things. Some
people take great delight in making gardens
for special purposes, herb gardens of quaint
flavors and sweet odors, trial gardens of new
varieties. It is a good plan to take one kind of

152

IN THE YEARS TO COME

plant, — the bean, for instance, — and see how
many varieties you can raise, find their compar-
ative value, and learn all you can about them
both in books and through observation.

It may be you will find your life work among
the plants, — as a market-gardener, a landscape-
gardener or landscape-architect, a nurseryman,
a seedsman, a florist, or as one of those few
who go about helping boys and girls and every-
body to make the world-garden stronger and
brighter and more beautiful.

This one thing remember, - - that if you wish
to make a beautiful and useful garden, all the
knowledge in the world, were it yours, would be
of little use, if you were not willing to work hard
at times, and to persevere daily in watching and
caring for your plants. A daily round of the
garden and a daily perseverance in fulfilling
the needs of the day, however slight, are neces-
sary. It is love and care that make a garden.

RitoersiDe

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