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GARDENING FOR
LITTLE GIRLS

| PRACTICAL ARTS FOR LITTLE |
: GIRLS |

A Series Uniform with this Volume
| Each book, wlustrated, 75 cents net

COOKERY FOR LITTLE GIRLS

_ F&F

SEWING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

* =

WORK AND PLAY FOR
LITTLE GIRLS

= &

HOUSEKEEPING FOR
LITTLE GIRLS

= %

GARDENING FOR
LITTLE GIRLS

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WD AIL AHL GNId—ANNLOId WIzzNd

GARDENING
FOR LITTLE GIRLS

BY
OLIVE HYDE FOSTER

AUTHOR OF
“COOKERY FoR LITTLE GIRLS”
“SEWING FOR LITTLE GIRLS”
“HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS”

NEW YORK
DUFFIELD & COMPANY
1917

Copyright, 1916, by
HOUSE AND GARDEN
Copyright, 1916, by
HOUSEWIVES MAGAZINE
Copyright, 1917, by
ST. NICHOLAS
The Century Co.

DEDICATED TO
Jumor and Allan,
Two of the dearest children thai ever showed

love for the soil.

Preface

Children take naturally to gardening, and few
occupations count so much for their development,
—mental, moral and physical.

Where children’s garden clubs and community
gardens have been tried, the little folks have
shown an aptitude surprising to their elders, and
under exactly the same natural, climatic con-
ditions, the children have often obtained astonish-
ingly greater results. Moreover, in the poor dis-
tricts many a family table, previously unattractive
and lacking in nourishment, has been made attrac-
tive as well as nutritous, with their fresh green
vegetables and flowers.

Ideas of industry and thrift, too, are at the
same time inculcated without words, and habits
formed that affect their character for life. A
well-known New York City Public School super-
intendent once said to me that she had a flower
bed every year in the children’s gardens, where
a troublesome boy could always be controlled by
giving to him the honor of its care and keeping.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

The love of nature, whether inborn or acquired,
is one of the greatest sources of pleasure, and any
scientific knowledge connected with it of imestim-
able satisfaction. Carlyle’s lament was, ‘‘ Would
that some one had taught me in childhood the
names of the stars and the grasses.’’

It is with the hope of helping both mothers and
children that this little book has been most lov-
ingly prepared.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER
I Fest Steps Towarp A GARDEN.......
II PLANNING AND PLANTING THE F'LOWER-
ETDS a A ge a
TI] Fuowrers TsHat Must Be RENEWED
fiyery -Y EAR. CANNUALS) ¢..3.....-
IV Fiowers Tat Live THrRovucH Two
IPT RS ak Gey BAN Tis AM Pe ec
V Fiowers THat Come Up Every YEAR
BY THEMSELVES (PERENNIALS).....
VI FiLowers THat Spring From A STORE:
HOUSE (BULBS AND TUBERS).......
VII THat QuEEN—THE ROSE........... oe
Vit Vines, TENDER AND HIARDY...........
ix oeeues Wer LOVE TO. SEE............
X VEGETABLE GROWING FOR THE HoME
_ SINTER Sea eRe ti ea pe Ee
XI Your GarpDEN’s FRIENDS AND Fors....
XH A Morninc-Giory PLAYHOUSE........
XITI THe Work or A CHILDREN’S GARDEN
Wiehe eee een!
ey lan Carn or Housrt PLANTS: ..<.......
XV. Girts THat Witt PLEASE A FLOWER
| 1 (0). OF CRIA a een Pte Oe ine Ee a
XVI Tur GENTLEWOMAN’S ART—ARRANGING

TEEN. CG] 0 2a a Sade a A eI eC er Gace

ILLUSTRATIONS

PuzzLeE PicTurRE,—FIND THE LITTLE GIRL,

Frontispiece

FAcING PAGE

Mipcr WORK IN THE SPRING.............¢; 14

Mameoanm COLUMBINE. : 25.3. e6 bees ele ce a 40
Weare CAGE OF TABLE HERNS..........2.. 56

CLEANING Up AROUND THE SHRUBS......... 18
(2 STEREO 6 10 Dee 90 ©
An OUTGEOWN PLAYHOUSE...........0.... 112"
“STEEL SL 9 0 1 126 |

LINE DRAWINGS IN TEXT

PAGE

Team bOR A SMALE BACK YARD.........:... 12
AN ARTISTIC ARKANGEMENT OF A NARROW

tera eee ee i 14 -
FLowers THat Witt Bioom From Harty

SUMMER UNTH: MROST). Goo eek 16

NOTE

As the desire is to give the widest possible range
of information about the plants and fiowers men-
tioned herein, and space forbids going into details
in each ease, the writer has endeavored to mention
all the colors, extremes of height, and entire season
of bloom of each kind. But the grower must find
out the particular variety obtained, ang NOT ex-
pect a shrubby clematis to climb, or a fall rose to
blossom in the spring!

eee
inte, Fae

GARDENING FOR
LITTLE GIRLS

A garden is a lovesome thing, ae woi!
Rose plot,
Fringed pool,
Fern’d grot—
The veriest school
Of peace; and yet the fool
Contends that God is not—
Not God! in gardens! when the eve is cool ?
Nay but I have a sign: :
"Tis very sure God walks in mine.
—Thomas Edward Brown.

GARDENING FOR
LITTLE GIRLS

CHAPTER I

First Steps ‘Toward a Garden

And because the breath of flowers is far sweeter
in the air (where it comes and goes, like the warb-
, ling of music) than in the hand, therefore nothing
is more fit for that delight than to know what be
the flowers and plants that do best perfume the air.

—Bacon.

Ir you want a flower garden, you can begin
work as early as March. Does that sound strange,
—with cold winds and occasional snow? Ah, but
the plans should all be laid then, and many things
started in the house.

Four steps must be taken before starting actual
work:

First—Find out what space you can have for
your garden.

Second.—Consider the soil, situation, surround-
ings.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Third.—Make a list of seeds, bulbs, ete., desired.

Fourth.—Decide on planting with view to height
and color.

As to the first step, find out positively where
you can have your garden. It makes considerable
difference whether you can have the whole back
yard, a plot along the walk, a round bed in the
center of the lawn (only worse than none at all!),
or a window-box. You can not very well decide
on a single plant until this is settled.

As to the second step, learn all you can about
the soil, situation, surroundings. Is your ground
rich or poor? If light and sandy, you can grow
such flowers as nasturtiums and mignonette. By
adding fertilizer you can have poppies, roses, and
dahlias. Jf the ground is heavy and stiff with
clay, you can still have your roses and dahlias if
you will add both manure and sand. So find out
what kind of earth you are going to work with.
Quite poor soil will grow sweet alyssum, Cali-
fornia poppies, coreopsis and geraniums, while
rich soil is needed for asters, larkspur, zinnias and
marigolds. And think about your location (a dry
spot being necessary for portulaca, and a cool,
moist place for lily-of-the-valley), as well as bear
in mind whether your garden is sheltered and
warm or exposed to the chilly winds. Any desert

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

can be made to blossom as the rose,—if you only
know how.

As to the third step, make the list of the seeds,
bulbs, ete., that you would like, with the idea of
having some flowers in bloom the whole summer
long. If you are lucky enough to have a kind
friend or neighbor give you of her store, they will
probably be good and come up as they should. If
you have to buy, though, be sure to go to a first-
class, reliable dealer, for you don’t want to waste
your time and money on old things that won’t grow.

Then last of all, decide on your planting from
_ this list with a view to height and color, so that you
will arrange to the best advantage,—the nastur-
tiums which climb, for instance, going to the back
of the bed against wall or trellis, while the dwarf
variety should be at the front.

BIG WORDS FOR COMMON THINGS

To select your flowers intelligently, though, you
must know something about their nature, habits,
and tendencies, and certain words always found in
seed catalogues and garden books may be puzzling
to a beginner.

a. Annuals, for example, are the plants that
live but a year or a single season.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

b. Biennials, however, continue for two years
before they perish, making roots and
leaves the first year and usually flowering
the second. :

e. Perennials are the kind that continue for
more than two years.

d. Deciduous refers to the shrubs and trees that
lose their leaves in the fall.

e. Hvergreens are those that keep their verdure
the whole year round.

f. Herbaceous plants may be annual, biennial
or perennial, but they have a stem that
does not become woody, and that dies down
after flowering.

g. Hybrids are plants produced by ‘‘ecrossing,’’
or mixing two distinct varieties.

PLANT NEEDS |

All plant life, you must understand, requires five
things—_WARMTH, LIGHT, AIR, WATER and
FOOD. But plants differ as much as people, and
some need more of one thing than they do of an-
other. Some grow best in sunlight, others in the
shade; some in sand, others in rich soil. You will
have to find out what each kind requires. The food
properties needed in the soil have some big names,
too,—nitrogen, potash and phosphoric acid, all of
which are found in farm manures. If you can not
conveniently get these, however, florists and seed-
men can supply you with other fertilizers more eas-
ily handled.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

THE SEED NURSERY

If you are just getting ready to start your gar-
den, the annuals,—the plants that flower from seed
the first season though they do not come up again,—
will probably interest you most as they give the
quickest returns. Many kinds can be started in the
house in March, and for this purpose any kind of
a shallow box will answer. Bore holes in the bot-
tom and put in a layer of broken pottery or stones,
to permit drainage, so the roots will not rot. Full
three or four inches deep with good soil, after pul-
-verizing and taking out all sticks and stones.

RULES FOR INDOOR PLANTING

Mark grooves in seed boxes (or ‘‘flats’’) with a
stick, in parallel lines.

Plant seeds only about their own depth.

Seatter thinly to avoid crowding.

Press soil down firmly after seeds have been cov-
ered.

Keep the earth moist by means of a fine spray,
or sprinkle with a whisk broom. The ordi-
nary sprinkler lets out the water with such
force as to wash the seeds clear out of the

ground.

The very finest seeds should be sprinkled lightly
—and thinly—over the pulverized soil and
then pressed into the earth with a small board.

The different seeds should be sown in separate

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

rows, and the names plainly marked on the
edge of the box, so you will not become con-
fused, or forget what you are growing.

Cover the boxes with glass or a newspaper for the
first week, to keep the earth moist and warm
until the seeds sprout.

FAMILIAR ANNUALS

Even as early as March you can start in the boxes
in this way any of the following annuals, which will
bloom at the time mentioned or even earlier :—

Ageratum, blue, good for edging; blooms for
three months during summer.

Asters, white, pink, red, purple; early in the fall.

Alyssum, sweet, white; from May to November.

Amethyst, blue, violet, white; flowers all summer.

Balsam, white, red, yellow; from July to middle
of September.

Chrysanthemum, tricolor; August to middle of
October.

ae white, pink, crimson; August to Novem-

er.

Cypress vine, red, and white starry blossoms;
June and July.

Godetia, red, white; July to October.

Moonflower (Japanese morning-glory), white, a
vine; August to September.

Pansy, all shades and combinations, of white, yel-
low, purple; July on.

Chinese pink, white, rose, maroon; May to Au-
gust.

Salvia, red; August to frost.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Ten Weeks’ Stock, white, pink, purple; June and
July.
Zinnia, red, yellow, magenta; July to November.

EASILY GROWN PERENNIALS

Both the perennials and the biennials following
should all blossom the first year if started in the
house in March :—

Gaillardia, red, yellow.

Forget-me-not, lovely blue.

Larkspur, blue.

Snapdragon, white, red, purple, yellow, pink.

Sweet William, white, pink, red, maroon, plain,
varigated. |

Coreopsis, yellow.

Cupid’s Dart, blue.

Ieeland Poppy, yellow, white, scarlet.

Get as many as you can—and your space will
permit,—of all the lovely old perennials and the
bulbs that come up every season with little or no
eare. One of the oldest,—now deserted—farm-
houses on Long Island, still carries in its dooryard
the impress of some gentle flower-lover long since
passed away, in its annual spring beauty of daffo-
dils and lilies-of-the-valley. And the few bulbs and
pips transplanted from there to my own garden,
have thrived and spread so profusely that I, too,
can pass them on to others.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

HARDY FLOWERS ALL SUMMER

With carefully chosen bulbs and perennials alone,
it is possible to have a succession of lovely
blooms. In March your heart will be made happy
with snowdrop and crocus; in April with violet,
daffodil, narcissus, hyacinth and tulip; in May and
June with spirea, peony, iris, forget-me-not, colum-
bine, baby’s breath, bleeding heart, mountain pink,
eandytuft, Chinese pink; in July and August,
golden glow, hollyhock, larkspur, hardy phlox,
snap-dragon; September and October, sunflower,
dahlia, gladiolus and aster, with November closing
the season with all kinds of beautiful chrysanthe-
mums. And many of these often come earlier than
expected, or stay later. How easily raised are they
by the person with little time!

CHAPTER IT

Planning and Planting the
Flower Beds
God the first garden made.—Cowley.

WHILE the snow is on the ground, you can be de-
eiding on the best place for your garden, and find-
ing out the kind of flowers and vegetables best
suited to your soil and locality.

Write to your Representative at Washington, re-
questing the seeds he may have to give away. Write
to two or three prominent seed firms for catalogues,
and look over the garden books at your Public
Library. Then if you do not quickly find yourself
suffering from a violent attack of Garden Fever,
you might as well give up, and not attempt to have
a garden, for you will be lacking the real love and
enthusiasm that count for success.

Did you ever realize that gardens differ as much
7 9

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

as people? ‘‘No two gardens, no two human faces,
were ever quite alike,’’ says one writer, and you
want to make yours expressive of yourself. So be-
fore taking another step, study your grounds, large
and small,—for if you can have only part of a tiny
plot, you still have many possibilities of expressing
your own ideas and taste.

The garden is for the personal pleasure of the
family, so DON’T put it out in front, for the care-
less passerby. Choose a more secluded spot where,
if you wish, you can train a vine to shade your seat
when you want to sit down and enjoy the birds,
butterflies and flowers.

EASY RULES FOR ARTISTIC: PLANTING

Right here is the place to stop and draw a map
of your proposed garden, and mark off the spaces
for your chosen plants. You might draw half a
dozen plans, and then choose the most suitable.
Only never forget the simple rules of a famous
landscape gardener :—

1. Plant in masses, not isolated.
2. Avoid straight lines.
3. Preserve open lawn centers.

When you have decided on the location of your
10

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

garden, coax some one stronger than yourself to
dig up the ground thoroughly, and spade in some
fertilizer,—preferably farmyard manure. Plants
live on the tonic salts they draw out of the soil
through their roots, as much as they do on the ear-
bonic acid gas which they take out of the air
through their leaves. So have the ground nour-
ishing, and also nicely pulverized and free from
sticks and stone, that the little rootlets can easily
work their way through and find their needed nu-
eramieny,

Never forget that third rule before mentioned,—
‘“*Preserve open lawn centers.’’? A beautiful lawn
is as satisfying to the eye as flowers, so never spoil
one by cutting it up with beds. They can be put
along the sides, used for bordering walks, and
nestled close to the house.

PLAN FOR SMALL BACK YARD

One of the loveliest gardens I know is at the back
end of a city lot, not more than thirty feet square,
with a plot of velvety grass in the center. The ir-
regular border surrounding this bit of lawn is a
mass of flowers from earliest spring until black
frost,—from March until December,—and delights
- the whole neighborhood. The secret lies in the fact
11

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

that the owner knows how to plant for succession
of bloom. The ground is laid out this way.

NORTH |

STRIPOF witD
GARDEN SHADED
®y NEAT HOUSE

FLOWERS

PLAN FOR A SMALL BACK YARD

If you can have only a single flower bed, however,
try to get it in a sunny, protected spot, preferably
facing south, where the cold winds of early spring
and late fall will do the least damage. Make a list
of the flowers that like such conditions,—and most
of them do,—and then pick out those you prefer,
writing after each name the time that it blooms.
Be sure to select some of each of the early spring,
late spring, summer, early fall, and late fall, so that
you will have flowers to enjoy the whole season
through.

SUCCESSION OF BLOOM
For example, you can choose first from the ero-
cus, snowdrop, scilla, the hardy candytuft that
rivals the snow for whiteness, and the tiny creep-
12

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

ing phlox that will carpet your bed with pink;
next, from the daffodil, narcissus and jonquil
groups, with the tulips,—all of which must be set
out in the fall for bloom in April and May: then
the iris in May and June. Sweet alyssum, nastur-
tiums, corn flowers, Shirley poppies and cosmos
(all annuals), you can count on blooming around
New York from July to black frost; dahlias from
August to black frost, and monthly roses the entire
summer,—with a tidal wave in June. (I know, for
I have seen them all, over and over again.)

Many of the annuals can be started indoors, or
in a glass-covered box outside. Then when the
early flowering bulbs have faded, you can turn
their green tops under the ground, first to allow
the sap to run back into the bulb (the storehouse
for next year), and next to decay and fertilize the
soil. The annual seedlings can then be placed right
ontop! You thus avoid bare, ugly spots, and keep
your garden lovely. |

Dahlias planted out about the first of June will
bloom from early fall until cold weather sets in;
and certain roses, like the Mrs. John Laing and all
of the hybrid teas, will flower nearly as late. In
fact, in the famous rose garden of Jackson Park,
Chicago, as well as in private grounds around New
York, I have seen roses blooming in December.

: 13

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

You hardly need be afraid of crowding, either,
if you will be particular to keep out the weeds, and
occasionally work into the soil some bone-meal for
fertilizer. Water in dry weather. This does not
mean top sprinkling, for that is decidedly injurious.
When the ground is dry, soak it thoroughly.

A CITY GARDEN

If you live in a city, you may be interested in a
garden I have seen, which ran along the side and
rear end of a long, narrow lot. The tallest flowers,
—dahlias and hollyhocks,—were at the back of the

EAST
FLOWERS FLOWERS

HINOS

x 2,8 2S SS

AN ARTISTIC ARRANGEMENT OF A NARROW CITY LOT

bed, at the extreme end, and although late in flower-

ing, formed a beautiful green background for the

rest all summer. The first irregular section was

given up to the blues, and—planted with both an-
14

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LLL ELLA TEE apap

Zee

FIRST WORK IN THE SPRING

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

nual and perennial larkspur, and cornflowers,—
kept the dining-table supplied with blossoms to
match the old blue china until the frost came.
Frost, by the way, you will find of two kinds,—
hoar frost, which the Psalmist so vividly described
when he said, ‘‘He scattereth the hoarfrost like
ashes,’’ and which injures only the tenderest flow-
ers; and black frost, which is of intense enough
cold to freeze the sap within the plant cells, so that
when the sun’s heat melts this frozen sap the plant
—leaf and stalk—wilts down and turns black.
Therefore, both in the early spring and the late
fall, you must watch out for Jack, whichever garb
he dons, and give your tender plants some nighty
covering. ;

A LITTLE BED FOR A LITTLE GIRL

If you can have only one small bed, however,
you can get a lot of pleasure out of it most of the
season if you will carefully choose your plants.
Pansies set along the outer edge will blossom until
mid-summer if you keep them picked and watered
every day; and verbenas, which have the same har-
Mmonizing shades, you can count on blooming until

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

late in the fall. They would be attractive in either
of the following simple designs:

| | MARIGOLDS

CAs FORNIA POPPIES

FLOWERS THAT WILL BLOOM FROM EARLY SUMMER
UNTIL FROST

Candytuft for a border, with petunias in the ©
center, is another combination that should blossom
from June until frost. Poppies and cornflowers
would also last all summer if you would keep out
part of the seed and sow a couple of times at in-
tervals of several weeks. The combinations of red
and blue is very pretty, too. Sweet alyssum, with
red or pink geraniums, would be lovely all season.
For an all yellow bed, plant California poppies to
bloom early in the border, and African marigolds,
or Tom Thumb nasturtiums to bloom in the center
from July on late into the fall. With any of the
combinations suggested you could gather flowers
almost any time you pleased, for they are all pro-
fuse bloomers.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

WINDOW BOXES

If you are a litile city child, and can have only
a flower box in a window or along a porch-rail,
cheer up! There is still a chance for you to have
posies all the long hot days. After having your
box filled with good, rich soil on top of a layer of
broken crockery or stones,—for drainage, you know,
—you can plant running nasturtiums along the
edge for a hanging vine. Inside of that plant a
row of the blue lobelia, or set in a few pansies al-
ready in bloom. Then you would have room for
still another row of taller plants,—say pink and
white geraniums, with a fern or two. Another
pretty box could be made by putting Wandering
Jew or “‘inch plant’’ along the edge for the droop-
ing vine, then blue ageratum for your edging, with
next a row of lovely pink begonias. As it takes a
number of weeks for any seeds to grow and come
to flower, you might better save your candy pennies
and buy a few blooming plants from the spring
pedlar. They will gladden your heart while wait-
ing.

All kinds of green add to these little boxes, and
all the white flowers soften and help to blend the
bright colors. China asters, in white, pink, and
lavender, are lovely in a window box, and if started

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

in shallow trays or old pots early in the spring,
can be transplanted later. Then when your
early flowers have seen their best days, you can
remove them, put in your asters, and have beauties
all fall.

CHAPTER III

Flowers that Must be Renewed
Every Year--(Annuals)

And ’tis my faith that every flower enjoys the
air it breathes.
— Wordsworth.

If you want flowers that grow quickly, plant
annuals! Some will bloom within six weeks, so if
you can help out meantime with some transplanted
roots and bulbs, you will have flowers from the first
of the season.

‘*Plant thickly,’’ says one writer. ‘‘It is easier
and more profitable to grow flowers than weeds.’’

The following annuals can be sown outdoors late
in April, as far North as New York, in ordihary

| 19

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

seasons,—only remember that those marked with
a * do not like to be transplanted: —

Alyssum Phlox Drummondi
Aster Pink, Chinese
Candytuft Salvia
Chrysanthemum (Annual) Stock, Ten Weeks’
Coreopsis (Annual) Zinnia

Cosmos | * California Poppy
Godetia * Cornflower
Larkspur (Annual) * Mignonette
Marigold ~ * Morning glory
Nicotiana * Nasturtium
Pansy * Portulaca
Petunia * Sweet Sultan

OUTDOOR PLANTING

Have the soil in your flower bed made fine and
light with sand and fertilizer, and entirely free
from sticks and stones. If it should happen to be
already too sandy, add black loam or leaf mold.
(Either father or brother will probably have time
to help you get this right.)

Plant your seeds evenly, and rather sparingly if
you do not want to pull up a lot later on account
of being crowded. And you ean plant either in
lines or scatter in patches in bed or border, as you
prefer, only be sure that the seed is covered about
four times its own depth. A few things, like pop-

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

pies and portulaca, have such tiny seeds that it is
best to mix them with half a teaspoonful of fine
soil, and scatter it where you wish, afterwards
pressing down firmly with a small board.

TRANSPLANTING—ANNUALS

When your plants have developed a few leaves,
and are big enough to handle, prepare to transplant
them. This exercise does them good, and while a
few resent it, the rest will grow better and be
stronger. Choose morning or evening for the work,
although it can be done at any time on a cloudy
day. (One of my friends loves to do her trans-
planting in the rain!) Be sure that the ground
is thoroughly damp, even if you have to sprinkle
it well beforehand.

PUDDLING

Lift each seedling with a spoon, so as to keep a
ball of the moist earth around the roots, set it in a
hole made where you want your flower to grow,
and then fill up this hole with water before you
begin to put in the rest of the soil. This is called

puddling, and will enable you to do your trans-
planting with the least possible disturbance to the

| 21

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

roots. Next add all the soil necessary to fill up the
hole, and press firmly around the plant. Then
cover with an old can or berry box, or even a cone
of newspaper held in place with stones, until the
seedling has had time to get used to its new sur-
roundings. And remember that this ‘‘puddling,”’
followed by protection from the sun, will enable
you to transplant almost anything you wish, suc-
cessfully.

SWEET PEAS

Sweet peas require peculiar treatment for an an-
nual. As early as the ground can be worked,—
about the middle of March around New York,—
get some one to dig you a trench (and it is best to
have it run north and south), about fifteen inches
deep. Have put in this trench a layer of well-
rotted manure, then a layer of soil, a sprinkling of
wood ashes, and then another layer of soil, filling
the trench until it is left only six or eight inches
deep. Soak your seeds over night in warm water
to make them start more quickly, and then plant
them two inches apart, in a double row. Cover
with only a few inches of soil until they sprout, and
then gradually fill up the trench as the vines grow.
Train them on brush or chicken wire, and keep

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

them well watered in order to get the best results.

The latest method I have had recommended for
growing sweet peas,—but which I have not tried,—
is to have the soil just as carefully prepared, but
then to rake it smooth, make a straight drill only
half an inch deep, and plant 3 seeds every 6 inches
in the row. If all three grow, pull up the two weak-
est, leaving only the best plant every 16 inches
apart. This way,—with plenty of water and cul-
tivation, is said to produce the very finest kind of
flowers. You might try a few on the side.

During the hot weather put grass clippings
around the roots to help keep them moist and pro-
tected from the hot sun. Cut the flowers every day
in order to prolong their blooming.

A word about names, though, before we go a
step farther. I intended at first to give you only
the common names, despite the protests of a very
good friend,—an English botanist. To clinch her
argument one day, she exclaimed with considerable
heat, ‘‘ Why, what they call ‘baby’s breath’ here
on Long Island might be ‘infant’s sneeze’ up in
Connecticut! But if you tell the children it’s real
name is GYPSOPHILA, they’ll never be mis-
taken.’’ 3

And later, when I found that foxglove (orig-
inally Folk’s glove, alluding to the ‘‘little folk,’’ or

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

fairies) has been known also—according to Hol-
land—as Thimbles, Fairy Cap, Fairy Fingers,
Fairy Thimbles, Fairy Bells, Dog’s Fingers, Finger
_ Flowers, Lady’s Glove, Lady Fingers, Lady’s Thim-
ble, Pop Dock, Flap Dock, Flop Dock, Lion’s
Mouth, Rabbit’s Flower, Cottages, Throatwort, and
Scotch Mercury, I concluded I would better urge
you to remember its Latin name, DIGITALIS, by
which the plant is known the world over.

The botanical terms will easily stick in your
mind, too, because they are unusual. Then people
who are familiar with flowers will know exactly
what you are talking about, and you yourself will
always have a certain pride in the scientific knowl-
edge that enables you to call things by their right
name.

You will see, if you study the lists given, what a
simple matter it is to plan for a garden, big or lit-
tle, and with reasonable care you will be rewarded
with flowers throughout the season. The follow-
ing list will give you more explicit information
about the ones people like best :—

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MOG MOG

CHAPTER IV

Flowers that Live Through
Two Years

In all places then, and in all seasons,
Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings,
Teaching us by most persuasive reasons,
How akin they are to human things.
—Longfellow.

BETWEEN the flowers that we have to plant every
- year,—the annuals,—and those that after once be-
ing started continue to greet us summer after sum-
mer,—the perennials,—comes a little group of old
favorites that has to be planted one summer (and
then generally protected from the cold), in order
to bring them to their full beauty the second year.
And as few of them self-sow, it is necessary to plant
and carry over every season.
30

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

The biennial seeds are best sown in the seed
nursery, where they can be watched and protected.
In the late summer the young plants will be big

.and strong enough to set out in the border, al-
| though you must give them a light covering of
leaves and litter. The seeds started in July and
August, however, better be left protected in the
nursery and moved in the early spring.

The dainty blue forget-me-not, or myosotis, is one
of the best loved of this class. Some varieties are
hardy, and often found growing wild. It gener-
ally does best in a damp, partly shaded location.
It grows from 6 to 18 inches high, according to the
different kinds, which blossom most of the summer.
The seeds of biennials seldom produce flowers the
first summer, but several—and among them the
myosotis,—after being grown a few years in the
Same spot, come up like perennials, on account
of sowing themselves.

The foxglove is another of the few biennials that
are hardy, and it also likes a cool, shady spot. If
the plants come up thickly, transplant part of them
to any well-prepared, rich ground, and keep moist
and well cultivated until the middle of September,
when you should move them again to their per-

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

manent home. Foxgloves, like forget-me-nots, sow
themselves, and the little plants coming up this way
should be transplanted and given plenty of room to
grow and become strong before their time to bloom.
Do not forget to cover during the winter!

English daisies (which are tender perennials),
and pansies (which generally are grown as an-
nuals), can both be started in the seed nursery in
August, thinned out and protected before cold
weather sets in, and then moved to where you wish
them to bloom, in the early spring.

Canterbury bells do best when the seed is sown
the middle of April in ground that is rich, well pre-
pared, moist, and partly shady. The middle of July
move to a temporary place, and set the plants 6 to 8
inches apart. Then early in October transplant to
where you want them to blossom the next season.
But before the frost comes, protect these tender lit-
tle plants with some old berry boxes, then straw or
leaves over the top, and in the spring work a small
quantity of fertilizer around the roots. Tie the
stalks as they begin to get tall, to stout stakes, to
prevent their being blown over by storms: and if
you will keep cutting off the old flowers so they
will not go to seed, you can coax your plants to

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

bloom an extra month or six weeks. Properly
treated, they will last from July to the middle of
September. But to enjoy these lovely visitors reg-
ularly, it is necessary to plant the seed every year.

Of the border carnations, the Chabaud and Mar-
guerite types are hardy enough to stand the winter
if slightly covered, and will flower profusely the
second year, but they make off-shoots, which bring
to bloom a few weeks after sowing.

Hollyhocks from seed do not blossom until the
second year, but they make off-shoots, which bring
flowers every season thereafter. And as they sow
themselves, people often mistake them for peren-
nials. They come both single and double, and are
especially lovely against a wall or a green back-
ground.

The evening primrose, tall and stately, with large
yellow flowers, is easily grown in almost any soil.
It thrives in almost any soil, and blooms the entire

- Summer.

Of the wallflowers, the biennial variety will blos-
som most of the summer if grown in a moist, shady
place and not allowed to go to seed. These come
in yellows, reddish brown and purplish brown.
They need winter protection.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

The horned poppy, though a biennial, will flower
the first year if started indoors in March. It likes
an open, sunny spot, and if old flowers are kept
picked off, will bloom all summer.

Sweet William is another old-fashioned garden
favorite that is usually considered a perennial, but
which does its best the second year from seed. As
it self-sows, it goes on forever, like Tennyson’s
brook, once it gets started. In protecting, however,
do not get fertilizer directly over the crown, or it
will cause decay.

Mullein pink, or Rose Campion as it is often
called, is another of our grandmothers’ pets, and
if started very early, will flower the first season.

Now all of the biennials I have described are
easily grown, and sure to bring great pleasure.
And really it is worth while to curb one’s impa-
tience, and wait, when necessary, until the second
season, for the sake of these lovely hardy beauties.

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(panurjuoo)—SUVAA OML HONOUHL GAIT LVHL SUAMOTHA

CHAPTER V

Flowers that come up Every
Year by Themselves
(Perennials)

No, the heart that has truly lov’d never forgets,
But as truly loves on to the close;
As the sunflower turns on her god when he sets
The same look which she turn’d when he rose.
—Moore.

THat big word ARISTOCRACY simply means
‘*those who rise above the rest of the community in
any important respect,’’—and rightly, indeed, are
the perennials called ‘‘the aristocrats of the gar-
_den.’’? They are strong and sturdy (good points
in both people and flowers), and can be depended
on to appear about a certain time, make us a nice
visit with all their loveliest clothes, and show their
appreciation of our attention and care by return-
ing every season with increased beauty and grace.
_ A few of the perennials, such as the peony and

the iris, grow so slowly that generally people
ay

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

haven’t the patience to wait for them to flower from
seed, and instead try to get some roots from their
more fortunate friends, or buy from a florist. But
I will tell you more about this class in connection
with the bulb and tuber families.

THE SEED BED

While a small number of these beauties will
bloom the first year if started early in the spring,
most of them make their début in garden society
the second summer. Before that they have to be
watched, or they might meet with accident. A good
way, therefore, is to have a little bed (preferably a
cold frame) for a seed nursery off to one side, in
a safe place, where the baby plants can be eared
for, protected from cold, and tended like the in-
fants they are, until grown up and old enough to
enter the society of bed or border. In such a place
the seeds should be planted in fine, rich soil, pref-
erably from the middle of May to the Ist of July,
and all carefully marked. Sow thinly, and then
eover the seed by sifting over with fine soil from
1g to 14 inch deep. Sprinkle very lightly by means
of a whisk broom dipped in water, so as not to
wash out the seed, and if you possibly can, cover
with a piece of glass. Keep in the shade at first,

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

and never let dry out. Some of this seed will ger-
minate in less than a week, while some may take
so long that you will think it is not going to grow
at all! But don’t give up; and maybe some day
when you have forgotten all about it, you will
discover a lot of new babies in your nursery.

TRANSPLANTING PERENNIALS

As soon as your seedlings are big and strong
enough to be handled, they must be carefully lifted
and set in another part of the nursery, not less than
3 inches apart, protected from the hot sun, and
left until they become strong, sturdy children.
Then early in the fall, before the middle of Septem-
ber, you can take them up very gently, without dis-
turbing their tiny rootlets, and put them with their
friends and relatives in the garden, wherever ‘you
wish them to bloom the following summer.

Of course you couldn’t,—and you wouldn’t want
to grow everything you ever saw or heard about!
Just think of the fun, however, of picking out a
small number that will be sure to give you flow-
ers, one after another, from earliest spring until
cold weather! Yet the following list, suggested by
one authority, is easy to get and little trouble to

care for:
39

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

PERENNIALS FOR A WHOLE SEASON’S
BLOOM

Creeping Phlox (Phlox subulata) ; white, rose,
lavender; bloom April and May.

Lily-of-the-Valley (Convallaria majalis) ; white;
May, June.

Bleeding Heart (Dicentra spectabilis); rose
pink; April through June.

Iris (Fleur-de-lis) ; white, purple, yellow; April
to July.

Peony (Paeonia officinalis) ; white, rose to erim-
son; May, June.

Larkspur (Delphinium); blues; June, July,
september.

Balloon Flower (Platycodon); blue, purple,
white; July to October.

Phlox, Hardy (Phlox paniculata) ; no blue nor
real yellow; June through September.

Golden Glow (Rudbeckia lacinata); yellow;
August. |

Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata); yellow,
red; July to October.

Boltonia (Boltonia latisquama) ; lilae; August to
October.

alan (Helianthus) ; yellow; July to Octo-

er.

The fault that I would find with the gentleman’s
list is that he has omitted chrysanthemums, which
could be substituted for sunflowers to most people’s
satisfaction,—and which also would bloom as late
as November. Also I should prefer columbine to
40

KIM AND COLUMBINE :

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

his bleeding hearts,—and the golden-spurred va-
riety will bloom from early May to early August!
Above all, instead of boltonia, I would use the ador-
able snapdragons, which, although considered a
*‘tender perennial,’’ will survive cold weather i

well protected.

But then, as I once heard, ‘‘A man’s garden is
like his wife, whom he never would think of com-
paring with anybody else’s.’’ So you don’t have
to follow any one’s choice. Just make a list of the
flowers that you like, find out when they bloom, and
then choose as few or as many as you have room
for, remembering to plan for something lovely
every month of the blooming season.

One note of warning, however. After you have
made your list, consult some friend that is a suc-
cessful gardener, and make sure that what you
have chosen will thrive in your particular local-
ity. If you find it does not, strike it off, and put
in something that will.

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CHAPTER VI

Flowers that Spring from a
Storehouse (Bulbs and Tubers)

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:
they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say
unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed like one of these.

—Matthew vi, 28, 29.

IF you are going to be a really-truly gardener,
you will want to know something about the plants
and flowers that you try to grow, so let’s have a
few words right here about the difference between
the bulb and tuber families. They can be classed
together because they both spring from what is in
fact a storehouse filled one season with food to
help them through the next season’s bloom!

Hyacinths and daffodils, for example, come from
BULBS, which are built up, layer on layer, exactly
like an onion.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Dahlias and Cannas, however, grow from a
TUBER, which is an underground knob on the
stem, quite a little like a sweet potato, and which
sends out the shoots that make new plants.

The crocus and the gladiolus both spring from a
CORM, which differs from the bulb in that it is
solid (not in layers), and from the tuber in that
it is not like a potato in shape but oval.

The iris, though, grows from a RHIZOME, a
thickened root running along the ground (often
half exposed), which throws up the new plants as
it spreads. |
- The bulb and tuber families are treated very
much alike. Some of each are left in the ground
year after year, like the daffodils and the lilies,
while others, like the cannas and dahlias, have
to be dug up, allowed to dry a little in the open air,
and then stored in a cool, dark place for the winter.
The rhizomes do not have to be ‘‘lifted,’’ but are
Increased generally by root division,—cutting off
a piece of the root soon after flowering, and plant-
ing where it will get a good start before next sea-
son’s time to bloom.

some people today would follow Mobanuness g
advice: ‘‘He that hath two cakes of bread, let him
sell one of them—for bread is only food for the
body, but the narcissus is food for the soul;’’

| 49

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

but few individuals—let alone a nation—would
grow so wildly enthusiastic as once did the
Dutch, as to spend every last possession to buy
tulips! But we dearly love all of these groups,
and are using them in increasing numbers every
season. The fascinating work of growing certain
kinds indoors during the winter I tell you about
in the chapter on ‘‘The Care of House Plants,’’ so
here we will consider the outdoor culture.

The delicate snowdrop is the very earliest of
these visitors, and planted in groups in half-shady
places,—like under trees,—where they will not be
disturbed, will thereafter take care of themselves.
Then quickly follow the lovely crocuses, white, yel-
low, lavender, purple, and the varigated, which
often are planted right where they fall after be-
ing scattered broadcast over the lawn,—though if
the head of the house euts the grass before the mid-
dle of April they should be set in a bed where they
will not be touched.

Hyacinths are beautiful, but personally I do
not care much about them in the garden, as they
generally have to be planted in masses to get any
effect, and need, therefore, to be used in large num-
bers, are more expensive than the other bulbs, and
should be taken out of the ground soon after bloom-
ing and stored in a cool place until fall. However,

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

one enthusiast that I know plants in rings of 6, and
leaves them in the ground!

The daffodil, jonquil and narcissus are three
types of the narcissus family, the daffodils usually
being distinguished by their long trumpets, while
the jonquils and narcissi have the little cup-like
centers, and, moreover, are fragrant. They should
be planted in the late fall, 4 in. below the surface,
in soil that has been enriched 8 in. below the bulb.
They increase rapidly, and do not have to be
taken up, or even divided for years. If set in a
border where their room is needed after they bloom,
simply turn the tops down under the soil, and sow
over them any low-growing annual, such as candy-
tuft or poppies. My friend of the tiny ‘*handker-
ehief’’ garden described in Chapter II, has—think
of it!—over 1500 of these various spring-flowering
bulbs in her border that are treated this way, and
never taken up! Yet a few weeks after they have
bloomed, the space they occupied is filled with new
beauties.

Tulips—but as I told you, they once drove a
whole country mad! Today we have probably far
more beautiful ones,—and many can be bought in
the fall at planting time, for $1.00 per hundred!
Some bloom early, some late; some are short, some
tall; some are cheap, some expensive. They will

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

grow in partial shade or sun, and can be planted
in groups in the border, or in marginal rows for
edging. By carefully choosing from both the early
and late varieties, you can enjoy your tulips for
nearly two months; and by as carefully choosing
your colors, have all sorts of artistic combinations.
They should be planted 3 or 4 in. deep if the
soil is heavy, and an inch deeper in soil that is
light, and set 6 in. apart. They will prove a joy
to your heart.

Tuherous-rooted begonias supply a much-felt
want for lovely flowers in half-shady or shady
places. If the bulbs are started in the house in
sand in February, they will be in full leaf when
ready to set out in May, and will bloom from June
until frost. Don’t, please don’t, plant them up-
side down, but be sure that the rounded part rests
on the soil. They require light, rich earth, with
plenty of water, given after sundown.

Cannas only too often are planted in big, showy
beds where they break our rule of ‘‘open lawn cen-
ters.’’ In fact, they are a little hard to place, but
look well in a corner, in beds along a drive, or
outlining a boundary. The ground should be
spaded 2 ft. deep, well fertilized, and then kept
watered. Set plants 2 ft. apart.

The iris is one of the most beautiful and most

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

satisfactory of all the hardy plants. It grows in
almost any soil, and any situation, but does best
in rich ground, with plenty of water. It may be
planted either in early spring or after August.
The dwarf varieties, from 6 to 18 in. high, bloom
during March, April and May; the German iris,
standing often 3 ft. high, in May; and the mar-
velous Japanese kinds, sometimes 4 ft., with blos-
soms 8 to 10 in. across, closing the season in July!
(In heavy soil they are not so tall.) When used
alone in beds, one prominent grower suggests that
the German iris be combined with hardy asters (set
in between), and the Japanese with gladioli, to
keep a succession of bloom until late fall.

Lilies for the garden are of many varieties, re-
quiring different kinds of treatment. As a general
rule, however, when the soil is heavy, set your bulb
in a nice little nest of sand, and give a blanket of
the same before filling in with the ordinary earth.

Lilies-of-the-valley will grow almost anywhere,
but do well in a half-shady position. They should
be planted in masses, and fertilized in September.
When too thick, they can be transplanted in the
early spring. They increase rapidly.

The gladiolus (accent on the 1, please,) can get
along in almost any kind of soil,—though it does
best in rich,—if only it is planted in the sunshine.

| 53

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

The ground should be well dug up and fertilized
beforehand and around New York the eorms set as
early as April. Then, for succession of bloom,
plant at least every 10 days up to July Ist. After
they are well started, fertilize with (preferably)
sheep manure, dug in around the roots, every two
weeks. Cultivate often, and keep well watered.
Plant gladioli at least 4 in. apart, and 4 in. deep,
and tie up for protection to 4-ft. stakes. Lift
your bulbs,—corms, I should have said,—late in
the fall, let them dry in the air a few days, and
then store in a cool, dark place, free from frost.

Narcissi are described with the daffodils.

Peonies are classed with the Perennials, in Chap-
ter III. Their tuberous roots are best divided and
set out in September. They can be left undisturbed
for five or six years.

Tuberoses can now be procured which will bloom
from May until frost. They are easily grown, with
no particular eare, and tale up very little room.
Stake for safety from storms.

The dahlia next,—saved until the last for all the
space I could possibly give it! And so popular is
this flower today, that some growers raise nothing
else!! One man offers us over 700 named varie-
ties!!! Moreover, a great big club, known as
The American Dahlia Society, has been formed by

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

people who are interested in—and wish to help
along—the growing of dahlias.

And it’s no wonder that they are popular, for no

other flower can be grown in the garden that will
give as many, as large, as vari-colored and as beau-
tiful flowers as the dahlias. Coming in every shade
but true blue, and ranging from the tiny button
pom-pon to the largest prim show or the formal
decorative——from the unique collarette to the
ragged pxony-flowered, the amateur gardener can
hardly believe that they really all belong to one
family!
_ Of such easy culture, too. Anybody can grow
them! Any good, well-drained garden soil will
do, but must have manure spaded in 10 in. deep
and the tubers must be planted in the sun. The
poorer the ground, though, the more fertilizer will
you have to use. Heavy soil should be dug up and
mixed with ashes to make it light. Plant the tub-
ers lengthwise—not up and down!—in a drill at
least 6 in. deep, and not less than 214 ft. apart.

For early flowering, put in your bulbs as soon as
all danger of frost is past, but do not set near trees
or shrubs that would take their nourishment.
When they sprout, pull up all shoots but one or
two, in order to produce the finest flowers. Keep
the ground well cultivated, but do not water until

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

after the buds have formed, otherwise you will
have principally stalks and leaves. But once the
buds do show, water frequently in order to enrich
the color, and dig in fertilizer around the roots sev-
eral trmes during the flowering season, to produce
fine, big blossoms.

Tie each plant to a 5-ft. stake, to protect from
the wind, but in driving be careful not to pierce—
and ruin—your tuber. Nip off all the buds that are
imperfect or weak, and cut your flowers with their
attendant buds and foliage. They will look bet-
ter, and no further disbudding of the plants will be
necessary. And the more you cut, the better your
dahlias will bloom! : )

Soon after frost has killed the leaves, carefully
dig up the tubers with a spading fork. You will
be surprised to find often half-a-dozen where you
set but one! Allow them to dry in the air for a
day or two, then put away in a cool, dark cellar,
with a bag or paper thrown over them, and leave
for the winter. In the spring when ready to plant
again, cut each tuber so it will have a little bit of
the heart of the clump on its end, as it is close to
this that the new shoots start.

Growing dahlias from seed is a most fascinating
pastime, for there is no telling what you may get!
The child is rarely, if ever, like its mother,—and

& sha
a pS ar Maeve

Riis, Dentin ioe,

ABLE FER

CARE OF T

TAKT

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS.

this is the only way that we get the new varieties,
YOU might happen to grow one of the finest yet!
The seed is started early indoors, and very easily
grown. Certainly it is worth trying.

CHAPTER VII
"That Queen--The Rose

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying,
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
—Herrick.

Every one longs for roses, the most highly prized
of all the flowers; and roses today can be grown
almost anywhere.

Rose growers have finally succeeded in budding
the tender tea rose on to the hardy briar and also
on to the more recent Manetti stock, and in ecross-
ing the teas with the hybrid perpetuals,—developed
from the old June favorites. The result is ideal
roses, that are hardy and bloom all season, with the
desired lovely coloring and fragrance.

Many of the so-called June roses also have been

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

coaxed to bloom all season, while all those that I
draw to your attention are among the loveliest and
most easily grown. With even three or four, well
taken care of, you should be able,—as far north as
New York,—to cut a bud any time you wish from
May to November.

These hybrid teas and hybrid perpetuals are the
most satisfactory for growing in this climate.
Field-grown stock, in dormant condition, is brought
here from Holland every spring early in March,
and good plants can be bought as low as fifteen or
twenty cents apiece. The weather is usually fit for
- them to be set out by the 25th of March, and they
will produce more and better roses than the costlier
potted plants procurable later. The American
grown roses, however, are really the best, as they —
are adapted to our soil and climatic conditions, and
produce both more and better flowers.

Of these potted plants, though, just a word. The
Richmond, a deep, rich red, and the single white
Killarney, I have found exceptionally good, free
bloomers; and with little winter covering they
should, on account of a season’s rest, be better the
second year. The 6-inch or ‘‘bench plants,’’ as they
are termed, sell for only 25 cents each. These can
be set out from April on all summer.

As soon as a rose bush comes into your hand,

| 59

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

whether from a dealer or a friend, get it into the
ground as quickly as possible. If its permanent
home is not ready, dig a little trench and cover it
entirely with the moist earth for a few days. But
never, oh, never! allow the roots to dry out.

While a few specimen roses may be set out any-
where (as long as they do not cut up the lawn and
so violate the landscape rule, ‘‘ Preserve open lawn
centers’’), a number of rose bushes are usually pre-
ferred set together in a bed, from 3 to 4 ft. wide.

MAKING A ROSE BED

Have your rose bed with a south or east ex-
posure if possible, as many roses so planted will
not ‘‘winter kill,’’ and others need but little pro-
tection. Dig a trench about 21% ft. deep, and put
in the bottom a layer of cow manure, as this will
be lasting. Over this put a layer of good top soil
for the plants to rest on, so that they do not di-
rectly touch the fertilizer. Then hold your rose
with your left hand while you straighten out the
roots, and sprinkle enough fine soil to hold it in
position while you set the next bush. Be sure that
your budding point is 3 inches below the level
of the ground,—and Baily says even 4! When all
are in place, fill the trench half full of soil, and then

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

nearly to the top with water. After this has sunk
in, add the rest of your rich top soil, and pack
down hard with your foot, so as to shut out the air
from the roots, leaving the packed earth at least
an inch below the surrounding surface to catch
and hold the moisture.

Potted roses, however, should be sunk with as lit-
tle disturbance to the roots as possible.

Then over the smoothly raked surface of the
bed spread leaves, litter or grass clippings, to
keep the sun from drying out the earth. Some
gardeners for this purpose cover the bed with pan-
gies, English daisies, and similar low flowers, though
many like better to see nicely cultivated soil.

To have splendid roses, however, you must sup-
ply plenty of food and drink! When the buds
start, dig in around the roots every two weeks, two
tablespoonfuls of bonemeal, and wet thoroughly.
Manure from the chicken house is especially good
as the chickens are meat eaters, and it is, there-
fore, better adapted to the needs of the roses and
_ easily absorbed by the rootlets. But use carefully—
not more than a small trowelful at a time, and that
well mixed with the soil. One of the very best foods
is cheaply made as follows:

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

ROSE FERTILIZER

10 Ibs. sheep manure Mix well. Give a level
5 Ibs. bonemeal, trowelful to roots of
1 lb. Scotch soot. each rosebush every two

weeks, after buds start,
and wet down thorough-

ly.

Being hearty feeders, roses need a rich, light
soil, and they do best in an open, sunny spot, away
from the roots of trees and shrubs that would steal
their food.

And while they do not thrive in low, damp
ground, neither do they stand being set ‘‘high and
dry.’? Too damp beds should be drained with a
first layer of small stones or gravel.

Cultivate your roses every week or ten days, and
keep the ground covered with grass clippings unless
it is protected from the sun by the shade of other
plants. Cut off close to the parent stem any wild
shoots or ‘‘suckers,’’—generally recognizable by
their briary stems,—as they will cause the budded
part to die.

FALL PROTECTION

Late in the fall mound up the earth well around
the roots of all your roses, and give them a good
62

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

covering of coarse manure or leaves. The more
tender kinds can be laid over and protected with
litter or boughs.

SPRING PRUNING

Then early in the spring, before the first of
April, cut back the hardy roses, keeping only the
strong canes, which, however, should be shortened
to about 10 inches. The middle of April prune the
more tender varieties. But remove from both all
shoots growing in toward the center, and cut ail
weak plants back to the third or fourth eye, to
promote stronger growth and larger flowers.
Climbing roses need only the weak branches and
tips removed.

Date new climbing canes with wired wooden tags
each spring, and cut out all over three years old.
This renews the stock, restrains ambitious climbing,
and produces better flowers.

SPRAYING

“About this time a spraying first of Bordeaux
mixture to prevent disease, and a little later a
spraying of whale-oil soapsuds as warning to the
great army of bugs, slugs, etc., will give your roses

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

a good start toward a successful season of bloom.

Watch for that robber, the rose bug! Talk
about salt on a bird’s tail! The surest way to
end His Majesty is to take a stick and knock
him into a cup of kerosene. Slow process?
Yes, but sure. The leaf-roller, too, is most
effectively disposed of by physical force,—pressure
of thumb and forefinger. Clear, cold water, twice
a day through a hose, comes with force enough to
wash off many of the rose’s foes; but if they get
a start, fall back on strong soapsuds, pulverized
tobacco, or some other popular remedy.

The Garden Club of Philadelphia is said to ree-
ommend the following:

EFFECTIVE SPRAY FOR ROSE BUGS

3 pts. sweet milk.

3 pts. kerosene.

1 qt. water.

Shake well in a jug, then put one-half pint of
the fluid to one gallon of water. Stir well and both
spray the bushes thoroughly and wet the ground
around the roots. Repeat every ten days from May
1st to June 15th, by which time the pests seem to
get discouraged and give up the fight!

And the reward for all this care and attention ?

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

‘TA devoted cottager,’’ says Neltje Blanchan, ‘‘may
easily have more beautiful roses than the indifferent
millionaire. ’’

The following lists comprise a few of the best of
the different classes mentioned. I wish you suc-
cess In your choice.

ROSES

A FEW OF THE BEST OF EACH KIND

Teas. (Tenderest of roses, needing winter protec-
tion. Noted for delicate shades and fra-
grance. )

Maman Cochet, free bloomer, hardiest of the teas;
rose-pink.

Marie Van Houtie, also a free bloomer and quite
hardy; canary yellow.

Souvenir de Catherine Guillot, a rose of excel-
lence ; copper-carmine.

White Maman Cochet, a strong grower, like the
pink; white.

Hybrid Teas. (Best for the garden, as they com-
bine the best qualities of the teas and the hy-
brid perpetuals,—color, hardiness, and steady
bloom.) 5;

Caroline Testout, one of the most popular,
slightly fragrant; rose pink.

Etoile de France, continuous bloomer and fra-
grant; crimson. Be

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Gruss an Teplitz, the best dark rose, and fra-
grant; velvety crimson.

Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, blooms of lovely
shape, on long stems; pearly white.

Killarney, very popular and one of the best of
its color; lovely pink.

Killarney, a ‘‘sport,’’ same as the pink; white.

La France, especially good form, fragrant;
bluish-pink.

Mrs. Aaron Ward, a vigorous plant, of compact
growth, very popular; pinkish-yellow.

Richmond, a steady bloomer all summer, with a
beautiful bud; rich deep red.

Hybrid Perpetuals. (Commonly known as June
roses, and hardy. The following will bloom
most of the summer.)

Anna de Diesbach (Gloire de Paris), splendid
in the garden and fragrant; rich carmine.

American Beauty, successful in most localities;
rose-carmine.

Frau Karl Druschki, very large and fragrant;
snowy white.

General Jacqueminot, a favorite that does well
everywhere; crimson.

Louis van Houtte, very desirable and fragrant;
deep red.

Mrs. John Laing, late blooming and hardy, fra-
grant; lovely pink.

Mrs. R. G. Sharman-Crawford, a splendid
bloomer ; rose-pink.

Ulrich Brunner, large, fragrant, with well-
formed flowers; cherry red.

Moss. (Loved for the beautiful fragrant buds with
their mossy covering.)

Blanche Moreau, flowers in clusters; white.
6

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Countess de Murinais, one of the best; white.

Crested Moss, finely crested ; rose pink.

Henry Martin, very vigorous; crimson.

Luxembourg, exceptionally good; crimson.

Climbing and Rambler. (Used over walls, fences,
pillars, arbors and trellises. )

Baby ramblers, 18 in. to 24 in. high, are good for
hedges, beds, or carpeting, and can be bought
in white, pink, salmon pink, red and yellow.

Climbing American Beauty, well worth growing;
rose-pink. :

Dorothy Perkins, a profuse bloomer and rapid
grower ; shell-pink.

Crimson Rambler, first of the ramblers, but dis-
liked by many gardeners today; crimson.

Dr. Van Fleet, one of the best, resisting mildew
and insects,—a gem; flesh-pink.

Excelsa, an improvement on the formerly popu-
lar crimson rambler; crimson.

Hiawatha, most brilliant of all, between 40 and
50 roses to the spray; carmine.

Tausendscheen, roses 3 in. across, graceful in —
form, and 10 or 15 to the truss; pink.

White Dorothy, like satisfactory Dorothy Perk-
ins, except for color; white.

Yellow Rambler, new variety called ‘‘ Aviator
Bleriot,’’ the first hardy yellow; yellow.

Briar, Austrian and Hybrids. (Loved by our
grandmothers, and some known here in this
country as far back as 1596. They must not
be crowded. )

Austrian Copper, beautiful single reddish-cop- |
per and one of the oldest; copper.

Austrian Yellow, lovely single flowers (intro-
duced late in 1500) ; deep yellow.

| 67

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

English Sweet Briar, or Eglantine, loved for
its fragrance, also single; pink.

Anne of Gerstein, very graceful; dark crimson.

Brenda, very dainty; peach.

Refulgence, fragrant foliage,—deepens in color
on developing; scarlet to crimson.

AMERICAN GROWN ROSES

The American grown rose, however, I find is con-
sidered by many people to be by far the best.
While its slender brown stems are not as at-
tractive to the ignorant gardener as the thick, green
of the imported, it is much more adapted to our
soil and climatic conditions. It is cheaper, too, and
splendid varieties, in 214-in. and 3-in. pots, ean be
bought as low as $5.00 or $6.00 a hundred from ex-
pert growers, by the person willing to start a rose
garden and then wait a year for really fine results.

In lots of fifteen, however, many of these fine
varieties of one-year-old plants can be bought for
$1.00, with the growers’ guarantee that ‘‘they will
bloom the first and each succeeding year, from early .
spring until severe frost.’’ The plants are small, of
course, but who could ask for more at that price!

The (probably) best informed man in the Eastern
United States recommends the following list of
Teas and Hybrid Teas,—and it has been adopted

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

by a number of firms as suggestions for planting.
Don’t go looking for these plants at the 5- and 10-
cent stores, for they never carry such specialties.
They are cheap, though, and well known through-
out this section, but they should be procured from
people WHO MAKE A BUSINESS OF GROW-
ING ROSES!

A SPECIALIST’S LIST OF TEAS AND
HYBRID TEAS

White

Grossherzogin Alexandra
Kaiserin Augusta Victoria
Marie Guillot

White Bougere

Yellow
Blumenschmidt
Etoile de Lyon
Lady Hillingdon
Sunburst |

Light Pink
Col. R. S. Williamson
Helen Good
Mrs. Foley Hobbs
Souvenir du President Carnot
Wm. R. Smith
Yvonne Vacherot

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Dark Pink
Aurora
F. R. Patger
Jonkheer J. L. Mock
Lady Alice Stanley
Maman Cochet
Mme. Jules Grolez
Mrs. George Shawyer
Radiance

Red
Crimson Queen
Etoile de France

' Mme. Eugene Marlitt

General McArthur
Helen Gould
Laurent Carle
Rhea Reid

CHAPTER VIII

Vines, Tender and Hardy

They shall sit every man under his vine and
under his figtree.
—Micah iv, 4.

EVERYBODY likes a pretty vine, and there is sure
to be some place where you will want to plant at
least one. Where? Why, at one corner of the
porch where you like to play; round the pillar at
the front door, where you read, or by the window
where you sit to sew; in the backyard to cover the
clothespoles, hide the chicken fence, or screen some
old, ugly building.

The common annual vines you probably know
pretty well,—the climbing nasturtium, morning
glory, moonfiower, cypress vine, scarlet runner,
hyacinth bean, wild cucumber, gourds and hops.
They are treated very much alike, grow with little

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

eare if they only have something to climb on, and
spread rapidly.

The hardy vines are not so easily disposed of.
For instance, the clematis (with accent on the
' clem,) numbers throughout the world about one
hundred and fifty species,—generally climbers,—in
white, blue, purple, red and yellow, and ranges from
the 2-ft. shrubby kind to the 25-ft. vine. While our
common mountain clematis (Montana grandiflora)
flowers as early as April, the Jackmani in mid-sum-
mer, and the Paniculata often as late as September,
the Henryi is seen even in November. And while
some can be grown from seed, the rest have to be
propagated by cutting or grafting.

WARNING

Right here let me again urge you to make sure of
the particular kind of flower, plant or vine that you
get, so that you will know how to treat it, and not
count on flowers in June from a variety that blos-
soms in September, or expect purple posies from
the white sort. The gentleman printing this book
will not let me take space enough to go into de-
tails about every thing I mention (he says paper

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

is too dear!) so the only way out of the difficulty
is for me to make the lists include all the colors,
all the heights, all the months of bloom, and then
impress on YOU the necessity of ascertaining the
particular kind you want to grow.

BOOKS THAT WILL HELP

As the people you would ask might make a mis-
take about these things, get in the habit of look-
ing them up for yourself. Go to the Public Li-
brary and just see the fascinating books that have
been written about plants and flowers,—many for
children and in the form of stories. For real facts,
though, given in few words and easily found from.
a complete index in the back, ask for ‘‘The Amer-
ican Flower Garden,’’ by Neltje Blanchan, or ‘‘The
Garden Month by Month,’’ by Mabel Cabot Sedg-
wick. This latter gives a little description of all
the hardy plants and flowers, and is filled with
beautiful pictures. And some of the big seed deal-
ers and nurserymen get out fine catalogues that
are really garden books in themselves, chock full
of information aecompanied by colored illustra-
tions, which can be had for the asking!

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CHAPTER IX

Shrubs We Love to See

‘‘Every yard should be a picture. The observer
should catch the entire effect and purpose, without
analyzing its parts.’’

—Bailey.

OF course you want to know something about
shrubs. For what? Possibly just to make a tiny
hedge around your garden, or a taller one to shut
out the view of some neighbor’s untidy backyard.
More likely for a lovely specimen plant for your
own grounds. In that case, don’t, oh, don’t! set it
out in the middle of the lawn! And two or three
thus dotted around (in ‘‘spotty planting,’’ so
called) are the acme of bad taste, and violate the
fundamental principles of landscape gardening.

Our grandmothers all loved the tall syringa,
honeysuckle, snowball, strawberry shrub, weigela,

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

rose of Sharon and lilac, while they hedged both
their yards and gardens with box, privet and ever-
greens. Today we use a good deal of the Japanese
barberry, while Uncle Sam’s recent free distribu-
tion has widely introduced that pretty little annual
bush-like plant—the kochia, or summer cypress,
good for low hedges.

But there is that publisher cutting off my space
again! So I can just add a word about the lovely
new summer lilac or buddleia. <A tiny plant of this,
eosting only 25 cents, grows into a nice four-foot
bush the first summer, and blooms until late in the
season. :

Most of these shrubs can be easily grown from
cuttings, however, so just ask your friends to re-
member you when they do their pruning.

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CHAPTER X

Vegetable Growing for the
Home ‘Table

The life of the husbandman,—a life fed by the
bounty of earth, and sweetened by the airs of

heaven.
—Jerrold.

It is predicted that this year,—1917,— will be
the greatest year for gardening that the country
ever has known!

The high cost of living first stimulated interest.
Then after war was declared, the slogan, ‘‘ Food as
important as men or munitions,’’ stirred young and
old. Garden clubs sprang up everywhere, and in
free lectures people were instructed how to pre-
pare, plant and cultivate whatever ground they
could get, from small backyards to vacant lots.

In our neighborhood last year a man with a plot
of ground less than half the size of a tennis court,

§2

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

grew $50.00 worth of vegetables,—enough to sup-
ply his whole family! He got his planting down
to a science, however,—what he called ‘‘intensive
gardening,’’ so that every foot of the soil was kept
busy the whole summer. He fertilized but once,
too, at the beginning of the season, when he had
a quantity of manure thoroughly worked in. Then
between slow growing crops, planted in rows as
closely as possible, he planted the quick-growing
things, which would be out of the way before their
space was needed.

Incidentally he worked out a chart (which he
afterwards put on the market), ruled one way for
the months, and the other for the number of feet,
with name cards for the vegetables that could be
fitted in so as to visualize—and make a record of
the entire garden the entire season. Such a plan.
means a great saving of both time and space.

Garden soil must be warm, light and rich. It
must be well spaded to begin with, well fertilized,
well raked over, and kept well cultivated. Vege-
tables require plenty of moisture, and during dry
weather especially must be thoroughly watered. As
I have said before, simply wetting the surface of
the ground is almost useless, and often, by causing
the ground then to cake over the top as it dries,
worse than none at all, if the soil were cultivated

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

instead. Pests must be watched for on all the crops,
and treated according to the special needs of each
variety when whale-oil, soapsuds, tobacco dust or
insect powder seem ineffective. Then with weed-
ing, and reasonable care, you can safely expect to
keep your table supplied with that greatest of all
luxuries,—your own green vegetables, fresh from
the soil.

VEGETABLE GUIDE

Beans. Bush

Plant from early May on, every two weeks, for
succession of crops. Drop beans 3 in. apart, in
2-in. deep drills, allowing 2 ft. between rows. Hoe
often, drawing the earth up towards the roots. Be
sure that the ground is warm and dry before plant-
ing, however, or the beans will rot.

Beans. Pole

Set stakes 5 to 8 feet high, in rows 3 ft. apart
each way; or plant in drills to grow on a trellis.
Put four or five beans around each stake, and when
well started, thin out the poorest, leaving but three
at each pole. <A cheap trellis is made by stretching
two wires (one near the ground and the other six
feet above), and connecting them with stout twine
for the vines to run on.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Beans. Lima

As these are more tender, they should be planted
a couple of weeks later than other beans. They
need especially good, rich soil, with plenty of
humus or the fine soft earth that is full of decayed
vegetable matter. Allow each plant 6 in. in the
row, and make rows 2 ft. apart. Give a good dose
of fertilizer about the time they start, and keep
well cultivated. Beans are among the easiest of all
vegetables to grow, and as they can be dried for
winter use, are especially valuable.

Beets. 7

Any well-tilled, good garden soil will produce
nice beets. Make drills or rows 18 in. apart, and
plant the seed about 1 in. deep if earth is light and
sandy, but only half an inch if heavy and sticky,
as early as the ground can be put in condition.
Cultivate often, and thin out the plants to about
3 in. apart. Sow at intervals of two or three weeks
for successive crops up to the middle of July. An
extra early lot can be had by starting seed in the
house in boxes in February or March, and then
setting the young plants out at time of first outdoor
planting.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Cabbage.

For early crop, start seed indoors in February or
March and transplant, when four leaves appear, to
another seed box until you can plant in open
ground in May. For later crop sow seeds in rows
in open ground during April and May, and trans-
plant during July and August, to 20 in. apart, in
rows 3 ft. apart. Cultivate often, to keep moisture
in the soil. Prepare to fight pests, early and late.
After the seventy or more remedies suggested by
one authority, for maggots alone, the amateur
might feel like abandoning cabbage, but at the price
this moment of $160.00 a ton, wholesale, in New
York City, a person with even a handkerchief bed
feels like attempting this luxury.

Carrots.

Hardy and easily grown, they can be sown in
rows that are 12 in. apart, and thinned out to 3 in.
apart in the row. They can be started as early as
April, and sown for succession up to the middle of
July. Cultivate often.

Cauliflower.

Treat like cabbage, except that you must start as
early as possible, to get ahead of the hot weather,
and give the plants plenty of water. When the

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

heads are well-formed and firm, bring the outside
leaves up and tie together, to shut out the sun and
keep the heads white and tender. And don’t for-
get,—plenty of water!

Celery.

Seed for an early crop can be started in Feb-
ruary, in a shallow box in a sunny window, then
transplanted to another box, pinching off the tall
leaves. In May or June dig a shallow trench in
good rich soil, and set plants, 6 in. apart at bot-
tom. Fill up the trench as the plants grow, to
within a few inches of the tip leaves, in order to
bleach out white. Set up boards against the rows
to exclude light, or cover in the easiest way. For
winter keeping, take up plants with roots and
place on damp soil in boxes in a cool, dark cellar.

Chicory Witloof—or French Endive.

Often seventy-five cents a pound in the market,
but easily grown by the amateur. Seed is sold
under name of Witloof chicory, and should be sown
in open ground, during May or June, in rows a foot
apart. Allow to grow until November, cultivating
and keeping moist. Then dig up roots,—long, thick
tubers,—trim down tops to within 114 in., and cut
off bottom of root so that whole plant will be less

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

than a foot long. Place upright in separate pots
or a long box in a cool cellar, fill up to within a
couple of inches from tops of roots, and cover each
top with an inverted pot or box, to exclude the
light. Make thoroughly damp and never allow to
dry out. In about four weeks the new tops can be
cut for the table, and by covering and keeping wet,
often three or four successive crops can be secured.
A friend of mine keeps two families supplied most
of the winter, at little cost or trouble. A delicious
salad.

Corn. Sweet

Plant early and then every two weeks for suc-
cession, in good rich soil, dropping the seed 10 in.
apart in rows 3 ft. apart (for hand cultivation).
Start early in May, and hoe often. Golden Ban-
tam, Evergreen and Country Gentleman are espe-
cial favorites.

Cucumbers.

Plant as soon as weather is settled, and warm,
(early in May around New York,) in hills at least
4 ft. each way. Give good rich soil, and keep
moist. Leave only two or three plants to a hill,
and do not allow cucumbers to ripen on vines.
Plant for succession. The Japanese climbing va-

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

riety runs up a pole or trellis, is free from blight,
and produces especially fine, big cucumbers.

Endive. See Chicory

Lettuce

Can be started in boxes indoors, in March.
Make sowing in the open ground from April to
November, if you protect the first and last. Put in
nice, rich soil, in warm spot, and transplant when
big enough to handle, into rows, setting 5 in. apart.
Don’t forget to weed!

Melons.

Muskmelons are most easily grown, but both the
weather and the ground must be warm. Give them
a light, rich soil_—which, if you haven’t, you must
make by mixing the heavy soil with old manure.
Make hills 6 ft. apart, putting a few shovelfuls of
fertilizer in each, and planting about a dozen seeds
toa hill. After well started, and when most of the
pests have had their fill and disappeared, thin out
so as to leave only four or five of the strongest
vines to each hill. Spray repeatedly with some
good mixture.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Watermelons.

These take up so much room that not many peo-
ple try to grow them. The culture, however, is
about the same as for muskmelons, only make hills
8 to 10 ft. apart.

Onions.

Plant seed in fine, rich, well-prepared soil, as
early as possible, in shallow drills, 12 in. apart.
Firm down with the back of your spade, and when
well started, thin out to 3 in. apart in the rows.
Hoe often without covering the bulbs, and water
freely.

Parsley:

This requires a rich, mellow soil. Sow early in
April, in rows 1 ft. apart, after soaking the seed a
few hours in warm water to make it come up more
quickly. Plant seed 14 in. deep, and thin out the
- little plants to 5 in. apart in the drills.

Parsnips.

Sow as early as you can in well-prepared ground,
1% in, deep, in rows 1 ft. apart. When well started,
thin out to 6 in. apart in the row. /Parsnips are
improved by being left in the ground over winter,
for spring use.

ALL READY

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Peas.

The early smooth varieties are the first seeds to
put into the garden, though the wrinkled are a
better quality. Dig furrows 2 in. deep in earliest
spring, but when weather is warm, 4 in. deep; and
3 ft. apart. Select the kind of peas desired, scatter
in the rows, and cover with a hce. They need good
soil, plenty of cultivation, and the tall sorts should
be given brush for support. Sow several times for
succession. Early crop may be hurried by first
soaking the seed.

Potatoes.

_ Selling as they are today (February, 1917), for
10 cents a pound, one is strongly tempted to turn
the flower garden into a potato patch! The early
varieties need especially rich soil. Drop a couple of
pieces about every foot, in 3 to 4 in. deep drills
that are 3 ft. apart. Cultivate often, and fight the
vast army of potato bugs with Paris green, or Bor-
deaux mixture.

Radishes.

A light, rich, sandy soil will grow the early kinds
in from four to six weeks. Sow in drills a foot
apart (scatteringly, so as not to require thinning,)
every two weeks, keep free from weeds, and water
in dry weather. Start outdoors in early April.

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Spinach.

Sow in early spring in drills made 34 in. deep,
and 1 ft. apart, as early as the ground ean be
worked. Thereafter, every two weeks for succes-
sion. Good rich soil is necessary.

Squash.

Be sure of rich, warm soil. Plant in well-ferti-
lized hills, like melons or cucumbers, at least 4 or
> ft. apart. Sow eight to ten seeds to a hill, and
after the insects have had their feast, keep only
three or four of the vines that are strongest. To
repress the ardor of the squash vine borer, scatter
a handful of tobacco dust around each plant. —

Tomatoes.

Most easily started by getting the young plants
grown under glass, and setting out in the open
ground in May. Put 4 ft. apart, in rich, mellow
soil, and water freely. Seed can be started, how-
ever, in the house, in March, then the seedlings
transplanted into old berry-boxes or flowerpots,
and allowed to grow slowly until about May 15th
(around New York), when they can be set in the
open ground. Plants are attractive when tied to
stakes or a trellis, and produce earlier, better and

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

higher grade tomatoes, without the musty taste of
those that are allowed to sprawl over the ground.

Turnips.

Sow early in the open ground, in drills 15 in.
apart, and thin out to 6 in. apart in the row. Up
to June, sow every two weeks for succession.

CHAPTER XI

Your Garden’s Friends and
Foes

A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we
turn her out of a garden.
—Johnson.

Your garden’s friends and foes,—have you ever
thought about them as such? You go to a Iot of
trouble to raise fine flowers and vegetables, and
then, if you are not on the lookout, before you know
it something has happened! Your rose leaves are
discovered full of holes, and your potato vines al-
most destroyed; your tomato plants are being
eaten up by the big, ugly ‘‘tomato worm,’’ while
your choicest flowers are dying from the inroads of
green or brown insects so tiny that at first you do
not notice them; and strong plants of all kinds are
found cut off close to the ground. What further
proof do you need that your beloved garden has its
enemies ?

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Here indeed ‘‘Eternal vigilance is the price of
liberty.”? If you would be free and escape such
ravages, you can not wait until your foes are full-
fledged and hard at work, because usually consid-
erable damage has then been done, Instead, you
should learn at the time you begin gardening all
about the many difficulties you have to contend
with, including the various things that prey upon
your plants.

When you plant seed, for instance, and it fails
te come up, you are apt to blame either the dealer
or the weather man. Just as likely as not, though,
some insect had attacked the seed before it was
planted, or else the grubs got busy and enjoyed a
full meal. These pests, with their various relations,
are the most difficult of all to control, but pois-
oned bait (freshly cut clover that has been sprayed
with Paris green,) scattered on the ground where
cut worms come out at night to feed, will destroy
many of them. When your plants have begun to
grow, however, and you find them being nipped
off close to the ground, dig close to the stem and
you will probably bring to light a eut worm curled
up in his favorite position, and you can end him
then and there from doing further damage. The
wire worm, on the contrary, works entirely below
the surface, and when you spade up a long, slender,
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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

jointed, brownish, wriggling worm, quite hard, you
will know that he is one of the kind to be immedi-
ately destroyed.

These grubs and worms are the different kind of
caterpillars,—the children,—of several varieties of
moths that fly by night, the shining brown bectle
that bumps against the ceiling on a summer even-
ing, and the funny ‘‘snap-bug.’’ Crawling or fly-
ing, young or old, parent or child, they generally
do their worst after dark. Equal parts of soot and
lime, well mixed, scattered in a four-inch ring
around each stem on the top of the soil, will keep
away the things that crawl, while white hellebore
(a poison that must not get on little fingers,) dusted
on the plants will keep off most of the things that
fly. Rose bugs, however, seem to come in a class
by themselves! Apparently, they don’t mind any
of the well-known deterrents and about the only
way to really get rid of them is to ‘‘go bugging,’’
which means knocking them off into a eup of kero-
sene or a box where they can be killed.

Caterpillars, naked or hairy, eat vegetation, and
are consequently most unwelcome visitors. The
sowbug or pill-bug, while disagreeable to look at,
is not quite so injurious as often thought, but the
mite called the red spider can do a lot of dam-
age. Most of the beetles seriously injure the vege-

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

tables. The saw-flies with their offspring, and cer-
tain kinds of ants (especially the ‘‘soldier ants’’)
are as troublesome as the caterpillars, while the
next family group, the grasshoppers, locusts, katy-
dids and crickets are all great feeders,—the grass-
hoppers and locusts often becoming an actual
plague and destroying whole crops. To get rid of
the caterpillars and beetles various means are em-
ployed, such as spraying with Paris green, Bor-
deaux mixture, kerosene emulsion, or even strong
suds made with whale-oil soap; and Paris green is
also applied dry. A pretty good poison is bran-
and-arsenic mixture, but the different liquids and
powders make a story by themselves, and require
great care in using; so you better consult sume suc-
cessful gardener-friend about the best one (and
the way to use it,) for your particular foe.

Of the sucking insects,—those that draw out
the juice or sap of the plant,—the aphides or
‘*plant lice’’ do inestimable damage to ali kinds of
plants and flowers, while the chinch bug and garden
tree-hopper seem to prefer to attack vegetables.
The most familiar aphides are green, and they
have tiny, soft, pear-shaped bodies, with long legs
and ‘‘feelers.’? They usually live on the under side
of the leaves and along the stems, and one good way
to get rid of them is to spray with kerosene emul-

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

sion or tobacco water, or else sprinkle with clear
water and then dust with tobacco dust.

Not all of the live things that you find about
your plants and flowers are injurious, however, and
you must learn to recognize those which are bene-
ficial. The ladybug, although a beetle, lives on
aphides, and so is your helper in destroying them.
Several beetles, like the fiery ground beetle, sub-
sist on cutworms, and the soldier bug dines on the
destructive offspring of beetles and moths. The
daddy-long-legs and the spider are also friends to
your garden, together with many wasps.

As for the bees, many, many plants are depend-
ent on them for fertilization, as the insects in their
search for honey go clear down into the flowers
and carry with them the necessary pollen from one
blossom to another. Two stories I have heard il-
lustrate this point. In Australia many years ago
people tried to introduce clover, but they could not
make it grow until some one thought of importing
the bees also. The native insects did not have a
proboscis long enough to reach to the bottom of the
flower, so that the pollen had never been properly
placed. Then, not very long ago, a farmer living
near a railroad had his crop of tomatoes ruined be-
cause the railroad used soft coal, the soot of which
—settling on the tomato blossoms—kept away the

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

bees so that the flowers were not fertilized! He
sued the company and recovered damages. So
you see the bee is really necessary for the success
of your garden. |

Toads eat many of your small enemies, and
should be encouraged by providing an upturned
box or some cool, shady place in your garden where
they can rest during the day,—for much of this
‘‘dog-eat-dog’’ business, sometimes termed ‘‘the
law of the jungle,’’ goes on at night.

Birds, however, wage open warfare, in broad day-

light, and wherever the soil has been cultivated, in
the fields or among the plants and flowers, the
feathered tribe seek the very things you want de-
stroyed. A well-known nurseryman, when the
English sparrow was first introduced in this coun-
try, noticed many of the birds among his choice
roses, and to satisfy himself that they were not in-
juring the plants, killed one of the fattest. An in-
vestigation of his little stomach showed it to be
chock-full of rose slugs and aphides,—the rose’s
worst enemies!

The robins, of the thrush family, live almost en-
tirely on worms and insects, and the bluebirds,
orioles, tanagers and starlings, with the various
songsters, should all be given a most cordial invita-
tion to pay you a long visit. And this invitation?

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

A place to live, if only a box nailed up on a tree,
with an opening small enough to keep out intruders,
A bird house more attractive in your own eyes is
easily made by any boy or girl handy with a knife
or a jig-saw, and really artistic houses, suited to
particular birds, are described in various books
and magazines, made from pieces of bark, sections
of limb, or fir cones. A little study of the kind of
nest each bird makes for itself may enable you to
select your guests. The swallow, the cat-bird, the
blackbird, the finch,—all should be welcomed: and
suet tied on the branches, bread crumbs scattered
around your door, grain sprinkled where you es-
pecially want them to come, will encourage the 1 win-
ter birds to pay you a daily visit.

A bird bath is sure to prove an irresistible at-
traction. I have seen my back yard full of star-
lings and sparrows, pushing and crowding each
other to get into a little pool where the snow has
melted around a clothes-pole! A shallow pan, with
an inch or two of water, will often draw so many
birds that it has to be filled again and again dur-
ing the day. Birds suffer, too, in winter from
thirst, and greatly appreciate a drinking place. A
bird fountain, with its running water, is a delight
for the rich; but a pretty enamelled tray, white
or gray, and round, square or oval, can be bought

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

in a department store for less than a dollar, and it
can be sunk in the top of a vine-covered rockery or
securely placed on a mossy stump, where it will
bring both joy and birds to the smallest gardener.

So cheer up. Though your foes, as described,
seem a formidable army, remember all the friends
that will rally to your aid, and with reasonable
watchfulness and care, you and your garden will
come out victorious.

101

CHAPTER XII

A Morning Glory Playhouse

small service is true service while it lasts.
Of humblest friends, bright creature! scorn not
one;
The daisy, by the shadow that it casts,
Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun.
— Wordsworth.

You children love a playhouse, don’t you? Yet
it isn’t always easy to get one. A morning glory
bower, however, is a perfect delight, and very easy
to make. Persuade some big brother to drive a
few long stakes in the ground so as to mark out
either a square or a circle, as you prefer. Then
ask him to fasten some heavy cord from the bottom
of one stake to the top of the next nearest, and then
across the top, leaving only a place at one side for
an entrance. Soak your morning glory seeds over
night, so that they will germinate more quickly,
and then plant them along the line of the circle or

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

square marked on the ground. As soon as they
begin to grow, train the vines on the cords, and
if necessary tie in a few more strings near the bot-
tom, to help the baby climbers get started.

The morning glory grows very rapidly, and is
justly popular because of its lovely blossoms which
come in the most beautiful shades. And as the
flowers always turn away from the sun, you will
find them soon completely lining the inside of your
playhouse.

The most common kind (Convolvulus major,)
grows from 15 to 20 ft., and will do well in almost
any location. It costs only five cents per packet,
and will flower all summer. Who could ask more!
The rarer kinds are known as the Japanese Morning
Glory, which grows from 30 to 50 ft., and has blos-
soms measuring from 3 to 4 inches across. These
range from snowy white to darkest purple through
the pinks, both plain and with all kinds of va-
riations. They grow and spread very fast, and
love a sunny location.

If you prefer, you can use the trunk of some
tree for the center pole of your playhouse. (Pos-
sibly some of you at the opera may have seen
Siegmund draw the magic sword from the big tree-
trunk in the center of his sweetheart’s home.)
Well, you could attach cords from pegs driven in

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

a circle around the base, to the tree at any height
desired, and here plant either the scarlet runner or
the hyacinth bean.

Still another way is to plant two poles 8 or 10
ft. apart, and have a stick nailed across the top,
like the ridge pole of a tent. Drive pegs into the
ground along each side, in parallel lines 6 or 8
ft. apart, and tie heavy cords from the pegs on one
side to the pegs on the other,—carried, of course,
over the ridgepole. Plant your seeds close to the
pegs, and in a few weeks your vines will form a
flower tent. For this purpose, you might use the
climbing nasturtiums or the wild cucumber vine.
Or, if you can save up the fifteen cents necessary,
buy the new eardinal climber, which has clusters of
five to seven blossoms each, of a beautiful cardinal
red, from July until late fall. The vine grows rap-
idly, and often more than 20 ft. long, so that when
it reaches the ridge-pole, you can let it run over
the other side, and make a good thick roof. The
seeds are very hard, however, and so should either
be soaked over night, or slightly nicked with a file.

If you get a firm, strong framework for your
playhouse, you might like to plant a hardy vine
that would live through the winter and be ready
for use early next summer without further trouble.
In that case, you could use the Dutchman’s pipe,
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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

which is a fast growing climber having peculiar
yellow-brown flowers the shape of a pipe. Though
these seeds are only ten cents per packet, the young
plants are sold by the nurserymen for fifty cents
apiece: so if you grow them yourself you can
figure out what a valuable little house you will
have!

The everlasting pea is a sprawling, quick grower,
having many flowers in a cluster, and blooming in
August. It thrives in even the most common soil,
and gets better every year. It comes in white, pink
and red, and a package of the mixed colors can
be bought for five cents.

Other things besides vines are good for flower
playhouses. Hollyhocks, planted in a square or a
circle, will soon be high enough to sereen you from
the curious butcher-boy or the neighbor’s maid.
While most kinds are biennials, and so do not bloom
until the second summer, you can either coax a
few plants from some grown-up friend that has
a lot already established, or you can buy seed of
the new annual variety, which, if sown in May, will
flower in July!

Sunflowers, too, are to be found in several va-
rieties, ranging from 6 to 8 ft. in height, which you
could use for a sort of a stockade, a 14 Robinson
Crusoe. Those having the small blossoms are nice

105

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

for cutting, while the old-fashioned kind furnishes
good feed for the chickens,—in which case your
plants would be well worth growing for the seed.

It will never do, however, for you simply to get
your flower playhouse started, and then leave it to
take care of itself! You must watch the baby
plants as soon as they peep out of the ground, help
the vines to grow in the right direction and water
thoroughly whenever there is a dry spell. Culti-
vate around the roots every few days, as this break-
ing up of the hard crust which forms on top will
prevent the moisture from escaping through the air
channels in the soil, and keep the roots moist. Sev-
eral times during the season dig in a trowelful of
bonemeal around each plant, and then give a good
wetting.

While the hardy vines, after once getting started,
bloom every year without much more attention, the
annuals have one advantage,—you ean have a dif-
ferent kind every time. In other words, you would
then be able to give your house a fresh coat of
paint,—I should say, flowers—every summer.

106

CHAPTER XIII

The Work of a Children’s
Garden Club

I am ever being taught new lessons in my gar-
den : patience and industry by my friends the birds,
humility by the great trees that will long outlive
me, and vigilance by the little fiowers that need my
constant care. |
—Rosaline Neish.

Dip you ever see the boy or girl that did not want
to get up a club? I never did; and the reason is
that people, young and old, like to both work and
play together. Now a garden club is really worth
while, and although I might simply TELL you
how to proceed after getting your friends to meet
and agree on the purpose, you probably will get
a much clearer idea if I relate what a certain
group of little folks actually did accomplish.

Fifteen boys and girls living in old Greenwich
Village——today one of the poor, crowded sections
of New York City, where even the streets are dark-

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

ened by a tall, unsightly elevated railroad,—were
invited to form a club that would be taken once a
week out on Long Island to garden. A vacant lot,
one hundred by one hundred and ten feet, in Flush-
ing, about twelve miles away, had been offered for
their use, and some of the older people saw that the
ground was first properly ploughed up, for, of
course, the children couldn’t be expected to do that
kind of hard work.

But they could, and they eagerly did see that
the soil was then properly prepared by breaking up
the clods, removing all the sticks and stones, and
getting the earth raked beautifully smooth. Sev-
eral Flushing ladies agreed to help, making out
lists of the flowers and vegetables most easily grown
there, getting the seeds free by asking for them
from their Congressman at Washington, and then
showing the children how to plant.

First a five-foot border was measured off clear
around the lot, for a flower bed, and each child had
its own section. After finding out what each one
wanted to grow, one bed was planted to show how
the work should be done,—the depth to put in the
seeds, the distance the rows should be apart, the
way to cover, besides the placing of the tallest
flowers at the back or outer edge, and the lowest
or edging plants along the foot path.

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

This 18-in. path ran clear around the lot, leav-
ing a large plot in the center. This plot was then
marked off by string or wire to divide it into the
vegetable gardens, with little walks between. The
vegetable beds measured about 6 by 9 ft., but as
6 ft. proved wide for small arms to reach over and
cultivate, this year the beds are to be made 5 by
10 ft. At first, too, each child grew its own few
stalks of corn on its own bed, but it was difficult
to manage, so now all the corn will be grown in one
patch, where it can be more easily hoed.

The radishes and lettuce, of course, grew most
quickly, and within five or six weeks were ready for
the table. On that memorable first day, from the
fifteen beds, over one thousand radishes alone were
picked, and that original planting continued to pro-
duce for nearly a month. Successive plantings
brought on plenty for the rest of the season. The
lettuce, too, grew abundantly, while the cucumbers
were especially fine. String beans were ready very
early, and three plantings during the season pro-
duced sometimes two to three quarts a week for
each child. Tomatoes grew in such profusion that
once during the hot weather when they ripened
faster than usual, a neighboring hospital was given
two bushels!

And flowers! The children actually could not

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

carry them away. They took home all they wanted,
and made up the rest into thousands of little
bunches which the city Plant, Flower and Fruit
Guild gladly called for and distributed to the New
York City hospitals, jails and missions, Freshly
cut, they would last a week, until the children’s
next visit to their gardens. With hollyhocks, dah-
lias, cannas and cosmos at the back of the border,
and in front stocks, poppies, sweet alyssum, Japan-
ese pinks, nicotiana, and the loveliest blue corn-
flowers imaginable, they offered a choice variety.

How the children loved the work! One poor
little lame boy took some of his morning glory seed
back to the slums and planted—where? In a box
on the window ledge of a dark court that never saw
a ray of sunshine. (The woman in the tenement
below objected to having it on the fire escape in
front and he had no other place.) And there it
actually bloomed, dwarfed like its little owner, fra-
gile beyond words, with a delicate flower no bigger
than a dime, but answering the call of love.

The gardens thrived in spite of the only once-a-
week care. A pipe line, with a faucet, ran to the
center of the lot, and plenty of watering cans were
provided for the weekly use, but during any extra
hot weather a friendly neighbor would turn on her
hose in between times to save the crops. And a

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

children’s outgrown playhouse, donated for the
purpose, served as a convenient place to keep the
garden tools.

The garden work created general interest in all
nature study, and the children would go on trips
to gather all kinds of grasses, wild flowers, and
swamp treasures. These were dried, then classi-
fied, and later presented to the Public Library for
the use of teachers and students of botany. And
the little lame boy mentioned made a really beau-
tiful collection of butterflies.

If the club you organize wants a community
garden, almost any owner of a vacant lot will give
you its use,—especially if you offer in return to
give him some fresh flowers and vegetables. If you
prefer, however, you can have your gardens on
your own grounds. Then a committee of your
elders could be invited to give you suggestions as
to the flowers and vegetables best adapted to your
location and soil, and also to act as judges at your
show. For, of course, when everything is at its
best you will want to have an exhibition. Perhaps
some father or mother will offer a prize,—a book
on gardening, a vase or a plant for winter bloom-
ing.

Remember that both the Department of Agri-
culture at Washington, and your State College of
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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Agriculture are anxious to help this kind of work.
The former gives you all the seeds you need, free
of charge. Write to some well-known seed houses
for catalogues, and you will get particulars about
all the different varieties. Go to your Public Li-
braries, and you will find the most fascinating
books, many written especially for ehildren, tell-
ing you just what to do. ‘‘When Mother Lets Us
Garden,’’ by Frances Duncan, is one of the best
and simplest, while ‘‘Little Gardens for Boys and
Girls,’’ by Higgins, ‘‘Mary’s Garden and How It
Grew,’’ by Duncan, ‘‘Children’s Library of Work
and Play Gardening,’’ by Shaw, and ‘‘The School
Garden Book,’’ by Weed-Emerson, are all intensely
interesting. |

If you find yourself so successful in your work
that you have more flowers and vegetables than you
can use, remember that there are always plenty of
poor people in your own town who would gladly
accept your gifts, and any church organization
would tell you how to reach them. If, however,
you are trying to earn some money for yourself,
you can always find regular customers glad to buy
things fresh from the garden.

For a meeting place during the summer, why not
plan a flower club-house? Perhaps some of the
dear old grandmothers will give you a few holly-

112

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AN OUTGROWN PLAYHOUSE HELD THE TOOLS USED BY THE CHILDREN
IN THESE GARDENS

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

hock roots, which you can plant in a circle big
enough to hold your little club. Leave an open-
ing in the ring just big enough to enter through,
and before the season is very far along, the holly-
hocks will be tall enough to screen you from the
passerby. The hollyhocks sow themselves, and
come up every year, and hybridized by the bees,
show different colors every season. Better still, go
to the woods for a lot of brush, stick it in the
ground to form a square room, and cover with a
brush roof. Over this you can train wild honey-
suckle, which you can find in lengths of ten and
twelve feet. Or you can buy a package or two of
the Varigated Japanese Hop, which will grow ten
feet in a month or six weeks,—and sowing itself,
come up and cover your house every year.

A garden club proves a source of pleasure
through the winter, too. You can go on with the
care and cultivation of house plants, and the grow-
ing of all kinds of bulbs. You can meet regularly
at the different homes, and have the members pre-
pare and read little papers such as ‘‘ How to Grow
Roman Hyacinths in Water,’’ ‘‘The Best Flowers
for a Window-Box,’’ ‘‘Raising Plants from Cut-
tings,’’ ‘‘Starting Seeds Indoors,’’ ‘‘How to Make
a Table Water-Garden,”’ ete.

In case you wish to know exactly how to organize

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and conduct a club, just like big folks do,— get from
your Publie Library a book called ‘‘Boys’ Clubs,’’
by C. S. Bernheimer and J. M. Cohen. This has
also a chapter on girls’ clubs, and it tells you all
about club management, so that you can have a lot
of fun at your meetings, besides learning a great
many important things in a way that you will never
forget.

114

CHAPTER XIV
The Care of House Plants

Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.
—Cowper.

_ “Tr you are one of those people who love flowers

and can make them grow,’’ said a Fifth Avenue
florist to me recently, ‘‘you can do almost anything
you please with them, and they will thrive.’’ ‘‘So,
then,’’ I laughed, ‘‘you think love has a great deal
to do with the matter?’’ And he replied, ‘‘I most
certainly do!’’ Therefore, if you love to see ‘‘the
green things growing,’’ enough to give them the
least bit of intelligent care, you can reasonably hope
to raise all you have room for.

The main points to bear in mind are light, heat
and moisture. Flowering plants need sunlight at
least part of the day, and generally do best in a
south window. Most of the decorative or foliage
plants, on the other hand, will keep looking well

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with only a reasonable amount of light, as when
near a north or east window, if they have the
proper amount of heat and moisture. But don’t,
please, set any plant back in the room, away from
the light, and expect it to succeed very long,—for

, it never will! Select, then, growing things suited
to your living quarters, and learn their needs.

The heat of many living-rooms is too great,—
and too dry,—for some plants to do their best in,
and they should be kept near the windows, although
out of draughts. They usually will stand as much
cold at night as they are likely to get in an ordi-
nary house, so it is best not to overheat them dur-
ing the day, but instead, keep them in a cool part
of the room. Moreover, they thrive better if, when
suitably placed, they are allowed to remain undis-
turbed.

The atmosphere should be kept moist by means
of water kept on stove, register or radiator, but
water to the roots should be applied to most plants
only when the soil is dry. This during the winter
generally means two or three times a week. With
few exceptions, plants should not be watered while
still showing dampness.

‘“‘T often wonder,’’ said another florist, ‘‘that
women with gardens do not try to save some of their
flowering plants that might easily be moved into

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the house. Perhaps they think it isn’t worth
while.’’ If they can afford to buy all they want to,
that may be the reason, but the real flower lover
will delight in coaxing some favorite to go on bloom-
ing indoors. Heliotropes cut back, petunias and sal-
vias, by being carefully lifted with a ball of earth
so as not to disturb the roots, and then kept in the
shade for a couple of days, ought to continue to
bloom for some time. Begonias I have moved this
way without affecting them for a single day. A
small canna, thus potted, will last a long time and
help out among the more expensive foliage plants.
Geraniums, however, are the old stand-by of win-
- dow gardeners. If ‘‘slipped’’ during the summer,
by cutting off a tender shoot just below a joint, and
putting it in a pot of light, rather sandy soil,
and kept moist, it should bloom during the win-
ter. It does best in sunshine. |
The kind of soil best adapted to houseplants gen-
erally, is given by one authority as two parts loam,
one part leaf mould, one part sharp sand. The
variation of different growers simply proves what
I have seen contended, that it is the proper tem-
perature and moisture that really count.
The city girl, with little space to spare, will
find the begonias, in their many varieties, most
satisfactory. They respond quickly to house treat-
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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

ment, and a small plant from the florist’s will grow
so rapidly as to soon need repotting. These favor-
ites are of a large family, and some will stand con-
siderable shade. A large, lovely specimen now
about three years old, in my own home has devel-
oped from a little thing costing fifteen cents. Get
cultural directions for the kind you buy, as they
differ. A couple of stalks broken from an old plant
early in the season, and stuck in a small pot, if
kept thoroughly damp, will soon root, and blossom
in a very little while.

Fuchsias are another old favorite easily grown
from cuttings, and thriving well in a window.
Primroses are easily grown from seed, and when
started in February or March, should begin bloom-
ing in November and under careful treatment, last
through the winter. The crab cactus or ‘‘ Christmas
eactus,’’ as I have heard it called, is one of the most
easily grown houseplants, and sends out bright red
flowers at the ends of the joints, making an attrac-
tive plant for the holidays.

Of the ferns, I have found several varieties ex-
ceptionally satisfactory. A little Boston, costing
only twenty-five cents when bought for a small table
decoration four or five years ago, and changed from
one pot to another as growth demanded, today is
five feet in diameter,—and the despair of the fam-

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

ily on account of the room it requires. It has al-
ways stood near either an east or a west window
during the winter, in a furnace-heated, gas-lighted
house, and been moved to a north porch during the
summer. This type needs considerable moisture,
and does best when watered every day. I have
even seen it growing in a large basket placed in a
pan of water. The leaves of this group must be
kept clean, and I wash mine occasionally with a
small cloth and warm water, using a little soap
and then rinsing, if I discover any trace of scale,—
that little hard-shelled, brown pest often found
on both stems and leaves.

Both of the asparagus ferns,—the plumosus and
the Sprengeri, I have grown from tiny pots until
they became positively unwieldy, by giving about
the same kind of treatment. None of these should
be allowed to dry out, as they then turn brown
and wither. The asparagus plumosus can be either
pinched back to keep as a pot plant, or encouraged
to grow as a vine. The asparagus Sprengeri is
especially valuable for boxes and baskets, on ac-
count of its long, drooping sprays, and if allowed to
develop naturally during the summer, should be
well covered with its lovely berries at Christmas
time.

The holly fern is especially beautiful, while also

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

quite hardy and—to its advantage—not so common
as the varieties already mentioned. Several small
specimens found planted at the base of a Christmas
poinsettia were afterwards set out in small pots,
and grew with surprising rapidity. They stood
the dry heat of a steam-heated house, and kept a
lovely glossy green when other plants were se-
riously affected.

Fern dishes are frequently filled with the spider
ferns, though often combined with the others men-
tioned. On a certain occasion, when a neglected
fern dish had to be discarded, I discovered in the
center a tiny plant still growing that looked so
hardy I decided to repot it. It grew and, to my
surprise, soon developed into an attractive little
kentia palm, now three or four years old and eigh-
teen inches high. I think that one reason the ordi-
nary fern dish does not last long is that it is kept
on table or sideboard all the time, too far away
from the light. Often, too, it is not properly
watered. If every morning after breakfast it were
sprinkled in the sink, and then set near a window,
though not in the sun, it would soon be getting too
big for its quarters, and need dividing. It is well
to remember that the container is shallow and
holds very little earth, hence its roots are in dan-
ger of drying out.

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All these ferns mentioned I have seen grown
repeatedly, under varying conditions, in a furnace-
heated house as well as a steam-heated apartment ;
and with a reasonable amount of light, and water
enough to keep them thoroughly moist, I have had
them green and beautiful the year around.

Palms and the popular foliage plants can be
grown satisfactorily with little or no sunlight.

The kentia palm before mentioned is one of the

very hardiest, and will thrive where few others will
grow. Both the cocoanut and date varieties can be
easily grown from seed,—an interesting experi-
ment. None of them require any particular treat-
ment. A place by a north or east window will! suit
them perfectly; they will stand a temperature of
forty-five degrees at night; but they do require
plenty of water, and cleanliness of leaf. Water
them as the earth becomes dry, but do not leave
standing in half-filled jardinieres, (as people often
do,) as much soaking spoils the soil. A good plan

_ for plants of this class is to set them in a pail of

warm water and leave for a few hours or over night,
about once a week, and then when they become dry
in between times, pour water enough around the
roots to wet thoroughly.

The rubber plant grows quickly compared with

the palm, and requires very little attention. It

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

does best in good soil, and thrives on being set in
a half shady place outdoors during the summer.
One that I have watched for four years has stood
during the winter near a west window, only a few
feet from a steam radiator. It would get quite dry
at times, but never seemed to be affected at all.
When a plant gets too tall for a room, and looks
ungainly, make a slanting cut in the stem at the
height desired, slip in a smali wedge, and wrap
the place with wet sphagnum moss, which must be
then kept wet for several weeks. When you find
a lot of new roots coming through this wrapping,
eut off just below the mass and plant the whole
ball in a pot with good soil. Keep in a shady place
for a few days, and in a short time you will have
two nice, well-shaped plants instead of the single
stragely one.

A group of three long, slender-leaved plants are
the next of those easily grown for their foliage.
The hardiest is the aspidistra, with its drooping |
dark green leaves, each coming directly from the
root stalk, and it will stand almost any kind of
treatment. From one plant costing a dollar and a
half five years ago, I now have two that are larger
than the original and have given away enough for
five more. It has an interesting flower, too,—a
wine-colored, yellow-centered, star-shaped blossom

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that pushes up through the earth just enough to
open, and which often is hidden by the mud of ex-
cessive watering.

The pandanus produces long, narrow leaves from
one center stem, and can be bought in plain green,
green and white or green and yellow. It needs good
drainage, but takes a rich soil and plenty of water.
It stands exceedingly well the dust, dryness and
shade of an ordinary living-room, so is a valuable
addition to any collection of houseplants. It is
easily multiplied by using the suckers as cuttings.

The dracenas are quite similar to the pandanus,
only they are usually marked with a beautiful red.
They are equally suitable for living quarters, and
will thrive under the same conditions. The um-
brella plant requires an unusual amount of water,
and will grow nicely in a water garden. Its tall,
graceful umbrellas make it an especially attrac-
tive plant. The Norfolk Island pine is another
popular houseplant that asks only to be kept cool
- and moist. Beautifully symmetrical, it fits espe-
cially well in certain places, and will respond grate-
fully to even a reasonable amount of attention.
For a small plant, the saxifraga I like very much,
with its beautifully marked leaves and the runners
which make it so effective for a bracket or basket.

The ‘‘inch plant,’’ or ‘‘ Wandering Jew,’’ as some

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

people call it, in both the green and the variegated,
looks and does well in wall pockets or when grown
on a window sill in a fine, thin glass. Smilax is
also recommended for the window garden, and will
grow in quite shady places, though it needs to be
trained up. All the ferns and green plants men-
tioned are likely to prove more satisfactory than
the flowering ones to the amateur doomed to live
in sunless rooms,—which, however, can be made
most attractive with what is suitable.

SIMPLE INDOOR NOVELTIES

The prettiest kind of a little hanging basket is
made by cutting off the top of a big carrot, care-
fully scraping out the inside, running a cord
through holes made near the rim, and keeping it
full of water. It will soon resemble a mass of ferns.

A lovely little water garden for the dining-room
table is made by slicing a 34-in. thick piece from the
top of a beet and a carrot, and laying them in a
shallow dish or bowl, with half an inch of water,—
to not quite cover the slices. Set in the light for
a few days and you will have soon a beautiful mass
of feathery green and sword-like dark red foliage
that will last for months.

Grape fruit pips will sprout in a bit of soil

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

very quickly, and make a mags of attractive green
often where ferns have failed to grow.

WINTER BLOOMING BULBS

Of all the bulbs for winter blooming, the Chinese
lily is one of the most satisfactory, as it flowers
in a few weeks, and is grown in a shallow bowl in
water, with pebbles to hold it in position. It is best
to set it in a dark place for a week or two until
the roots start, when it can be brought to a light
window. :

_ The paper white narcissus and the Roman hya-
einth can also be grown in water, or placed in soil
if preferred. They will blossom in about eight
weeks. The other ‘‘Dutch’’ bulbs will take longer,
although the hyacinths are easily grown in water
by setting each bulb in a hyacinth glass or an open-
mouth pickle bottle, with water enough to just
touch the bottom of the bulb, and then putting
_ away in a cold, dark place (like a cellar), until the
roots nearly touch the bottom of the glass. A few
pieces of charcoal help to keep the water sweet.
Bring gradually to a light window, and when flower
buds are well started, put in the sun. By bringing
out this way in the order of their best develop-
ment, flowers can be had for a long season, The
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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

hyacinth bulbs can be bought from five cents to
twenty-five cents apiece, according to their fine
breeding.

Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths when grown in
good soil in the shallow ‘‘pans,’’ should be set
deeply enough to be just covered, quite closely to-
gether if wanted in a group, thoroughly watered,
and then put in a cold, dark place (frost free, how-
ever). Keep moist for from two to four mos.—
when you can begin bringing them into the warm
living-room as desired, and place in the sunlight
after buds form. With this method is secured a
succession of bloom from January until the spring
flowers come out-of-doors. |

The freesia and the oxalis are of the ‘‘Cape’’
group of bulbs, and when started in the fall should
blossom in four or five months. Plant in good, rich
soil (half a dozen to a 5-in. pot), set away in a cool
but light place, and leave until some leaf growth
has started. Then bring into a light, warm room
as desired for different periods of bloom. The
amaryllis is another foreign bulb that comes into
market in the late fall. Pot it in rich soil, rather
sandy, do not cover the top of the bulb, and keep
rather dry until it gets a good start. When buds
are noticed, put the plant where it will get the sun-
light, and water regularly.

126

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

SPRING BEAUTIES

As I look up from my work, my eyes rest on the
different spring bulbs blooming this 28th day of
February, in my south window, against their snowy.
background,—purple crocus, both red and white
tulips, and that loveliest of daffodils, the white-
tipped Queen Victoria. They were potted last Oc-
tober, covered up in an ash-lined trench outdoors
until after the holidays, then carried into a cold
but light attic for a week, before finally being
brought into a warm room. The daffodils cost but
three cents apiece, yet each fills an ordinary pot,
and produces three lovely blossoms, four inches
aCrOSs.

A new fibre is now on the market at a very low
price that can be used exactly like earth, only it
does not sour, and consequently can be put in any
fine bowl or jar, as it does not need drainage.
- Once thoroughly wet, it has only to be kept moist
and the plants do as well as in soil. I, personally,
prefer to plant in soil.

The family living in an eee with no eold
place to start the bulbs that take so long, could
easily fix a box or egg-crate under the coldest win-
dow and darken it with a small rug, hiding there
for a few weeks the Roman hyacinths and narcissi.

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

BOOKS FOR THE INDOOR GARDENER

However successful you are with your window
gardening, you are sure to enjoy knowing what
other people have learned and written on the sub-
ject, and a number of simple, interesting books are
available. Your librarian will be glad to point out
the best she has to offer, and there are several you
may want to own. ‘‘Manual of Gardening,’’ by
L. H. Bailey, formerly Dean of the Agricultural
College at Cornell University, is one of the most
comprehensive, covering every phase of gardening,
summer and winter, indoors and out; ‘‘The Flower
Garden,’’ by Ida D. Bennett, devotes considerable
space to house plants, window gardens, hot beds,
ete. ; ‘‘Green House and Window Plants,’’ by Chas.
Collins, is a little book by an English authority,
and goes quite fully into soils, methods of propagat-
ing, management of green houses, and also the
growing of house plants; ‘‘ Practical Horticulture,’’
by our own Peter Henderson, while especially val-
uable to the large commercial grower, contains
much interesting information for the amateur;
‘‘House Plants and How to Grow Them,”’’ by P. T.
Barnes, however, is one of the simplest and best,
and sure to suit the busy school-girl, in a hurry to

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

find out the proper way to make her particular pet
plant do its very best.

And just as surely as she would not attempt
to make a new kind of cake without a reliable re-
cipe, just so surely ought she not to expect to grow
flowers successfully without finding out first how
it should be done. Flowers, like friends, have to
be cultivated, and consideration of their needs pro-
duces similar delightful results.

129

CHAPTER XV

Gifts that will Please a Flower
Lover

You may break, you may shatter the vase if you
will,
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.
—Moore.

CHRISTMAS giving to the flower lover is a mat-
ter of delight, for if you stop to think you will
know what the recipient will be sure to appreciate.
Cut flowers always afford joy, from an inexpensive
bunch of carnations to the choicest American Beau-
ties. The Christmas blooming plants, however,
last much longer, and the rich scarlet berries of
the ardesia will survive the holiday season by sev-
eral months. Poinsettia has been steadily increas-
ing in popularity, and can be surrounded by ferns
that will live on indefinitely. All the decorative

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foliage plants are sure to be welcomed, for with
eare they will last for years, and improve in size
and beauty.

The growing fad for winter-blooming bulbs af-
fords another opportunity for pleasing. If you
did not start in time to grow to flower yourself,
give your friend one of the new flat lily bowls, pro-
curable from fifty cents up, and with it a collection
of bulbs for succession of bioom. These may be
started in any kind of dishes with pebbles and
water, set in a cool, dark place until the roots start,
and then brought out to the light as desired. With
narcissi at three cents each, Chinese lilies at ten
- cents, and fine hyacinths up to twenty cents, for
named varieties, a dollar’s worth will keep her in
flowers for the rest of the winter.

Pretty little stem holders, made in pottery leaves,
mushrooms, frogs, etc., cost only from forty cents to
fifty cents, and will be nice to use in the bowl after-
ward, for holding any kind of cut flowers. We are
adopting more and more the Japanese method of
displaying a few choice specimens artistically, and
assuredly this way they do show up to better ad-
vantage. Many new vases are displayed for the
purpose. A charming Japanese yellow glaze, ten
in. high, with a brown wicker cover, I saw for only
a dollar and a quarter, while the graceful Japanese

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

yellow plum blossom shown with it at thirty-five
cents a spray, was a delight to the eye. <A slender
ground glass vase in a plated cut silver holder was
only twenty-five cents, while the Sheffield plate bud
vase was but fifty cents. These could be duplicated
in cut glass and sterling silver at almost any price
one wished to pay.

Venetian glass is quite fashionable, and ean be
had in all colors—red, blue, green, yellow and
black, and while expensive, has been imitated in
domestic ware at reasonable prices. Some of the
new pottery bowls come in unusual shapes, in white,
gray, green, blue, and many are small enough for
a single bulb. <A lover of the narcissus myself, I
am delighted with the idea of bringing out my
paper whites one at a time, so as to keep a lovely
gray-green piece in use all winter. One of my
friends, on the other hand, is growing hers in
groups of half-a-dozen, the warm brown of the bulbs
harmonizing most artistically with her delicately
colored stones in a brown wicker-covered Japanese
glazed dish.

This brown Japanese wicker, by the way, is most
decorative, and can be found in various kinds of
baskets, metal-lined, for cut flowers or plants of
that grow in water,—some as low as ten cents
apiece. A tall-handled basket of this kindis

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

now standing on my buffet, beautiful with the vari-
gated trailing sprays of the Wandering Jew. One
could not ask for a more satisfying arrangement.

Enamelled tinware, hand-painted, is new, too,
and comes in many pottery shapes, though strange
to say, often at higher prices. Hand-painted china
butterflies, bees and birds, at from twenty-five cents
to fifty cents, are among this year’s novelties, and
look very realistic when applied invisibly with a bit
of putty to the edge of bowl or vase. Some of the
birds are painted on wood, life-sized, and mounted
on long sticks, to be stuck in among growing plants

or on the tiny trellises used for indoor climbers.

Many novelties in growing things can be found
at the florist ’s—from the cheapest up to all you feel
like paying. A dainty new silver fern, big enough
for a small table, comes in a thumb pot at only ten
cents. Haworthia is cheap, too, and has the advan-
tage of being uncommon. More and more do we
see of the dwarf Japanese plants, many quite inex-
pensive. The Japanese cut leaf maple, for example,
ean be bought for seventy-five cents. All are hardy,
and suitable for small table decorations.

The new ‘‘air plant,’’ or ‘‘Wonder of the
Orient’’ (really an autumn crocus), surprises every ,
one not acquainted with it, as it flowers during the
Jate fall and early winter, without either soil or

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

water, as soon as put in the sunlight for a few
days. Better still, when through blooming, it will
live through the year if put in soil, and store up
enough energy to repeat the performance when
taken out next season. Costing a dollar each when
first introduced here, it can now be bought as low
as ten cents a bulb.

Japanese fern balls, black and unpromising as
they look when purchased, respond to plenty of
light, heat and water by sending out the daintiest
kind of feathery ferns in a few weeks, and will
last for several years. They cost only thirty-five
cents, too. Quaint, square pottery jars, suspended
in pairs by a cord over a little wheel, like buckets
on a well rope, make unusual hanging baskets and
ean be filled with your favorite vines and flowers.

Garden tools are always acceptable as the old
ones wear out or get lost, and you can choose from
the three-prong pot claw at a nickel up to the
fully equipped basket at several dollars. Hand-
woven cutting baskets, mounted on sharp sticks for
sticking in the ground when you are cutting your
posies, cost two dollars and a half, but will last for
years. Small hand-painted, long-spouted watering
eans, for window sprinkling, cost less than a dollar
and look pretty when not in use. And for the per-
son with only a window garden, the self-watering,

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metal-lined window boxes, that preclude dripping
on the floor, will be a boon indeed.

Goldfish are pretty sure to please, for your
flower lover is also the nature lover. Even the
tiniest bowl is attractive, and one I saw recently
had been in the house over two winters. The globe,
however, does not meet our modern ideas for the
reason that the curved glass reduces the area of
water exposed to the air, so is bad for the fish.
The new all-glass aquariums can be bought in either
the square or cylindrical shapes, from a dollar and
a quarter up, according to size and quality, while
the golden inmates can be found from five cents, for
the child’s pet up to the fancier’s Japanese prize-
winner at one thousand dollars. Your aquarium
will require no change of water, either, if properly
balanced. Put in for the fishes’ needs such oxygen-
producing plants as milfoil, (Millefolium,) fish
grass, (Cabomba,) common arrow head, (Sagittaria
natans,) and mud plant, plantain, (Heteranthera
Reniformis,) the first and third being especially
good together. These in turn will thrive on the car-
bonie acid gas the fish exhale, so that one supports
the other. A snail or two (the Japanese red, at
twenty-five cents, preferred for looks,) and a newt
will act as scavengers, and keep the water clear as
erystal, For food, put in a small quantity of meat

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once a week, as the commercial ‘‘fish food’’ event-
ually causes tuberculosis.

Birds, too, are generally popular with flower ae
ers. Canaries probably are the stand-bys, though
in the cities the uncommon little beauties often are
preferred. Polly, however, holds her own, and with
many people is the favorite.

Books,—always a safe and inexpensive gift,—are
obtainable for the flower lover, in the most fascinat-
ing editions. They cover all phases of the subject,
indoors and out, from the window garden to the
vast estate, the amateur to the professional grower.
And no true gardener could sit down by a blazing
log on a blizzardy night, with Helena Rutherford
Ely’s ‘‘The Practical Flower Garden,’’ or L. B.
Holland’s ‘‘The Garden Blue Book,’’ filled with
wonderful photographs and colored plates, without
quickly becoming lost to the storm outside, and
conscious only of sun-kissed lawns with blossoms
nodding in the breeze. Heaven? Your friend will
already be in imagination’s Paradise, with an in-
ereasing sense of gratitude over your thoughtful
selection.

136

CHAPTER XVI

The Gentlewoman’s Art--
Arranging Flowers

In Eastern lands they talk in flowers,
And they tell in a garland their loves and cares;
Each blossom that blooms in their garden bowers,
On its leaves a mystic language bears.
—Percival.

THE above is almost literally true! You may be
surprised to know that the arranging of flowers
has not only long been considered an art, but that
for centuries it has been closely connected with the
whole life of a nation.

Away back in 1400, a certain ruler of Japan be-
came so interested in this fascinating subject that
he resigned his throne in order to study that and
the other fine arts! One of his friends,—a great
painter,—worked out the scientific rules which are
still generally accepted, and the study became the

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

pastime of cultured people. Moreover, Japan’s
greatest military men have always practised the
art, claiming that it calmed their minds so that
they could make clearer decisions on going into
battle!

Briefly put, the Japanese ideas are as follows:
First, to use very few flowers (preferably three,

DOT TTA ON aw OH sD ETP CRIED

BLOSSOMS IN JAPANESE ARRANGEMENT

five, or seven, with their foliage), and but one kind
together. Then to arrange these so that the three
main blossoms form a triangle,—the highest point
of which they usually call Heaven, the middle point
Man, and the lowest point Earth. If five or seven
flowers are used, the others are the unimportant
ones, and used as ‘‘attributes,’’ placed near the im-
portant points. And as many of their favorite flow-
138

GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

ers, like the iris and the chrysanthemum, have quite
straight stems, people have to learn how to bend
them without breaking. Each flower is studied, se-
lected for its place in this triangle, and then, oh!
so very delicately, shaped to the desired line.

And then as so few flowers would be apt to slip
around, they skilfully hold them in place by means
of slender sticks, cut the exact size, split at one end,
and then sprung into place across the vase or bowl.

If the stems curve to one side, it is called the
male style, if to the other, the female style; the
arrangement must look not like cut flowers, but
_ like the living plant, and suggest the growth by
the use of buds, open flowers and withered leaves.
Good and evil luck are connected with the placing,
as well as with the colors and the numbers chosen,—
even numbers and red being ill-omened. Certain
arrangements also suggest the seasons, one style,
for instance, representing spring and another au-
tumn. While we today are not interested in Japan-
ese symbolism, we, many of us, are quite interested
in Japanese methods on account of their artistic
effects. |

Many books have been written by the Japanese
on their favorite subject,—some as far back as the
Thirteenth Century! Of course you never could
read them even if you could find them here; but a

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

Western woman spent a long time over there, study-
ing under the guidance of their priests, and re-
cently wrote a book (‘‘Japanese Flower Arrange-
ment,’’ by Mary Averill,) which explains every-
thing and is full of illustrations, so that you can see
for yourself the results of following the Japanese
way.

Her most interesting message for you may be one
method they have of making their flowers last.
During moderate weather it ean be done in this
country by simply holding the stems of the flowers
in a gas or candle flame until black and charred,
and then putting the flowers in very cold water for
seven or eight hours.

Another book, with a lot of beautiful pictures
showing us how to arrange flowers to please better,
perhaps, our American taste, is ‘‘The Flower Beau-
tiful,’’ by Clarence Moores Weed. It illustrates
most of our own familiar flowers, in all kinds of
artistic holders, and is sure to give us new ideas
about arranging them so as to enable us to bring
out their full loveliness. Both of these books should
be found in any good Public Library, and in look-
ing them over, you will have a treat.

A prominent New York florist, in showing our
Garden Club his methods of arranging flowers,
advised (for one thing) filling a low bowl with

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

broken twigs or branches, to hold the stems and
keep the flowers in position without crowding.
Breaking up a few ferns to illustrate, he dropped
them in a cut glass dish, and then stuck in a dozen
stalks of pale pink primroses. The result was an
inexpensive table decoration as beautiful as any
costly display of roses. Personally, I did not ap-
prove of his ferns, as they would very quickly de-
cay in the water: but as a child I had learned from
my grandmother his better idea of half-filling the
dish with clean sand. It holds the stems exactly
as placed, and can be entirely hidden by the foliage.

Roses, the gentleman also told us, draw up water
_ above the surface only one-half the length of the
stem in the water, and consequently should not ex- —
tend more than that height above the water,—else
the ‘‘forcing power’’ (as it is called) will not carry
it far enough to sustain the flowers at the end of
the stems. (This may account for my own success
in keeping roses often for a week, for I usually take
them out of the water, lay them in a wet box or
paper, and place them flat in the ice-box over night
so the water in the stems can flow to the extreme
end.) He also said they should never be crowded
together, but rather be separated as the primroses
were. Both the leaves and the thorns under water
should be removed, as the leaves quickly foul the

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

water, and the breaking off of the thorns opens
new channels for nourishment to reach the flowers.

The fiat Japanese bowls so popular the past few
years, are not only artistic, but good for the flow-
ers, which in them are not crowded, and so can get
their needed oxygen. They can be held in place
by the transparent glass holders if one objects (as
the florist did,) to the perforated frogs, turtles,
mushrooms, ete., now to be bought wherever vases
and other flower holders are sold. Any one who
has tried to arrange even half a dozen blooms in
this simple way will never go back to the erude, old-
fashioned mixed bouquet! On the tables of the fine
restaurants in New York City one most often sees
only a simple, clear glass vase, with perhaps only
two or three flowers; but they can be enjoyed for
their full beauty.

The secret of the whole subject is simplicity !—
and you never know what you ean do until you try.
At our last Garden Show I had expected to make
a well-studied arrangement of wild flowers for that
class of table decorations, but did not have the
time. At the last moment I took an odd little glass
basket, filled it with damp sand, and stuck it full
of cornflowers, (what you might eall ragged robins
or bachelor buttons, and which I grow to go with
my blue china,) so that the holder was nearly hid-

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

den. On seeing it in place, on the show table, I
frankly confess I was quite ashamed of my effort,
it looked so very modest: and you can imagine my
great surprise when I discovered later that it was
decorated with a coveted ribbon!

There is one way, however, in which the mixed
bouquet can be put together so as to look its best,
and our fiorist-guest demonstrated it. On coming
to the close of his remarks he began picking up
the flowers he had been using in his various ar-
rangements with his right hand and placing in his
left,—paying no attention whatever to what he
took, nor even looking at what he was already hold-
Ing. Rose, daisy, jonquil, primrose, everything,
just as he chanced to find it at hand, went together.
But,—and here was the secret of the successful re-
sult—he grasped them all at the extreme lower
end of their stems, whether long or short, so that
the bouquet on being completed had that beautiful
irregular outline as well as the mixed color that
Mother Nature herself offers us in the garden! So
if you ever have to put a quantity of mixed flowers
together, remember to do it this way.

And now a last word about flower growing.
Don’t you know that old adage, ending ‘“‘try, try
again?’? When you think of the great Burbank,
erowing thousands upon thousands of a single kind

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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

of plant or flower in order to develop one to per-
fection, you can have patience in spite of pests
and weather. I hope you will have quantities of the
loveliest blossoms, and for the happiest occasions of
life.

May you realize all your fondest expectations.

144

LIB
GRESS

I MN il wi i MT Il

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