A simple sieve, which works well, may be made from a small soap or starch box. Knock the bottom out and use in place of this wire netting. Helena and Eloise made two sieves which did for all the girls. Eloise also made some very good flats as described before under the chapter on the girls' winter work. You can easily see how excellent this style of flat is from a drainage point of view.

More trouble, in potted bulbs and all kinds of plants, comes from too little drainage space than from any other one thing. Most boys and girls think it enough if one little stone or piece of pot is put in the hole of the flower pot. Not so; there should be from one to two inches of drainage material in the pot. That seems a great deal, doesn't it? But it will give not only drainage but air space, too, and this keeps the plant in good healthy shape. With too little drainage area the earth in a pot gets clogged and very often sour. A high pot needs more drainage matter in it than a low one. First use a piece of broken pot to place over the drainage hole. But put this in such a position that the drainage hole will be kept open. Then put in two inches of coarse material like broken pot. It is now a good plan to place over this a layer of coarse material. This gives a greater opportunity for air. Over this goes the soil you have already prepared. Place bulbs just below the surface and have soil one inch below the top of pot. Narcissus and hyacinths may be planted with their tops out of the soil.

A low pot needs less drainage material. Some pots have sphagnum moss over the drainage. Instead of this use old sod finely torn up or coarse soil. See, too, that the bulb comes nearly to the top of the soil. When indoor bulbs are planted at some distance below the surface of the soil they have too much work to do to force their way up and out. It takes too long.

After the girls had finished potting the next step was to make arrangements for the resting time. Bulbs should stay in the dark and cold from five to ten weeks. It is difficult to give an exact time as conditions differ and bulbs too.

Bulbs may take their retirement in a dark cold cellar where there is no danger from mice. Some attics are suited for this. Eloise put hers in an old bureau. This bureau was in an unused, cold room. The bulbs were placed in the drawers which were then closed, but not tightly. Ethel, Dee and Josephine put theirs in the cellar. Helena, Elizabeth and Katharine tried another plan. They had a trench dug outdoors two feet deep and eighteen inches wide. In this they placed their pots and flats. Then the trench was filled in with dirt and over this a layer of ashes was put. The pots were given a good watering before they were sunk into the ground. Unless the winter is a very dry and open one the bulbs will need no more water. If there should be little snow-fall then it may be necessary to water the ground where the bulbs are, but this is not usual. Little sticks were put into the ground just where the bulbs were. These help in locating them when digging-up time comes. The girls left them in the ground for six weeks. Then they were taken in and put in a cold north window for a week. Helena put hers in the dark a week and then brought them to a north window for another week. Then she put them in a south window.

Bulbs should go very slowly from dark and cold to warmth and light. This is a point to be remembered.

The girls who stored their pots in attic and cellar of course had to water them. This should be done as often as the plant needs it, perhaps three times a week.



When the plant is about an inch above the ground, as one of the pictures shows, it is the time to bring it to the light. Be sure the outer leaves have spread apart in the ease of hyacinths and tulips; also invert the pot and see if the roots are poking through; this is another way to be sure that the bulb is ready to come to the light.

A way to help a hyacinth or tulip develop its stems properly and so prevent blossoming low down in the box is to put a cone over the bulb as soon as you bring it to the light. Make the cone of paper and have one opening at the top two inches in diameter. The flower stem and leaves of the bulb will quickly start to grow up to the light. Take this cone off when the leaves are several inches high.

The girls did some water-planting, too. For this purpose hyacinths, Chinese lilies, paper narcissus and jonquils are good. Some people put these dishes and glasses immediately in the light. But it is better if they are set away in the dark until the shoots start and the roots, too, begin development. The girls bought glass dishes at the five-and-ten-cent store. Into these dishes were put small stones which they had gathered in the fall for this purpose. Stones should be small for this work, from one-half inch to an inch in diameter. Josephine had a lot of fine white sand which she packed in all about the stones. The sand was kept thoroughly wet all the time. This is a good method of treatment. Paper white narcissus, if planted early, will blossom by Thanksgiving. They may be held back until Christmas. These blossoms are sweet smelling and very graceful in appearance. Eloise tried the same method with jonquils with excellent results.

In February they had a bulb exhibit and their display was really fine. In the spring they all felt that the outdoor work, too, had paid. The beds were uncovered as early as possible. The outdoor bulb will stand considerable cold, even after it is well up. Cut worms may trouble the hyacinths; if so try the paper collar treatment.

Finally remember then three things about bulbs: good bulbs, good drainage, plenty of time in the dark.

After bulbs are through blooming let the blossom dry thoroughly and the leaves get yellow and dry. One need not keep these homely looking plants in the living room in plain sight. Put them away down cellar to finish drying out. Then cut the leaves and blossoms off to one inch of the bulb itself. Take bulb out of pot, shake all dirt off, and dry thoroughly. These may be put into paper bags and hung up in a dry place or just packed in a pasteboard box. These indoor bulbs may be planted outdoors in the fall. They will do better for the change. Indoor bulb culture means forcing, a hard strain and demand on a bulb. Outdoor planting gives a long winter's rest, not entire rest, to be sure, but the growth during the winter is slow.



LIST OF BULBS BY COLOURS

WHITE FLOWERS - - - - - - NAME DEPTH OUTDOOR INDOOR HEIGHT SPECIAL POINTS TO PLANT BLOOM BLOOM - - - - - - Snowdrop 2 in. March Christmas 3-4 in. Earliest of spring flowers. Likes cool and shady spots Crocus 2 in. " " 3-5 in. Buy Crocus biflorus. var. argenteus White 3-4 in. April January 10 in. Increases very crowned rapidly daffodils

Poet's 3-4 in. May " 12 in. Excellent for narcissus outdoor work

Grape 3 in. March " 4-6 in. Plant in shady hyacinth places in the lawn

Bell- 3 in. May Christmas 12 in. Poet's narcissus flowered and this scilla scilla planted together bloom at same time

Star of 3 in. " 12 in. Most satisfactory Bethlehem for bloom

Tulips 4 in. April January 6-12 in. Try Duc Van Thol and d'Immaculee

Hyacinths 5 in. " " 6-12 in. Plant Baroness Van Thuyl, very large and very early ——————————————————————————————————-

YELLOW FLOWERS -+ -+ -+ -+ -+ - NAME DEPTH OUTDOOR INDOOR HEIGHT SPECIAL POINTS TO PLANT BLOOM BLOOM -+ -+ -+ -+ -+ - Crocus 2-3 in. March Christmas 3-5 in. Plant Cloth of Gold Trumpet daffodils 4 in. April January 15 in. Van Sion is especially satisfactory. Flowers double Jonquil 4 in. " " 12 in. Flowers sweetly fragrant Daffodil 3 in. " " 4 in. Variety Narcissus Bulbocodium Tulips 4 in. " " 12 in. Due Van Thol, yellow Hyacinths 5 in. " " 12 in. Choose from those called bedding varieties -+ -+ -+ -+ -+ -

BLUE FLOWERS

- - - - - - NAME DEPTH OUTDOOR INDOOR HEIGHT SPECIAL POINTS TO PLANT BLOOM BLOOM - - - - - - Common crocus 2-3 in. March Christmas 5 in. Good for lawn effects Grape Hyacinths 2-3 in. April January 15 in. Good for pot culture

Iris 4 in. May " 12-24 Plant in groups (Spanish) in. for garden effect

Iris 3 in. June " 12-24 If planted outdoors in (English) in. September, cover well with leaves Bulb- 2-3 in. May " 12 in. Satisfactory for flowered bloom scilla

Hyacinths 5 in. " " 12 in. King of the Blues

————-+———-+———-+————-+———-+————————————-

RED FLOWERS

- - - - - - NAME DEPTH OUTDOOR INDOOR HEIGHT SPECIAL POINTS TO PLANT BLOOM BLOOM - - - - - - Peony 4 in. May 2 - Plant outdoors 2-1/2 ft. in September. Increases and lives a long time

Late 6 in. July 3 ft. Showy and peony attractive

Red 6-8 in. August 3 ft. Protect through speciosum the winter, lily leaving bulbs in the ground

Tulips 4 April January 6-18 in. Isabelle Choose variety ———————————————————————————————————



XVII

THE GIRLS' WINTER WORK.

"We want some plants at school this winter, and we each should like some plants of our own at home." This remark greeted The Chief one day in late September as he entered his home after a long tramp in the woods.

The slant rays of the late afternoon sun and the low fire in the fireplace were not able to give The Chief any clue as to the speakers. "Who are 'we'?" he demanded.

"I am Dee," was the reply, "and 'we' are all the girls."

"Dear me" said the man, "I thought I had settled your case by recommending bulb culture to you."

"Not much!" shouted the girls all together. "We have finished our bulb work," Katharine went on to say, "and now we are very anxious to do something with house plants. We have a good six weeks or more to wait for our bulbs, and so we thought possibly you would be willing to help us."

"I did think," grumbled the man, "that after I had invited you to a series of talks this winter you would leave me in peace."

And then they all laughed gaily together.

"Well, what is your stock you have to work with, girls? I shall have to know that before I can help you."

"We have—that is, most of us have—a lot of old straggly geraniums in our gardens. Then Katharine's mother has some fuchsias and begonias which she has promised us," replied Miriam.

"Up at the hotel where Jack sold his lettuce there are a few things I have been promised," added Elizabeth.

"Do you know what these are?" asked Ethel.

"Yes. There are some heliotrope plants, marguerites, some lovely rose geraniums, and a few flowering maples or—I have forgotten the long name for them."

"Abutilon is the other name," added The Chief. "Well, that is a start, surely. I'll do some potting with you next Saturday afternoon. That will give Elizabeth time to get her hotel plants. I guess Dee will drive you up. You are to take a big basket with you, and your trowels. Carefully lift each plant from its resting-place. Water the soil a bit before you take up the plants. They come up easier for this, and soil is more likely to remain clinging to the roots. If it should rain Friday you will be saved the trouble of taking a watering pot with you. Be sure to take up with the plant some of its own soil. Then pack all these soil-encased plants in your basket. Do not let the sun get at them before we get at potting. Come all of you at two in the afternoon. Bring your plants with their own earth, your straggly geraniums, pots, and each a trowel. Now perhaps you will be willing to trot home so I may eat my supper."

Next Saturday at two a grand collection of girls, plants, big pots, little pots, and trowels arrived. The Chief took girls and all out into his potting shed. This was once an old woodhouse; now a shed with benches running along two sides of it. Under the benches were great heaps of soil. Pots and pans were piled in one corner and garden implements were neatly put up on the walls.

"I call this a pretty nice place for work," said Eloise in tones full of real interest. The Chief nodded smilingly at her, for there was a bond of sympathy between the man and this real outdoor girl. Eloise had a greater appreciation of the work than any one of the others.

"Where did that splendid window box come from?" asked Josephine.

"That is one the boys made last winter especially for the school. I shall have to give you girls some group work first. Then I'll demonstrate potting and slipping to you all together. Eloise and Josephine will start to put the drainage material into the pots. Ethel and Dee may do the same for the window box. Put in your curved pieces of pot over the drainage hole, then about an inch of drainage material. There is a wooden mallet. Crack up some bits of old flower pot as you need them. Outside is a half barrel of old pots. Instead of using all pot for this half inch of drainage material, use some charcoal. In that barrel marked charcoal you will find plenty of pieces. The charcoal is not only good for drainage but helps keep the soil sweet. Helena, Miriam and Katharine will mix the soil. Here are some firkins and peck measures. To every three measures of soil from that pile there, which is nothing but garden soil, add one measure of sand and one of leaf mould. Now, my leaf mould over there in that tub isn't real mould from the woods. You see the part desired in leaf mould is vegetable matter. I can get that from old rotted leaves and rotted sods. Notice, girls, that you see no green grass in that soddy matter I have shaved off with my spade—only the under surface of the sods. This surface is full of vegetable matter in the form of young roots. Stir up all these portions thoroughly.

"Now, Elizabeth, look at these pots. Some are brand new, some are clogged with soil and green matter. Soak the new ones in a pailful of water and clean and wash the dirty ones."

"I'd like to ask why I am to soak the new pots, and why, since soil is going right back into these old pots, I have to clean them. I should think the soil clinging to the sides would help out."

"Yes, I should like to know that, too," said Miriam, stopping her work.

"If new pots are not soaked the soil in them dries out very rapidly. You can see that would be bad. Old soil clinging to plants interferes with the new root growth while the green affects the porosity of the pot."

The girls stirred, scraped, and placed bits of pot in boxes and pots for a time without speaking.

"Are we putting the right amount of drainage into these pots?" finally questioned Eloise.

"Not quite enough into those large pots. In the small ones the inch of drainage you have in the pots is quite sufficient, but in those pots over six inches in size put an inch and a half of drainage material. There should be two inches of drainage in that window box. Katherine, you are taking those new pots out of the water too soon. Leave them in until the bubbling is all over. Wait a minute, you mixing girls over there. You mustn't put such coarse soil into your mixture. That could well go into the pots and window box above the drainage material. But it is far too coarse for a good potting soil. What soil you need for potting one of you should sift. If the lumps were not so large it would have been all right. What is that you are saying, Dee?"

"I wanted to know what you were going to use in place of sphagnum moss. We have the drainage fixed in the box. Shall we put on the coarse material next? Helena said you always used sphagnum moss."

"So I do when I can get it. But I can't always, so I just take some old thin sods and put them on, green side down, next to the drainage. To be sure, the coarse material could go on next, but it is very apt to settle badly in the pot or box. You will find that sod just outside. Pick out the very thinnest pieces; any others will be too thick."

"Now," said Elizabeth, "if you will bring your pots over, we'll fill them up with soil for you."

"Wait a little, Elizabeth. What is going to happen with that pot already full of soil when you put the plant in? Just how are you going to work that?"

"Why, I had intended to make a hole in the soil and put the plant in."

"That is no way to pot plants. Come here, girls, and let us talk this point out. I will pot a plant for you. I guess this begonia would be a good one. See, it has quite a ball of earth of its own. Now look at Elizabeth's full pot. Trying to plant in a pot already full of soil is beginning entirely wrong. Hand over another pot, Josephine. Thank you. See, here is a pot with its drainage, and a very little bit of old sod over this. The soddy matter takes up only about a quarter inch. Give me a trowel full of the potting soil, or a little coarse soil first. Now I lower into the pot my plant with its own earth still about it. See, it is going to be about right. Now, while I hold the plant in position in the pot with my left hand, I shake the potting soil in all about the plant. Here is a stick. I made it and call it my potting stick. It is about the length of a foot ruler. See, it is about an inch thick and has a rounded end. With this end I gently poke the soil into place. Occasionally, I give the pot a little shake, which settles the soil into crevices and crannies. But never do this jerkily or violently. When the soil is within a half inch of the top of the pot, press it down all about the plant stem; that is, firm the plant. You should be able to take up a potted plant by the plant stalk without uprooting it. The florist can do this with any of his potted plants. If the plant is loose in its new home it will not do well."

"You said to have a half-inch space between top of soil and top of pot. I should like to know why, because all the plants at my aunt's house are done the other way," eagerly inquired Helena.

"The purpose of the half-inch space is for watering the plant. I should be willing to wager that when your aunt waters her plants she has a bad time with water spilling over and soil washing out. The space allows for this and prevents its happening."

"I shall tell her about that when I go to see her. I am to go next week. Don't you think I might carry her a plant nicely potted?"

"Indeed I do. I think we can spare a begonia for her. Just let me water this plant a little. Notice that I do not flood it. Now, set it outside, Elizabeth, right by my back door where it will be sheltered."

"Why put it outside?" asked the child, as she took the pot; "I'd have left it here under shelter."

"It goes out because good fresh air is as important for newly potted plants as good soil, careful handling, and watering. Now for a slipping geranium lesson!

"Old, stocky geraniums in the fall garden are exactly right to slip. These properly slipped and started, if well cared for, will blossom by January or February. If closely crowded into the window box, you may be certain of bloom provided you have good, strong sunlight on them.

Florists slip geraniums and put them into sand; many people put the slips into water to form roots; but it is far easier for you children and for schools to place the slips immediately into the earth of the window box.

"The slipping process itself is easy. Suppose we have a big, old geranium from which to take our slips. It is full of branches. These branches or stems have around them at intervals rings called nodes. The space between two nodes is called an internode. On the nodes are what seem to be small leaves. Press one aside, notice between it and the stem what appears to be a very small bud. Here a new shoot can start.

"So choose a branch, pick off all the large leaves except two at the extreme end. If there are more than two, choose the two smallest leaves. Now it is ready to cut. About four inches down the stem cut it off between two nodes. Do not cut straight across the stem but cut slantwise.

"You have now as I have in my hand, a geranium slip which is four inches long. At one end of the stalk are two leaves; the other end is cut obliquely across. Before you plant this slip look between the two leaves and see if there is a small bud. If so, and it is all green, leave it. For this green means that as the bud develops only leaves will unfold. If you see any other colour in the bud, pinch it out with your fingers. The colour tells us that the bud is a flower bud. If this be left on the slip, all the strength of the little plant will be taken up in forming the blossom. A new plant is not strong enough to stand this. It needs all its power for plant growth.

"Plant the slip in your window box, burying it in earth above the first node; that is, the node just above the cut. Thus you have buried in the earth the place where roots will form.

"Crowd the slips in, three or four inches only apart. They should not be exposed to the full glare of the sun at first. Some gardeners say to let the slips wilt before watering. But it is quite safe to water a little from the first. Do not soak the soil, however, or the young plants will decay.

"Now the slips may be put right into a window box, or into these flats. I would not place them immediately in a sunny window. But place them where the sun does not shine directly. It is excellent to leave window boxes and newly potted plants outdoors for a time, until in the fresh air they get accustomed to their new living conditions."

"Shall we fix up the school window boxes now?" asked Josephine.

"Yes, we will get right at that. But first I will give you a window-box talk.

"The most satisfactory way to grow plants in the schoolroom and in many cases, at home, is in the window box. The window box means the possibility of easily caring for a number of plants in a small space. Plants in pots take much more space than the same number of plants in a window box.

"It is the cleanest way, too. You are all familiar with the sight of a pot covered with crepe paper stained and discoloured from water spilt upon it and moisture given off from the porous pot.

"The window box, if properly watered, need never leak. Its freshly painted sides need never be covered with any material. It stands for just what it is—a well-made, well-painted wooden box.

"It is quite impossible to give dimensions for the construction of the window box, since it must fit the space one wishes to use. It is wise to keep in mind this—that these boxes when filled with soil are very, very heavy and awkward to handle. So if your window is large, why not have two small boxes for the space rather than one large one? When these are placed end to end the effect is of one long box. The ordinary house window may well have the single box.

"Other things to keep in mind for the constructing of the box are depth, drainage, holes, joints and paint.

"Just as bulb boxes need no great depth, so with window boxes. If the depth be great the plants spend too much energy in root growth. A shallow box means, if properly filled, a compact root mass. So if your box is to be, say three and a half feet long make it not more than ten inches deep.

"As we make drainage holes in the bottom of the bulb box, so we do in the window box. Many people make window boxes without drainage holes. It seems rather better to have them since they offer exit for surplus water, and places for the roots to get at the air. These holes may be bored six inches apart down through the centre of the box; or they may be bored in two lines, thus doubling the number of holes and the amount of air space. Take this rule, for every square foot of space have four drainage holes.

"A box filled with soil all winter constantly in a state of moisture is quite likely to spring or spread apart at the joints. The better fitted the joints the better the box, and the better it stands the inside pressure and moisture continually brought to bear upon it.

"As to paint, of course the box must have one coat (perhaps two) on the outside. A dark green is all around the best. Green is always the best setting for plants. Nature made this colour scheme. We only follow her lead.

"After the box is made, and the paint dry, it must be filled.

"Do any of you girls happen to know just where in the school room the boxes are to be placed?"

"One goes into a south window, and I believe the other is to be in a north one," replied Dee.

"That certainly tells us enough to help us in selecting plants for these boxes. The kind of plants to place in the box depends upon whether the box is to go into a bright sunny window or into one which gets little or no sun. Everyone knows the most satisfactory plant of all for sunny windows is the geranium. It is easy enough to get them for schools without money, because this is the time when everyone's mother is taking up plants for the winter, some of which are always thrown away. Many large, old plants slipped make six or more good little chaps. Begonias are most satisfactory; you can plant these either in sun or shade. A good one for a shady window is the one called the 'beefsteak' begonia.

"Fuchsias make a fine show. If you wish to have a plant of some height do not choose a fern or palm, for these plants need so much water they should always be planted by themselves in single pots or in fern dishes. The amount of water required for a palm would cause ordinary plants, like geraniums, to decay. So choose plants which take up about the same quantity of water. For height, then, one might plant a flowering maple. These are fine in leaf and blossom. So they add much to the box. Dracenas are good for both sun and shade; so, too, is pandanus. The foliage of this is pleasing. Much is added to the general effect if some plants which form long hangers are put in, and planted close to the front side of the box. In sun or shade the Wandering Jew grows. A bit breaks off; it is stuck back into the earth and again it grows. Pieces cut and put into water grow equally well. Trailing over the sides of the vessel they are in, they make a pleasing effect in a corner, or by the side of a window.

"An important thing to be remembered in connection with window boxes is that the closer you plant the better the growth of the plants. It sounds wrong. We think that plants ought to have space to grow in. They should, usually; but space defeats the object of the window box, because the idea is to have top growth and blossom. If you give plants a chance to grow under the ground they will do it at a sacrifice to their growth above ground. So crowd the plants in. The root growth, thus limited and checked, gives added strength above. This is true too, in a measure, of planting in pots. Most people put plants in too large pots, and so fail often to get good top growth and blossom. Notice next time you drop into a florist's shop the large palms in comparatively small pots. Why is this? Just to get good growth of foliage.

"Finally, as to sunny and sunless windows: put into the boxes for the shady windows plants which run to foliage, and into those for the sunny windows plants from which you expect blossom. For blossoms, sun is necessary.

"The last thing of all is the placing of the box. Shall it go on the sill? Not if you wish to keep the sill in good condition. Shall it be screwed to the casement? It may be, but it is hard to place each year, and often the strain is too great on the screws. The best arrangement is that of iron brackets screwed to the casement beneath the window sill. These brackets when not in use may be folded in against the wall and so are quite out of the way and do not have to be removed from schoolrooms each spring when the box goes outdoors. The weight of the box is sufficient to hold the brackets out, and so steadies them that it is not necessary to even screw the box on. Two boys holding the brackets straight, two others placing the box on, is all the labour needed to make that box permanently secure. It remains here now until its journey outdoors next spring.

"I would like to add the English ivy to the list of trailing plants for the window box.

"Some people have candytuft and others marguerites in the indoor box. They do not look as well through an entire indoor season as geraniums, fuchsias and begonias. I think I'll ask Miriam, Elizabeth, and Helena to work on the shady window box. We will use dracena, vincas, pandanus, begonia and Wandering Jew. Ethel, Katharine, and Josephine fix up the sunny window box—the fuchsia, heliotrope, marguerite, geraniums, Wandering Jew, and English ivy. This will be a charming box. Dee, you and I will plant the rest of these geranium slips for the girls."

They all worked away busily for some time. Then The Chief asked the girls to come into the house for a time. As they entered the living room they noticed an array of plants on the big table.

"Sit down, girls, I have a little gift for each of you. I wish you to study and nurse these plants throughout the winter.

"This first tall, rather stiff-looking plant is called an aspidistra. It is the best all-around plant for the house or schoolroom. It does not need much or special care. Be sure to keep the leaves clean. See that you do it, Miriam.

"This little Norfolk Island pine is the only one of the cone-bearing trees that you can bank on. Notice that the method of branching is by whorls. You are to have this plant, Elizabeth.

"I imagined that Eloise would love this little lemon tree called Ponderosa. You can raise lemon trees from seed, but like the apple tree, they need special attention before they grow good fruit.

"The Jersualem cherry tree is for Josephine. It does not absolutely need sun. It, too, stands a great deal of neglect. Remember I am not recommending neglect to you. I am giving you the house plants that are of easiest culture. You will be glad to make note of this entire list. Of course, the berries are the charm of this Jerusalem cherry tree.

"To Ethel I will give this lovely genista. It is the finest of all yellow-flowered winter plants. As the blossoms fade they should be taken off. Since this is a good winter flower, it should be allowed to rest in the summer.

"The azalea is for Dee. It needs the same care as Ethel's plant. These need not be thrown away next spring. But put them in a shady spot laid on their sides.

"Helena's plant is a palm called the Cocos Weddelliana, and Katharine's is a fern, the holly fern.

"I wish to tell you a bit about ferns and palms.

"In most school buildings and homes these two kinds of plants hold chief place. This doubtless is because they, too, stand lack of attention. Most people keep them water-logged because supposedly they are accustomed to and need lots of water. We must keep in mind that while ferns for instance are found outdoors in very damp spots, they are not in places undrained and choked off from air. So the jardiniere half full of water does not quite represent the real environment of the fern.

"Going on with the fern there are a few points to hold in mind. Do not permit the room temperature to fall below 55 degrees. Neither should it rise above 70 degrees. Direct sunlight injures the delicate fronds of ferns. A north window where there is light without direct sunshine is the right fern place. Keep the leaves clean by spraying with clear water on bright days. If bugs appear, spray weekly with tobacco water. This solution should be very weak.

"The best varieties to grow are the sword, Boston, holly, and maidenhair. Use spider ferns for a fern dish.

"Palms require great quantities of water, even temperatures, little direct sunlight, and daily sponging of the leaves. A sponge dampened in clean water is the best thing to use for this purpose. The most popular and easiest-to-grow palms are the following: Cocos Weddelliana, date palm, kentia, and the arcea."

"Will you tell us about the watering of plants?" asked Ethel.

"Surely, although I can say but little since it depends largely upon good judgment. Water a plant when it needs it. Keep the soil moist but not soaked. If plants are beginning to decay or a mould is coming on the surface of the soil, the trouble usually is over watering. At such a time let the soil of the pot or box dry out. Then water carefully after that. If the pot is always damp or has become green you may know that the trouble is either too much water or poor drainage."

"What pests are likely to attack our plants?" questioned Elizabeth.

"Lice and scale troubles are the chief pests of the house plants. You all know plant lice. Use kerosene emulsion for these. The scale appears as a scaly mass, usually on the stems of plants. These scales are living animal forms. The best way to get rid of them is to wipe them off with a rag soaked in kerosene emulsion."

"Why didn't you give some one a rubber plant?" was the next question from Miriam.

"I guess because of its bad habit of growing so tall and losing its lower leaves. They look like giraffes at the circus. But one may top these plants."

"What is topping?" and "How do you do it?" burst from Dee and Helena at the same time.

"I suppose you see that if one could get that nice-looking top off and start again the old rubber plant would be all right. So about a foot below the last leaf on the stalk—I mean the last leaf numbering from the top—- you should start the operation. Cut a slit in the bark at this place. Pack soil about the stem. Then encase this with sacking. So you have a nice ball of earth packed about the stem. Let the ball be about six inches in diameter. Keep it moist. You can sprinkle the water on. After a time roots will appear coming through the sacking. The roots have started to develop at this incision of the stem. Now the stalk may be cut below these new roots and the new rubber plant potted."

"That is very interesting," began Katharine.

"I should so like to try it," broke in Dee.

"Now, girls, I believe you'd better pick up your new plants and scamper. We certainly have done a good afternoon's work. The chief things to try for in indoor plant culture are cleanliness of the plant, proper drainage, and freedom from abrupt changes in temperature and draughts. Good-by, girls. We meet again soon at our exhibits."

"Good-by, and thank you so much," cried the girls in chorus.



XVIII

THE GRAND WIND-UP—GIRLS VS. BOYS

One day in late September the Boys' Garden Club received an invitation to Katharine's house for four o'clock the following Saturday.

Never were boys more astonished than these as they were ushered into the girls' garden.

"Well," Albert said quite frankly, "you have beaten us as far as beauty goes. You try vegetables next summer, and we fellows will race you."

"Thank you!" answered Dee, "You are very kind to us, very! You may possibly have noticed those beautiful window boxes at the Inn. Eloise made those herself, stocked the boxes, and has cared for them, too. Elizabeth's borders have grown as well, I should say, as Jack's flowers. Peter will tell you of our sundial. Helena has a beautiful garden. To be sure Leston has helped her but only because he wanted to so badly. Girls are not such bad gardeners, are they?"

"Not bad?" shouted the boys, "you are wonders!"

"Every fellow here give three cheers for the girls," commanded Jay. This was done with a hearty good will.

A week later the girls received an invitation to attend the boys' fall exhibit, held at The Chief's house. Early that morning the boys had gone to the woods to gather autumn boughs. The walls were a blaze of bright-coloured leaves. About the room were placed tables upon which the boys' products were exhibited. Fathers and mothers had come to the exhibit; in fact, the whole village had turned out.

The prize went to Peter, for he had made the most money out of his garden.

Just a word from a talk given by The Chief about the arrangement of exhibits and matters in general. He said, "There are as many ways to prepare vegetables and flowers for an exhibit as there are boys and girls to exhibit. It is not enough to bring the articles to be exhibited. The real art of showing one's things comes in artistic and attractive arrangement.

"Vegetables should be thoroughly scrubbed and cleaned. Dirt clinging to the roots needs sometimes a brush to get it entirely off. Carrots, beets, radishes, turnips, celery and other vegetables where the edible part is beneath ground, need this sort of attention, not only to make them clean, but to bring out the colours in each case.

"The foliage of a vegetable plant often adds much to its appearance in exhibition. For instance, the carrot has quite lovely lacey leaves. Beet leaves have such good red colours in them that they, too, add something to the general effect. The colours of the leaf and the colour of the fruit itself are a harmony. When radish leaves are taken off there is no good way of bunching the radishes. They are cut quite off from kith and kin.

"The only objection to the foliage is its wilting, drooping, tired looking leaves certainly add nothing lovely to the exhibit. If the exhibition is of short duration there is no trouble along this line; if it is one of several days the problem is different.

"Children's exhibits, however, usually last but a short time. But if the products can be put away in cold storage over night, or in water in a cool place, then it is possible to keep them in good shape.

"An outdoor exhibit is not wholly satisfactory because of the effect of the air on the products. They wilt badly. A tent is far better than the open-air table for exhibiting. With care the exhibition may always be made attractive.

"The arrangement of products is one of the main features. Generally children's exhibits are pretty messy and mussy looking. This is because of two things: first, the children have so many little separate exhibits; second, we do not stop to discuss carefully the matter of arrangement and preparation. If the children understood fully that no products would be admitted for exhibition unless these were cleaned, were of uniform size, and of the requisite number, there would be little trouble. With them, arrangement would have to be worked out largely on the scene of action, although colour effects, bunching, and general matters could be taken up beforehand.

"Let us think out a few general directions for exhibiting. First, all products must be thoroughly cleaned. Heading vegetables, as cabbage and lettuce, should be cleaned well, and perhaps two heads of each kind shown by the exhibitor. Radishes, carrots, young onions and small vegetables which are to be bunched should have anywhere from twelve to twenty specimens in the bunch. Leave the foliage on such bunches. The large vegetables like beets and parsnips may have from four mammoth specimens to eight smaller ones. Potatoes are exhibited by the plate and so are tomatoes. There are supposed to be seven large specimens to the plate.

"Flowers are usually shown cut and arranged in vases. The vases should be of clear, white glass for the best effects. Rose bowls may be used, too. Do not put grand collections of all varieties and colours of flowers together. Suppose the exhibit of a certain person is to be one of asters. Then put the purple ones together in a vase, the pink ones together in another vase.

"Another mistake of exhibitors is the huddling of products into close quarters. Give your individual specimens plenty of room. Let the things stand out as individual. The entire exhibit is spoiled when it looks messy and huddled up.

"The labelling is often done poorly. Any little piece of paper is stuck on the vases or under a bunch of vegetables. The child's name is written in abominable handwriting. Write or neatly print a little card. Put on this the date, name of the exhibitor (or number) and his place of residence, if required.

"These, in brief, show the real educative lines along which one ought to conduct a children's exhibit. The aesthetic side enters in largely, and a proper bit of the commercial is here, too."

Well, this exhibit of the boys' was pretty good. Each boy had a set of photographs showing the round of his work. These had been made into books. Some of the boys had kept diaries. The diaries had in them not only an account of experiences, but also the tables worked out with The Chief. Jack had what he called an improvement section, which gave ways by which he might improve over his present methods of work. The garden plans drawn to a scale were on the walls. Myron had brought his set of real garden tools. The pieces of hand work made by the boys were there, too.

George had made a collection of garden pests, while Philip and Peter had made collections of weed pests. All the pamphlets from Washington which they had used in their work and those from their own state experiment station were on a little table.

Each boy told briefly the difficulties he had encountered and how he had met them. After a talk by Jay, Albert spoke of the experiment in inoculation of soil. Then he and Jay disappeared, and returned with plates, one for each guest, and on each plate were two spoonfuls of beans, one of the inoculated and the other of the uninoculated beans. The visitors were not told which were which. Then a vote was taken as to which were the better. Of course, the inoculated beans won out.

After this, the real refreshments were served. "I should like to ask," Dee made bold to say, "where you boys got strawberries to make ice cream of? Strawberries in October! You certainly do not expect us to believe you raised them."

"I did," said Myron, striking an attitude before her. "I did in my own little patch."

"Did you make a few cakes of ice and thus have a cold storage plant?" Dee continued sarcastically.

"Dear me, no! I'm much more clever than that. One day, with a few baskets of berries tucked under this noble right arm of mine, I walked to this house. I knocked at the door. A man let me in. He tied an apron about this waist. We actually canned these same berries which you are now eating as a frozen delicacy."

"You boys are altogether too smart," and Dee turned her back on Myron to accept a second dish of cream from Philip.

That didn't disturb Myron any, for he cakewalked back to the kitchen for more cream.

"Well, it was a fine exhibit for mere lads," Jack's father was heard to say on his way home; "If we could bring into this little village a few more men like our boys' Chief there would be no question about a boy's coming up all right. It makes me ashamed to think that we parents have left this work to an outsider."

"I feel," answered George's father, "that this man is a real 'insider'."

After all the guests had left The Chief's once again the boys formed their line and saluted the man.

"Is there nothing for us this winter, O Chief?" asked Albert.

"Plenty. We are going to have a beautiful winter, and next spring better work."

Laden with their trophies the boys reluctantly started for home. They stood in the road in front of The Chief's gate, and the moon shone down on seven happy, manly boys. The three cheers to The Chief arose clear and shrill on the still evening air. As it died away the boys seemed to melt into the shadows of the road.

The man stood motionless in his doorway until the last sound of the boys died away. Then he went back into the room to dream over the fire dreams for his boys.



PART II

THE CHIEF'S GARDEN TALKS



I

THE SOIL

The following winter The Chief gave Friday afternoon talks to his boys and girls. These meetings did not in any way interfere with the boys' regular Saturday evening club.

Immediately after school each Friday afternoon they all trooped round to The Chief's little house, which had become a centre of village interest. Finally the men came too, for they had found out that this man knew of what he spoke.

But we are wandering away from those Friday afternoons.

There was the strangest collection of stools and benches in The Chief's side entry, all belonging to the boys and girls. "You must each one bring your own seat, because you all know that I haven't chairs enough to go around." And this called forth the collection.

It was an odd sight that first Friday in early November. A long straggly line of boys and girls, each one with a seat of some kind, wound its way up to The Chief's hospitable door, where he stood waiting, laughing aloud at the sight. In they came, and made a semi-circle about the big fireplace.

"I just love this room," said Albert, voicing the feelings of them all.

"I have thought," began The Chief, "that since our really successful first year of gardening, we ought to be in a position to undertake and to desire to know more about certain subjects which I shall discuss. Each Friday I am going to take up a topic such as I should if I were teaching you in school."

"You do not mean that we'll have to remember and answer questions just like school? You surely do not mean that, Big Chief," broke in Albert.

"No," replied the man laughing, "no, you may forget it all if you like. Remember it, if it seems to you useful. But if it's a strain on you, Albert, make it your business to forget."

They all laughed at this, but none so heartily as Albert himself. "That's one on this old head of mine," he said, banging that member up against the side of the chimney.

"My first talk I have given you in part, but I have more I wish to add. I believe even Albert can stand it. The subject is the soil.

"Soil primarily had its beginning from rock together with animal and vegetable decay, if you can imagine long stretches or periods of time when great rock masses were crumbling and breaking up. Heat, water action, and friction were largely responsible for this. By friction here is meant the rubbing and grinding of rock mass against rock mass. Think of the huge rocks, a perfect chaos of them, bumping, scraping, settling against one another. What would be the result? Well, I am sure you all could work that out. This is what happened: bits of rock were worn off, a great deal of heat was produced, pieces of rock were pressed together to form new rock masses, some portions becoming dissolved in water. Why, I myself, almost feel the stress and strain of it all. Can you?

"Then, too, there were great changes in temperature. First everything was heated to a high temperature, then gradually became cool. Just think of the cracking, the crumbling, the upheavals, that such changes must have caused! You know some of the effects in winter of sudden freezes and thaws. But the little examples of bursting water pipes and broken pitchers are as nothing to what was happening in the world during those days. The water and the gases in the atmosphere helped along this crumbling work.

"From all this action of rubbing, which action we call mechanical, it is easy enough to understand how sand was formed. This represents one of the great divisions of soil—sandy soil. The sea shores are great masses of pure sand. If soil were nothing but broken rock masses then indeed it would be very poor and unproductive. But the early forms of animal and vegetable life decaying became a part of the rock mass and a better soil resulted. So the soils we speak of as sandy soils have mixed with the sand other matter, sometimes clay, sometimes vegetable matter or humus, and often animal waste.



"Clay brings us right to another class of soils—clayey soils. It happens that certain portions of rock masses became dissolved when water trickled over them and heat was plenty and abundant. This dissolution took place largely because there is in the air a certain gas called carbon dioxide or carbonic acid gas. This gas attacks and changes certain substances in rocks. Sometimes you see great rocks with portions sticking up looking as if they had been eaten away. Carbonic acid did this. It changed this eaten part into something else which we call clay. A change like this is not mechanical but chemical. The difference in the two kinds of change is just this: in the one case of sand, where a mechanical change went on, you still have just what you started with, save that the size of the mass is smaller. You started with a big rock, and ended with little particles of sand. But you had no different kind of rock in the end. Mechanical action might be illustrated with a piece of lump sugar. Let the sugar represent a big mass of rock. Break up the sugar, and even the smallest bit is sugar. It is just so with the rock mass; but in the case of a chemical change you start with one thing and end with another. You started with a big mass of rock which had in it a portion that became changed by the acid acting on it. It ended in being an entirely different thing which we call clay. So in the case of chemical change a certain something is started with and in the end we have an entirely different thing. The clay soils are often called mud soils because of the amount of water used in their formation. The slate that Myron brought for road making belongs to the clay family, and so does shale.

"The third sort of soil which we farm people have to deal with is lime soil. Remember we are thinking of soils from the farm point of view. This soil of course ordinarily was formed from limestone. Just as soon as one thing is mentioned about which we know nothing, another comes up of which we are just as ignorant. And so a whole chain of questions follows. Now you are probably saying within yourselves, how was limestone first formed?

"At one time ages ago the lower animal and plant forms picked from the water particles of lime. With the lime they formed skeletons or houses about themselves as protection from larger animals. Coral is representative of this class of skeleton-forming animal.

"As the animal died the skeleton remained. Great masses of this living matter pressed all together, after ages, formed limestone. Some limestones are still in such shape that the shelly formation is still visible. Marble, another limestone, is somewhat crystalline in character. Another well-known limestone is chalk. Perhaps you'd like to know a way of always being able to tell limestone. I'll drop a little of this acid on some lime. See how it bubbles and fizzles. Now Albert will drop some on this chalk and on the marble, too. The same bubbling takes place. So lime must be in these three structures. One does not have to buy a special acid for this work, for even the household acids like vinegar will cause the same result. Albert will prove this to you.

"Then these are the three types of soil with which the farmer has to deal, and which we wish to understand. For one may learn to know his garden soil by studying it, just as one learns a lesson by study.

"I believe the boys from their last winter's work feel fairly familiar with soils, I have in these three tumblers the three types of soil. As I pour water on them just see what happens. Observe how little water it takes to saturate sand. The limy soil holds more water and the clayey an amazing quantity.

"I do not know whether you are much acquainted with the sea shore, I doubt it."

"I am," broke in Katharine, "for each summer, except this last one, I have spent a month at the beach."

"Then possibly you can tell us, Katharine, whether, or not, the sand takes in, or absorbs, much heat during the day."

"Indeed it does absorb heat; why some days we used to go barefooted on the beach right after dinner. I can tell you there were times when we couldn't stand the heat of the sand."

"That is quite true," continued The Chief, "sand absorbs heat to a remarkable degree. This heat is, to be sure, in the upper layers of the sand. Had Katharine burrowed down with her toes below those upper layers she would have found moist, cool sands. But an upper layer of soil, made up of particles which fall apart easily because of the loose make-up, a layer which has absorbed little water and much heat—well, to me that sort of soil doesn't sound quite right for good gardening. Add to such a soil, humus in the shape of stable manure in large quantities and this same poor soil becomes very good.

"Now here is the lime soil tumbler. This soil has taken up rather more water than the sand took. But it, too, surely needs to develop greater power to take in and hold water. So the same sort of medicine which we gave the sandy soil may be dealt out to the lime soil. Lime is a pretty good substance to have in soil. Lime is a kind of fertilizer in itself; it's a soil sweetener; it helps to put plant food in shape for use, and causes desirable bacteria to grow. This sounds a bit staggering but all of these things I am going to talk over with you. So just at present forget it, Albert, if it is a heavy burden.

"The clay soil, you observe, has taken in quite a quantity of water. That seems like a good thing. It is. But clay has a mean little habit of squeezing tightly its particles together with the aid of water so that air is excluded from the mass. It forms huge lumps; it bakes out and cracks badly; and it is also very damp, cold and soggy in early spring.

"As the problem with sand is to add something so that more water may be held in the soil, so the problem with clay is to overcome that bothersome habit of baking and caking and cracking. To do this we might add sand or ashes. But perhaps it would be better yet to add manure with a lot of straw in it. This is the easiest kind of thing for country boys and girls to get, because the bedding swept out of horses' stalls is just the thing.

"When I speak of clay's horrid habit of tight squeezing, I always have to stop and talk about the two great needs of all soils. One is the need for water; the other, for air. A soil cannot exist without these two things any more than we can. Without these, or poorly supplied with them, a soil is as if it were half-starved.

"That trouble always comes from a lack of one or the other is quite sufficient to prove to us that these are essential. Just see how sand lacks water, as does lime soil too! But there is plenty of air space, unless these soils are too finely powdered. Now look at clay! plenty of water, but how about the air? When clay begins its packing, then air is excluded.

"So one of the questions to be asked in soil improvement concerns the water and air problem. We must have air spaces, and we must have water-holding capacity.

"Before we go home I must just speak of soil and subsoil. When you strike your spade down into the earth and lay bare a section of the soil this is what you see: on top is the plant growth, the soil beneath this, dark in texture and about our locality of a depth of from six to eight inches. This layer is called the topsoil. In sections of the West it is several feet in depth. Now below the topsoil is a lighter coloured, less fertile, more rocky layer, the subsoil. Beneath comes a layer of rock.

"And finally you may be a bit confused by the word loam. It is often given as one of the classes of soils. By loam we mean clay, sand and humus. You will often hear people speaking of a sandy loam or a clayey loam according as there is a greater percentage of sand or clay in the soil.

"Next Friday I shall talk about soil fertility. So trot home lively now!"



II

PLANT FOOD

A soil, as I have said before to the boys, may contain all the food necessary for plant growth and still not support any good growth at all. That means then we ought to be able in some way or other so to understand the soil that it will be possible to unlock these good things for the plants to live on.

"I see a question in Josephine's and Miriam's faces. I guess that this question is concerning what the plant food is in soils. That is right, is it not?

"Well, I'll take that up first, then;—different ways of improving and increasing the goodness of the soil.

"The foods that are necessary and essential to plants and most likely to be lacking in the soil are nitrogen, potash and phosphorus. Now by no means must you think that these are the only chemicals which are foods, for there are something like thirteen, all of which do a share in the food supply. Oxygen and carbon are very necessary indeed. Oxygen is both in the air and in water. Carbon plants take entirely from the air. I might go on and tell you of iron, of sulphur, of silicon and all the others. But you would only get confused, so I am going to make you acquainted with these three entirely necessary ones. They are capricious; often missing, and when not missing hard to make into available food for plants.

"The soil contains many bacteria, small living organisms. These may be divided into two classes, the good ones and the bad ones. The good ones acting on nitrogenous matter put it in shape for the plant to absorb or feed upon. You see nitrogen may be in soil in quantities sufficient for nourishment. But unless it is in a compound available for use, it is of no value to the plant. Then there are the bad bacteria which act upon nitrogen in such a way as to form compounds which escape from the soil as a gas. That is pretty bad, is it not?

"How can the good bacteria be encouraged to grow, and the bad ones prevented from forming? The necessary conditions for the growth of good bacteria are air, water, darkness, humus matter and freedom from acid condition of the soil. If the soil is acid then these other 'chaps' set up their work; so we must see to it that our soils are well cultivated, well aired, have plenty of manure, and, if acid, have a liming, so that these bacteria missionaries can start their good work.

"The manure I spoke of above is the great source of nitrogen upon which most plants depend. There is nitrogen sufficient right in the air, but that again is not available. Certain plants like beans, peas and clovers belonging to the family of legumes are a great deal more fortunate than the rest of the plant families, for, under favourable conditions, they develop bacteria which make it possible to take into themselves free nitrogen. Just look here! See this narrow box; I can drop down one side of it. Here is a sheet of glass put on so you may look at the roots of the beans which are planted close to this glass side. Just observe the great extent of root system. Now see on the roots these white lumps, or nodules as they are called. These contain nitrogen-gathering bacteria. Some farmers in order to get more available nitrogen in the soil plant a crop of some legume. Then these root masses with their treasures on them are spaded into the soil.

"But most plants depend for nitrogen on manure. Whenever you see sickly looking foliage know that nitrogen is lacking, and supply manure in order to obtain it.

"The next element is potash. Its most common source of supply is wood ashes, not coal ashes. One may buy potash in the form of the muriate or sulphate. I told the boys before that potash was good for seed and fruit. Pretty necessary to have in the soil, is it not? Stunted fruit and poor seed mean lack of potash. Phosphorus helps in this work too, and also assists in the forming of fine flowers. Bone ash and phosphates are the sources of this food element.

"So if we just consider the classes of soils with which we have to deal, remember the foods that must be had, and the effects on plants where one (or all) of these is lacking, we have in our hands a help to soil troubles.

"Take sandy soil—what is its greatest need? I should say humus. It certainly should have more nitrogen. So add humus in the form of manure. Spread it on your piece of garden plot anywhere from two to six inches deep. This spaded in will, I think, do the work. You see sand allows water to trickle away too fast. Water must be held properly in the soil.

"The clay soil really needs air. The good bacteria will not work without this. So spade the soil up in the fall, and leave it weathering in huge lumps. Sand or ashes added in the spring helps the air question too. A sprinkling of lime over the surface tends to sweeten the entire soil; for clay soil, so often too wet, is liable to get sour. Lime also adds another plant food called calcium. It would not be bad to add some humus in order to have an even greater supply of nitrogen.

"The lime soil, light and sweet, needs humus too. It should have this to add body and ability to hold water.

"Sometimes it is well to add in the spring a sprinkling of phosphates; that is a chemical fertilizer. Chemical fertilizers are like tonics to the soil.

"All this very briefly puts us in touch with plant foods. I think you all know from your school work that plants take their foods in liquid form. These solutions of foods are very, very weak. That is another reason why we should see that, if possible, there is plenty of nourishment available in the soil, and plenty of water too.

"These bean roots and rootlets show the feeding area or places of plants. Notice the small roots which apparently have a fringe on them. These fringes we call the root hairs. These absorb, soak up the dilute food which is in the soil.

"It is very wonderful what power they have of penetrating the soil. See the bit of blotter I have put down the path of one bean's root course. It would seem to shut the rootlets entirely off from the soil.

"Jay will gently press the bit of blotter away from the soil. See here and there how these root hairs have wound their way through the blotter to the soil, their feeding place. It is well that plants have this power of seeking and finding food. Because it greatly increases their food chances.

"So much very briefly for plant food. I have not told you very much to be sure, but it is quite enough, I think, for a 'starter,' I wish to tell you a bit about the plant itself soon. A few experiments may liven up the subject. So I shall ask Josephine, Miriam, and Ethel to attend to those for us. We can take turns at demonstrating as Jay and Albert have to-day. So you girls must remember to drop in to see me—say, Wednesday of next week."



III

SEEDS

Now before we begin just have a look at these geraniums. They have turned entirely around again and are looking out of the window at the sun. The power which plants have to move is very clearly shown, is it not? I am going to talk a little this afternoon about seeds.

"Any reliable seed house can be depended upon for good seeds; but even so, there is a great risk in seeds. A seed may to all appearances be all right and yet not have within it vitality enough, or power, to produce a hardy plant.

"If you save seed from your own plants you are able to choose carefully. Suppose you are saving seed of aster plants. What blossoms shall you decide upon? Now it is not the blossom only which you must consider, but the entire plant. Why? Because a weak, straggly plant may produce one fine blossom. Looking at that one blossom so really beautiful you think of the numberless equally lovely plants you are going to have from the seeds. But just as likely as not the seeds will produce plants like the parent plant.

"So in seed selection the entire plant is to be considered. Is it sturdy, strong, well shaped and symmetrical; does it have a goodly number of fine blossoms? These are questions to ask in seed selection.

"If you boys and girls should happen to have the opportunity to visit a seedsman's garden, you will see here and there a blossom with a string tied around it. These are blossoms chosen for seed. If you look at the whole plant with care you will be able to see the points which the gardener held in mind when he did his work of selection.

"Last winter we had quite a discussion on corn seed selection. So we will not discuss that further. Only let me say this for the benefit of the girls in order to show them the care which must be exercised in selection. Should a finely formed ear of corn have one or two black kernels on it, then that shows a cross or taint, do not use such an ear for the old trouble may crop out. Take an ear of seed corn, notice the small and rather undersized kernels at the top; do not use these. Select kernels, the largest, plumpest and best shaped.

"In seed selection size is another point to hold in mind. Suppose Peter had bought a package of bean seed. Pull the little envelope out of your pocket, young man, and open it up. Just look at those seeds as Peter spreads them out here. Now we know no way of telling anything about the plants from which this special collection of seeds came. So we must give our entire thought to the seeds themselves. It is quite evident that there is some choice; some are much larger than the others; some far plumper, too. By all means choose the largest and fullest seed. The reason is this: When you break open a bean—and this is very evident, too, in the peanut—you see what appears to be a little plant. So it is. Under just the right conditions for development this 'little chap' grows into the bean plant you know so well.

"This little plant must depend for its early growth on the nourishment stored up in the two halves of the bean seed. For this purpose the food is stored. Beans are not full of food and goodness for you and me to eat, but for the little baby bean plant to feed upon. And so if we choose a large seed, we have chosen a greater amount of food for the plantlet. This little plantlet feeds upon this stored food until its roots are prepared to do their work. So if the seed is small and thin, the first food supply insufficient, there is a possibility of losing the little plant.

"You may care to know the name of this pantry of food. It is called a cotyledon if there is but one portion, cotyledons if two. Thus we are aided in the classification of plants. A few plants that bear cones like the pines have several cotyledons. But most plants have either one or two cotyledons.

"Some plantlets, as they develop and start to push above the ground, bear along the cotyledon. This is true in the case of the bean. Jack and Peter have planted corn and beans in this box, not to have succotash but to show you about the habits of seeds. See the bean plantlet, big, sturdy, fellow, is still clinging to its seed leaves or cotyledons, its baby nourishment. Now look at the corn: there is absolutely no sign above ground of its one seed leaf.

"So from large seeds come the strongest plantlets. That is the reason why it is better and safer to choose the large seed. It is the same case exactly as that of weak children. Look at Myron, great strapping fellow! Hasn't he a fine chance in the world? Do you remember that little sickly boy who was in school last spring? He was as old as Myron, yet see how handicapped he is. Try not to bring weak little plantlets into the plant world. Bring strong, sturdy, healthy ones by careful seed selection.

"There is often another trouble in seeds that we buy. The trouble is impurity. Seeds are sometimes mixed with other seeds so like them in appearance that it is impossible to detect the fraud. Pretty poor business, is it not? The seeds may be unclean. Bits of foreign matter in with large seed are very easy to discover. One can merely pick the seed over and make it clean. By clean is meant freedom from foreign matter. But if small seed are unclean, it is very difficult, well nigh impossible, to make them clean.

"The third thing to look out for in seed is viability. We know from our testings that seeds which look to the eye to be all right may not develop at all. There are reasons. Seeds may have been picked before they were ripe or mature; they may have been frozen; and they may be too old. Seeds retain their viability or germ developing power, a given number of years and are then useless. There is a viability limit in years which differs for different seeds. This matter, along with directions for testing, the girls may get from our club secretary, Albert. All of this we took up last year in our preliminary garden work before we started outdoor work.

"From the test of seeds we find out the germination percentage of seeds. Now if this percentage is low, don't waste time planting such seed unless it be small seed. Immediately you question that statement. Why does the size of the seed make a difference? This is the reason. When small seed is planted it is usually sown in drills. Most amateurs sprinkle the seed in very thickly. So a great quantity of seed is planted. And enough seed germinates and comes up from such close planting. So quantity makes up for quality.

"But take the case of large seed, like corn for example. Corn is planted just so far apart and a few seeds in a place. With such a method of planting the matter of per cent, of germination is most important indeed.

"Small seeds that germinate at fifty per cent. may be used but this is too low a per cent. for the large seed. Suppose we test beans. The percentage is seventy. That per cent. would pass you in school, but it does not pass muster here. For if such low-vitality seeds were planted, we could not be absolutely certain of the seventy per cent. coming up. But if the seeds are lettuce go ahead with the planting. Peter will pass around these germinating per cent. tables which he has printed for you. I'd advise you to paste these in your garden diaries. After a test refer to this table which is from a United States Agricultural Dept. list for seeds not over one year old. You then know at once whether the seed is worth using.

PER CENT. OF GERMINATION Beans 90 Leek 80 Pumpkin 87 Cabbage 90 Lettuce 85 Radish 90 Carrots 80 Muskmelon 87 Spinach 84 Cauliflower 80 Okra 80 Squash 87 Celery 60 Onion 80 Tomatoes 85 Corn 87 Parsley 70 Turnips 90 Cucumber 87 Peas 93 Watermelon 87 Eggplant 80 Peppers 80

"After being sure of good seed the next step to consider is when to plant the seed. It is well to start certain seed inside and so get a bit ahead of the season. Other seed may as well wait, and be planted out in the open when the ground is warm.

"Such vegetable seed as the following may be started inside.

INDOOR PLANTING TIME-TABLE FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL Artichoke Cabbage Celery Cucumber Egg plant Egg plant Lettuce Lettuce Muskmelon Onion Pepper Radish Radish Tomato Tomato

"Flower seeds I will take up later because I wish to think over the flower garden by itself.

"When shall we plant seeds outdoors? Now no one under the sun can say plant such and such a seed on May 30th or April 1st. It is the same absurd case as saying change your winter clothes for summer ones on May 1st. Many writers will cover this subject by saying plant seeds when the earth is warm. But even that is a pretty general sort of direction.

"Nature has given us a planting guide. She tacks her notice on the fruit trees. When those early blooming trees, the peach and the plum, put out their beautiful blossoms the first planting time is on. To be sure the temperature then is a bit low, only about 45 degrees, so the planting is not of the more tender vegetables. Get your seed of beet, carrot, cabbage, cauliflower, endive, kale, lettuce, parsley, parsnip, onion, pea, radish, turnip and spinach. These may all be planted.

"The next signal to watch for is given by the blooming of the apple trees. This is the planting time for the more tender seed. These need a temperature of about 60 degrees in the shade, real apple-blooming time. Corn, beans, egg plant, melon, squash, cucumber, pumpkin, tomato and pepper seeds may be planted.

"But when is the time to put out the hotbed, or indoor-started seedlings? When the apple blossoms drop their petals and have passed by is the signal for them to go into the ground. Of course, they naturally would be the last, for they are made very tender from their glass-grown coddling.

"When it comes to the planting of seed there are certain things to remember always. First the ground should be made very fine. This is an easy matter if the planting is done in the hotbed, but more of a problem in the outdoor garden. It is foolish to plant at all if one does not intend to do things right. So work over the seed bed thoroughly. After all is fine and deeply worked, say to about a foot deep, the next thing to consider is this—how deep should a seed be planted?

"The depth depends upon the size of the seed. Take such small seed as poppy, parsley, even lettuce, and these may be just sprinkled on the surface of the ground. Then tread them in with the foot or place a board over them and walk on the board. In this way the small seed are pressed into the soil quite sufficiently.

"For seeds in general the following might answer for a rule: There are seeds like corn, oats, wheat and the grasses which come up unhampered by their seed leaves. Such seed may be planted deeply—say ten times the thickness of the seed. Other seed like beans, squash, radish, etc., push and carry their seed leaves up through the soil with them. So these, because of this extra work, should be planted nearer the surface. Four or five times the thickness of the seed is a safe rule to follow.

"When the seed becomes entirely or nearly saturated with water then germination begins. Sometimes people soak their corn in tepid water before planting. This hastens germination. But on the other hand if the soil is very wet and cold the soaked seeds may rot in so much moisture. Certain seeds have very thick coverings. Canna, date and nut seeds are examples. Their cases are so hard and absorb moisture so slowly that germination is a long process. To hasten this little holes may be drilled in the case, thus giving the plant germ a chance to get out. Nurserymen crack the nuts in order to help matters along. You can readily see what a really difficult piece of work it is for a tiny embryo or baby plant to break open a thick case.

"If seeds are planted too deeply again, a tremendous piece of work is imposed upon the little plant. To push up through, say one inch of soil, would be quite a task for a lettuce seedling.

"Finally in seed planting, the soil must be safely compacted or pressed about the seed. The object of this is to bring in contact with all parts of the seed soil particles with their films of water. Suppose a radish seed is planted and no soil happens to come in direct contact with the seed. That distance, so slight to us, is a well-nigh impossible one for the rootlets to extend to.

"There is a possibility of course, of too close compacting. This occurs when the soil is very wet. Do not compact at all then. In fact, such soil condition represents a very bad time for planting, anyway. Moisture is necessary for germination, but superabundance of water is fatal. It is simply ideal when after a planting a gentle rain comes—germination.

"I remember once seeing a garden which school children had planted so close to the surface that after a rain most of the seeds were lying all sprouted on the surface of the soil. Take care not to plant in such a manner.

"This talk has been largely for the purpose of bringing to your minds certain necessary points. Let me sum them up: Cheap seed are expensive because they are often full of impurities and lack vital power. Buy good seed and test them. Plant large seed, because the storage of food is greater. Make the soil conditions right in order to give every help to the seed. Plant neither too deep, nor too near the surface. Compact the soil, and so aid germination. The first start of work must be right; otherwise, trouble comes."



IV

THE PLANT ITSELF

"To think of a plant as a breathing, growing thing is wonderful, but it is far more wonderful to think of it as something possible for even boys and girls to train and improve. Here is a bed of petunias, let us say; do you know just how it is possible to have larger, finer petunias next year?

"A slight operation performed, and behold magic has been worked!

"First, we will go over the life history of a plant, and then I'll tell you of this magic and how to work it. Or better yet my assistants here, Josephine, Miriam and Ethel, will do the trick.

"A plant really goes through much the same operations in life as does an animal. Only to be sure, these operations are performed in a rather different way. A plant has a digestive, or feeding, system, a breathing apparatus, the power to rid itself of waste and to make seed; it moves, and it grows, too. Philip looked a bit skeptical when I said it moves. Well, it does. Of course, a plant does not walk about, and move from spot to spot. But a plant can and does move. Why it can turn itself around back to, even. Just look at my geranium slips there! they seem to be breaking their backs to peep out of the window and look at their best friend, the sun. Turn all of them around, George. See, they face us now! remember to look at them next Friday.

"But to start over again. A plant has just three necessary and important parts: these parts are the roots, stem, and leaves. No, Elizabeth, the fruit and flowers are not separate parts. Why? Well, merely because by some queer provision of the plant world, the leaves are responsible for making or forming both the flower and the fruit. If you watch a bud form and unfold, you will notice that the entire little bud seems to be a series of leaves. And if your fingers were clever enough you could take tiny leaves and fold them into the parts which go to make up the flower and the fruit. This last, like most of the rest of that I am telling you, is just one of the miracles of nature.

"The root, rootlets and root hairs all go to make up the root-system of a plant. This system is a feeding and food storage system; cold storage, we might call it.

"I have spoken before about how the root hairs absorb food. Food is soaked up something as a blotter soaks up ink. Underground plant food must be liquid in nature. This is because plants, like babies, must have very dilute food. Plants can no more get food out of a dry lump of soil than a little baby can get its food from a hunk of bread or a thick slice of corn beef. But let that soil be water-soaked, and have the proper bacteria at work, and the material is in plant-food form. Josephine has here an old, old experiment. What was a white pink is now a red one. It has been in that glass of red ink and a little water. And lo, up the stem the red fluid climbed until it suffused the white flower and made it red. Notice as Miriam holds that lump of sugar only just touching the surface of the water, the water moves up that lump. In this way water and liquid food rise up the stems of plants. Just so, too, water rises in the soil from the lower layers up to the feeding place of the roots, and even up to the surface of the ground.

"As the roots are feeding and storing places, so the stem is a sort of passage way for the passing back and forth of liquids. Take a stem of a big plant, like an oak tree, and you see in the wood where storage of fibre has gone on. But the great work is that of interchange.

"Leaves are very active portions of the plant. They represent a great, busy manufactory. Manufacturing what? That question I see stamped on Myron's face so plainly he need not speak it out. Manufacturing real food out of raw material—that is the work of these plant shops.

"Let me tell you about this. Ethel has in her hands two little plants. The one in her right hand has been growing in the light; the other, in her left hand, has been put away in the dark to grow. The absence of green colour is very marked in this latter plant. So you see it takes light to form this green, or chlorophyll as it is called. The chlorophyll-saturated cells, absorbing carbonic acid and the water-diluted food from the soil, literally break them up. And when broken, food is found suitable for plants to absorb. Wonderful, is it not?

"I spoke of carbonic acid; well, this is a gas, as some of you have found out before, made up of carbon and oxygen. It is a gas which we of the animal kingdom breathe out as waste from our bodies. The plant takes it in through the leaf—and, by the way, I ought to explain that. It is this way: if we had a magnifying glass we should find over the inner surface of leaves, pores, or stomata as they are called. They open in the presence of light; and from these openings what the plant has no use for passes out, and gases from the air may pass in. Some call these openings breathing pores.

"Quantities of water pass out through these pores. When this process goes on too rapidly a plant will wilt.

"So, to go back, we will suppose that carbonic acid gas has passed into the leaves. Straightway the chlorophyll bodies get to work. The gas is broken up, and oxygen and carbon are left. The carbon is wood the plant builds. Some of the oxygen passes out into the air and some is kept for plant food use.

"It is a good thing for us that some of the oxygen does escape into the air for we need it. So you see we, in our respiration, and the plant, in its breathing, are doing each other a good turn.

"Of course, there is the dilute food from the soil, which is largely mineral matter and water. The chlorophyll bodies work away on these minerals, and make them into foods. A great body of water, as I have said before, passes out of the plant through the stomata.

"I have told you a thing that the plant can do which we are not capable of doing. A plant takes a mineral and makes it over into food. You and I, unless we happen to be circus glass-eaters, are not built to do this work. But the vegetables which we eat do the work for us.

"A great deal of plant food is in the form of sugars and starches. I remember Katharine and Peter told me last winter that in their physiology they learned how sugars and starches were made in our own bodies. And lo and behold, the geranium can do a similar thing.

"Some plants store up lots of starch, as the potato. Others store quantities of sugar, as the Southern sugar cane and the beet. Wonderful? Well, I guess it is. If we could hear and see all the work these energetic little chlorophyll bodies are doing, we should be amazed.

"You will remember that I told you some plants could take the very necessary chemical nitrogen from the air; most of them, however, must get it from the soil. And so again this from the soil solution is worked over into available food.

"After all we must not fail to see that water is most important. It floats all the important food elements to the leaves for the work to be done there. The food carbon, of course, is an exception to this rule and I will say again in certain cases nitrogen is, also.

"Thus you boys and girls now understand how necessary it is that a soil should be of the right texture to hold water. If it is not, it must be helped to be so. Sand, you will remember, had to be doctored to hold water. Clay needed treatment in order to make it quit its bad habit of baking out.

"Here is a rather interesting experiment set up by Josephine and Ethel. Look at the first piece of apparatus—a tumbler partly full of water, a piece of cardboard over the top of the tumbler, and passing down through a hole in the cardboard a piece of plant just stem stripped of leaves, and finally a second tumbler clapped over the first. The second piece of apparatus is exactly like the first, only that the stem, one end of which is in the water, has leaves on the other end. Notice that the upper glass in the second case has moisture on it. The upper tumbler of the other set is perfectly dry. Whence, then, came the moisture? It must, of course, be the leaves which gave it off, since they represent the only difference in the two pieces of apparatus.

"I wish we might go on with whole sets of experiments, but for that we have not time.

"You understand a little of the mission of root, stem and leaf. The root does a good work in holding a plant in place. It is the foundation material of the plant. There is much, much more to be learned about all these subjects. This little is just to open your eyes to the wonders of the work each plant is performing all the time.

"I said I would show you some magic. Well, this magic has to do with plant improvement. It is not much of a trick to raise a plant, but it is a great one to be able to improve that plant.

"Let me tell you of a friend of mine whom we will call Rodney, because that is his real name. One day Rodney noticed the gardener doing something with a little flat knife to a pansy. Then he tied a little paper bag over the pansy, of course leaving the whole thing on the plant.

"'What are you doing?' asked the lad. 'I am fixing that pansy so that the seed from it shall be finer seed than they otherwise would be.'

"Then the old gardener explained this to Rodney: There are two parts to flowers which are very necessary, absolutely necessary to making seed. One part is the pistil, the other the stamen. Some flowers have both pistils and stamen, while others have just the pistil and one has to hunt for another plant having the stamen. You can tell the stamens in this way: they are the parts which have in their care the pollen. Most of you know pollen as a yellow powder or dust. Sometimes it is a sticky gummy mass. The pistil is that part of the flower which ends in the seed vessel. It very often takes a central position in the flower, standing up importantly as if it were the 'part' of the flower. And after all, it is. Now, when this pollen powder falls on the pistil it does not explode. The pistil merely opens up a bit and down travels the powder into the seed vessel to help form seed. There would be no real fertile seed without the pollen.

"Sometimes the pollen from one flower falls on its own pistil, sometimes the wind, the bees, the birds carry the pollen to flowers far off and drop it on their pistils. Marvelous, is it not? Everything has to be just right, or the pollen does not do its work nor the pistil, either. Pollen has to be ripe to help make the seed.

"But how can the work of the wind and the bees and the birds be improved on? Just as the old gardener was doing it. He had one pansy, oh such a large one, but not at all beautiful in colour. He had another one, small but exquisite in colouring. If he could but grow those two together, shake them up, say a magic word and get a pansy both beautiful and large!

"Rodney's gardener used magic but not a magic wand. He took a little knife called a scalpel. He carefully took some pollen from the beautiful pansy and then rubbed it gently over the pistil of the big pansy. The pollen was all ready to drop, and by this he knew it was ripe.

"Why did he place a bag over the pansy? Well, simply because he didn't wish that pansy interfered with. Suppose the bag were not on; suppose after he had put the pollen on, the wind had blown other pollen to this same pistil? Let us suppose that this other pollen came from a very inferior flower. The experiment would have been spoiled.

"Any of you can try this plant improvement. I see by Katharine's eyes and Dee's also that they are going to try it. It is well if you have a pair of forceps. Then you need not use your fingers against the plant at all. Gently pull the pistil a bit forward, gently place the pollen on with the scalpel and you have performed the operation entirely with the proper instruments.

"The girls did some saving of fine specimens of flowers this fall, but the kind of work of which I have just told you means far more. In the one case you choose from what you have; in the other case you make what you want.

"Good-by, again, until next Friday afternoon!"



V

INCREASING PLANTS

"This last garden season we have tried two methods of raising plants: one was by seed; the other by slips or cuttings. The girls will typify still another method with their bulbs. This last method is by division. A bulb as it stores up its nourishment after the blossoming time forms new little bulbs. These may be separated from the parent tuber if large enough. You all saw me dividing my peonies. Those peonies doubtless were started years ago from one or two roots. And now when I dug them up it looked as if I were laying in a stock of sweet potatoes so great was the increase.

"There are just three other methods of propagating or increasing plants. These are layering, budding and grafting.

"Layering is done in several ways. Suppose you have a gooseberry bush you wish to layer. The time to do the work is after the flowering season is past. Choose a branch which has not flowered. Strip off the lower leaves. Now where the old and new wood meet is the place for the cut. Make a cut right into the stem which will be like a tongue. Let this be about an inch long. Hold this to the ground with the cut side down. Bank soil over this. At and under the tongue the new shoots will start, and the new gooseberry bush grow from this. This new plant may be cut off from the parent. If the twig will not stay bent down in this position, cut a forked piece of wood which shall act as a pin. Do you picture this? A branch bent so that not far from the parent plant it is buried under ground with the rest of the root protruding from the ground.

"A rubber plant may be layered or topped as it is called. Rubber plants have an ugly habit of going to top, dropping off their lower leaves as they do this. So they look as if they were trying to develop into huge bushes, and they become very ugly in so doing. The top looks all right and many a person wishes that top were off all by itself and nicely potted.

"This is the way it is topped. A slit is cut in the bark about where you would like to see roots growing. Then soil and florists' moss is bound about the wound. These may easily be kept moist. A paper pot could be put about the soil if one wished. The soil mass should be a ball of about six inches in diameter. When the new roots appear through the moss or poking out of the paper pot, cut the stem of the plant below the pot. And behold you have a little rubber plant just as good as new, I have told this before to the girls.

"Another method of layering is to cut the parent off down to the ground. What is left is called the stool. This stool should be covered with about six inches of earth. Let us suppose this is done in early spring. When fall comes around uncover the stool. There will be found a number of new shoots or plants all nicely protected. These may be transplanted. Do you know that stool can be used over again?

"This work of layering is really very simple. Myron used it with his strawberries. The runners were bent and buried just as those of the gooseberry I spoke of. In this way new strawberry plants were obtained. One shoot may be bent and buried more than once. So one may get just as easily two or more new plants from one shoot. This seems as much a miracle as the cross fertilization of plants.

"The fifth method is that of budding. Apple, peach, plum, cherry and pear trees may be budded; so, too, may roses.

"In a word, a bud is taken from some desirable tree and inserted within the bark of a tree either less desirable or young. Young fruit trees, as you know, need some help before they produce good fruit. Now if George had at home a peach tree which bore very fine fruit he would be glad to cross a young tree with this. Budding is a kind of crossing.

"This work should be done in the spring, although it may be done in the fall. But the spring is a more limber time with Nature. Sap is begining to flow; life is new and fresh again; all the plant world is ready to start up and do something. Then, too, the bark of trees should be in as flexible a condition as possible. The two things really necessary for the work are mature buds and bark easy to peel.

"Buds should be taken from the very strongest and best twigs of the last year's growth. The little seedlings in which the buds are to be inserted should be one year old. These are called the stock.

"This is the manner of inserting the bud: first make a T-shaped cut in the bark of the stock. This cut should be made on the north side of the little tree, because it will thus be more sheltered from the sun's rays. The cut should not be far from the ground on the main trunk, although it may be at the base of strong shoots. But make it in the former position for these yearlings. Then loosen the bark with the flat handle of a regular budding knife. Not many boys and girls own such knives. Some of you have scalpels. The handles of these are flat enough to use. Again, you could easily whittle a piece of wood thin and flat enough for this work.

"The next question is how to sever a bud from its parent shoot. Suppose you have chosen a nice full bud. About a quarter of an inch below the base of the bud start cutting into the wood. Run the knife up to about one quarter of an inch above the bud. Do not cut out through to the surface, but rather from the upper surface cut the bark loose and peel this carefully down until you can see the under surface of the bud. You still have the wood attached to the twig at its upper edge. If as you look at the under surface of the bud you see that it is hollow, throw the whole thing away. If it has fibres then it is all right. The proper layer is left to reunite with the stock. Now the bud and peeled-off bark may be inserted in the T-shaped slip. Bind the bud in place with raffia. Do this raffia bandaging both above and below the slit.

"In about ten days the bandage may come off, for the knitting of fibres is well under way. Now the top of the little tree should be cut right back to about two inches above the bud, because you wish all the growth to go to the bud. This is the part of promise to the tree. All its hope lies in this new bud.