WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN FRANCES DUNCAN "WHEN MOTHER LETS US" SERIES Each volume, price 75 cents net (postage 10 cents extra) When Mother Lets Us Cut Out Pictures. By Ida E. Boyd. "When Mother Lets Us Keep Pets. By Constance Johnson. When Mother Lets Us Garden. By Frances Duncan. When Mother Lets Us Sew. By Virginia Ralston. When Mother Lets Us Play. By Angela M. Keyes. When Mother Lets Us Help. By Constance Johnson. When Mother Lets Us Give a Party. By Elsie Duncan Yale. When Mother Lets Us Cook. By Constance Johnson. When Mother Lets Us Act. By Stella George Stern Perry. When Mother Lets Us Make Gifts. By Mary B. Grubb. When Mother Lets Us Make Paper-Box Furniture. By G. Ellingwood Rich. When Mother Lets Us Make Toys. By G. Ellingwood Rich. When Mother Lets Us Make Candy. By Elizabeth and Louise Bache. When Mother Lets Us Carpenter. By John D. Adams. When Mother Lets Us Model. By Helen Mortimer Adams. When Mother Lets Us Tell Stories. By Enos B. Com- stock. % When Mother Lets Us Draw. By Emma R. Lee Thayer. For brief description of each volume, tee page facing last page of text WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN In the Garden WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN A BOOK FOR LITTLE FOLK WHO WANT TO MAKE GARDENS AND DON'T KNOW HOW By FRANCES DUNCAN Author of " Mary's Garden, and 'how it Grew," Editor Garden Department Ladies' Home Journal ILLUSTRATED BY ADA BUDELL NEW YORK MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY 1918 Copyright, 1909, by MOFFAT. YARD AND COMPANY NEW YORK All Rights Reserved Published March, 1909 Second Printing, July, 1900 Third Printing, April, 1910 Fourth Printing, June, 1911 Fifth Printing, August, 1918 Sixth Printing, May, 1914 Seventh Printing, May, 1915 Eighth Printing, July, 1916 Ninth Printing, February, 1918 TO ADA AND DOROTHEA YALE WHOSE GARDENS AT LEAST ARE ENTHUSIASTIC THIS LITTLE BOOK IS HOPEFULLY DEDICATED BY THEIR AFFECTIONATE AUNT 416106 CONTENTS FLOWER GARDENING PAGE How TO BEGIN YOUR GARDEN 2 WHAT PLANTS EAT 5 WHEN TO PLANT THINGS 7 ARRANGING FLOWER BEDS 13 GARDEN DEFENSES 15 POPPIES 17 SWEET PEAS 19 ROSES 23 HARDY PHLOX AND OTHER PLANTS 25 CORNFLOWERS 26 MARIGOLDS 29 A NASTURTIUM HEDGE 30 NASTURTIUMS 31 MORNING GLORIES 35 PANSY PLANTS 36 PANSY SEED 37 SNOWDROPS AND CROCUSES 40 TULIPS AND OTHER BULBS 43 A SUNFLOWER HEDGE .... 44 THE LITTLE FLOWER-GARDENER'S TIME-TABLE ... 45 MARKET GARDENING BUSH BEANS 53 POLE BEANS OR LIMA BEANS 55 CONTENTS PAGE PARSLEY, BEETS, CARROTS, TURNIPS, PARSNIPS ... 57 RADISHES I. , . . 59 LETTUCE ,'< . . . . 61 PEAS .'.'. . ; . . 63 CORN : , ; v ' . . . ... 65 MUSKMELONS . . . ; . V . 67 GROWING JACK O 'LANTERNS . . . ... . . 69 TOMATOES . . V . . . ; . . , . . . 71 LITTLE MARKET-GARDENER'S TIME-TABLE . . . . 72 INDOOR GARDENING WHERE TO PLANT THE WINDOW GARDEN . ... . 75 NARCISSUS IN STONES AND WATER ....... 77 WATERING PLANTS . v ', . . . . . . . . 78 HYACINTHS IN WATER , , . * . 1 . . . .79 To TRAIN A GERANIUM . i- .V. . . . i . . 80 How TO GROW GERANIUMS . . 81 POTTING TULIPS, DAFFODILS, HYACINTHS . . . . 83 How TO TAKE CARE OF A BOSTON FERN . . . . .85 MAKING PLANTS FROM LEAVES . . . * . . . . 86 EASTER LILY . . . . . . , . ; . . . . 89 MAKING SHRUB-BRANCHES BLOSSOM . . . > > . . 90 GARDEN PLANTS FOR THE WINDOW Box ..... 91 SOME EASY GARDEN BEDS * . ... * . . . 95 ANOTHER GARDEN BED . , . . . . . ' . . . 95 PLAN OF LITTLE GARDEN . . . . .... 97 GARDEN PLAYHOUSES 99 GARDEN FURNITURE > 100 GARDEN BENCHES 101 GARDEN TABLES 102 SWINGING TABLE . 103 CONTENTS PAGE GIVING THE PLANTS Am . . 103 GIVING HOUSE PLANTS A BATH 104 INSECTS 105 How TO PREPARE MEDICINES 109 THE TOOL Box 110 VERSES AND QUOTATIONS WHAT PLANTS EAT 4 WHEN TO PLANT THINGS 12 SHIRLEY POPPIES 16 SWEET PEAS 18 KOSES 22 MARIGOLDS 28 MORNING-GLORIES 34 SNOWDROPS AND CROCUSES 39 TULIPS 42 SONG OF THE TOAD 48 SONG OF THE WATERING-POT 49 STAY-AT-HOME PLANTS 50 BUSH BEANS 52 THE LATE RISERS 54 PARSLEY, BEETS, ETC 56 RADISHES 58 LETTUCE 60 DROUGHT WATERING 62 CORN 64 GARDEN WARFARE 68 THE WELL-ARMED GARDENER 70 PLANTING SEEDS 74 GARDEN ACCESSORIES 93 THE MEDICINE CHEST . . . 108 FLOWER GARDENING Every path and every plot, Every bush of roses, Every blue forget-me-not Where the dew reposes. !' they cry, 'the day is come On the smiling valleys, ,We have beat the morning drum; Playmate, join your allies!' " E. L. Stevenson. 2 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN" HOW TO BEGIN YOUR GARDEN The very nicest kind of fathers and mothers will always let you make a garden. If there isn't a small piece of ground that you can have, then take a box ; if you can't have a box of earth, then take a flower-pot or even a tin can ; or if you can't get the earth, then make an aquatic garden with just water. The first thing is to find a place for your gar- den. Don't choose a place near a tree or under a tree, or your flowers will find little to eat because the tree-roots will have been there before them. If you can, get a place in the full sunshine. If you can't have sunshine all day, try for a place which has the morning sun, rather than the afternoon sun. Flowers are like children and like to wake up early in the morning ; there are only a few that prefer sleeping late. Beside your little garden, try to have a place for a seed-bed ; this need not be large and, if pos- sible, it should have the morning sun, and shade part of the day. Here you sow in narrow rows little plants which later you transplant to their homes in your garden. If you can only have a shady place for your garden, you can still have a very pretty one, only you must be sure to plant the flowers that like the WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 3 shade, such as pansies, forget-me-nots, lily-of- the-valley. Gardening is a little different from cooking in that gardeners can't regulate the fires, except when they have greenhouses, and that is an arti- ficial kind ; for sure-enough, out-of-door gardens Mother Nature is the Cook. We can only pre- pare the mixture; we can watch it and tend it and see that it doesn't burn, but we have to wait for her to turn on enough heat from the sun to make the plants grow. We cannot even start preparing a garden until she unlocks her store- house and sends Jack Frost away. Therefore when we first think of garden-making we must see how much heat Mother Nature has turned on, whether we can start our garden out-doors, or if we must grow things in the house and supply the heat ourselves. As soon as Mother Nature has unlocked her pantry you can begin your garden, that is, as soon as the ground is soft enough to dig. It is well to persuade a grown-up to do the digging. This needs to be done thoroughly: The whole future happiness of your plants depends on whether their food is properly prepared for them and whether the garden-beds are deeply dug. Eighteen inches or two feet is not a bit too deep. The seed-bed need not be dug so deeply, it is only the babies that are in here, they do not eat so much, nor do their roots go so deep. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN WHAT PLANTS EAT Water and soil are the chief of their diet; Manure makes it rich; if yon haven't this, buy it. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN WHAT PLANTS EAT Soil is what the plants eat and so it makes a good deal of difference to a plant if it finds any- thing good to eat in its home or not. It makes a difference too if the soil is not broken into small enough pieces for the roots to eat ; if it is left hard as a board, the roots, not being gimlets, find it hard to bore their way through. So when real gardeners are making ready homes for the plants they dig the beds deep so that the rootsi can easily push their way down; they add manure so that the roots will have something nice to eat ; they make the soil soft and fine so that the roots will find it easy to take and mix the manure in very thoroughly so that the rich food will not give the plants indigestion. Poor soil is earth which has so little good to eat in it that most plants find it hard to grow in. There are a few that like this. On poor soil you can grow nasturtiums, California pop- pies, Shirley poppies and mignonette. Sandy soil is very fine and crumbly. If you take it up in your hands, it slips through your fingers as easily as granulated sugar. On sandy soil you can grow dahlias, poppies, cornflowers, and roses (if manure is added). 6 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GAEDEN Clayey soil is stiff and sometimes sticky. It is often grayish or pale brown in color. If you squeeze a handful it will stick together like wet snow when you make snowballs. Sometimes a clayey soil is called " heavy." In clayey soil you can grow roses, dahlias, zinnias if a little manure be added. Eich soil is dark and soft- looking when dug. A light rich soil is a rich soil that has plenty of sand in it. A heavy rich soil has not. To make poor soil better, add manure and dig it in well. If you haven't manure, add leaf- mold. To make sandy soil richer, add manure or leaf mold. To make clayey soil lighter, add sand and manure. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 7, WHEN TO PLANT THINGS IN MARCH, or as soon as the garden-beds are ready you can plant rose-bushes and any kind of bush that stays out of doors all winter ; roots of hardy perennials which live out of doors all win- ter, such as hardy chrysanthemums and hardy phlox. These can be bought or a grown-up gar- dener friend might give you a root. But you must only plant now, things that have been grow- ing out of doors, and are used to cold weather. TREES : If you want to plant a tree, now is the time to do it. Sweet peas and poppies you can sow now^ also California poppies and pansies. In the vegetable garden you can sow now beets, carrots, parsley, parsnips, peas, radishes, and turnips. IN APRIL you can sow coreopsis, Drum- mond's phlox, pot marigolds, mignonette, pan- sies, candytuft, cornflower, cosmos, China asters, marigolds, petunias, pinks and morning-glories. You can plant roots of golden glow, holly- hocks, phlox, larkspur, and lily-of-the-valley. In the vegetable garden you can sow beets, carrots, cabbage, lettuce, peas, radishes, pars- nips. 8 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN IN MAY you can sow balsam, China asters, coreopsis, cornflowers, cosmos, marigolds, mig- nonette, nasturtiums and morning-glories. [You can set out pansies, geraniums and other plants. In the kitchen garden you can sow beans, Lima beans, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes. IN JUNE you can sow balsam, coreopsis, mari- golds, mignonette, zinnias. You can set out pansies, geraniums, forget- me-nots, and other plants. In the kitchen garden sow bush beans, Lima beans, corn, lettuce, melons. IN JULY you can sow hollyhocks, larkspur, sweet IWilliam, foxglove, Canterbury bells, and pansies in the flower garden for next year's blooming. In the kitchen garden, beans, beets, carrots, corn, cucumbers, turnips. IN AUGUST you can pot Easter lilies for Christmas blooming. You can plant in the gar- den bulbs of crocus, snowdrop, scilla. In the vegetable garden sow lettuce and tur- nips for fall. IN SEPTEMBER you can plant roots of larkspur, hollyhocks, phlox, peonies. You can plant cro- cus, snowdrop, scilla in the garden. Pot narcis- WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 9 sus, hyacinths, Easter lilies for winter flowers. Make cuttings of geraniums and other plants. Start a winter window-box. In the kitchen garden sow lettuce and rad- ishes. IN OCTOBER you can plant bulbs in the ground tulips, hyacinths, crocus and others. Plant roots of hollyhocks, larkspur and other hardy plants. Tou can pot Easter lilies, hyacinths, daffodils, jonquils, narcissus, tulips for indoor blooming. You can take up from your mother's garden, asters, stocks, sweet alyssum, tobacco plant, to bloom indoors. IN NOVEMBER you can plant tulips, narcissus, hyacinths, lily-of-the-valley in the ground as long as it isn't frozen. Pot Easter lilies for bloom at Easter, hya- cinths, daffodils, jonquils, narcissus, tulips. Plant hyacinths and narcissi in water. Make a window garden. Make cuttings of any plants you can get. IN DECEMBER you can start Eoman hyacinths, paper-white narcissus, Due van Thol tulips. Bring up bulbs you potted in October. IN JANUARY you can grow narcissus and Eo- man hyacinths and Chinese lilies in stones and water. 10 WHEN MOTHER LETS TJS GARDEN Start baby shrubs from cuttings. IN FEBRUARY you can grow narcissus in stones and water. Bring up the bulbs you potted in October. For the kitchen garden you can start tomato plants in tin cans or anything handy. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GAKDEN 11 12 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN "A root is a group of growing fibres which taste and suck what is good for a plant out of the ground, and by their united strength hold it in place. The thick limbs of roots do not feed, but only the fine ends of them, which are something between tongues and sponges, and while they absorb moisture read- ily, are yet as particular about getting what they think nice to eat as any dainty little boy or girl; looking for it everywhere, and turning angry or sulky if they don't get it." John Ruskin. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 13 ARRANGING FLOWER BEDS WHen your flower-bed is against a wall or a fence, you must be sure to put the tallest plants at the back because it is easy enough for these to look over the heads of the shorter ones, but if instead you put the little ones at the back, they can't see anything, nor get any air or sunshine, for the tall plants take it all. So here are the flowers, placed according to size, like the big bear, the middle-sized bear, and the little bear in the fairy story. These are for beds in full sunshine. TALL FLOWERS Cosmos Hollyhocks Sunflowers Tobacco Plant Sweet Peas Larkspur Morning Glory Tall Nasturtiums MIDDLE-SIZED Marigolds Chrysanthemums Cornflowers Coreopsis Zinnias Poppies Phlox Petunias LITTLE FLOWERS Dwarf Nasturtiums Pot Marigolds Candytuft California Poppies Miniature Marigolds Pansies Drummond's Phlox Zinnia " Red Riding Hood Mignonette Portulaca If the garden is a little shady, these are the flowers you can plant. TALL FLOWERS Tobacco Plant Hardy jPhlox Foxglove Larkspur MIDDLE-SIZED Coreopsis Petunia Salvia LITTLE FLOWERS California Poppy Pansies iForget-me-nots Mignonette Sweet Alyssum 75 If the garden is Tory shady. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GABDEN 15 GAB DUN DEFENSES It is usually pleasanter to have your garden screened off from grown-up people who may not appreciate it. Here are plants which will make a screen for you six or eight feet high: Giant Russian sunflower. Castor-oil bean. Early May is the time to sow the seeds. Make the bed ready and plant the seed as you plant your cornflowers, except that for a screen, it should be sown in a row. Cosmos would be tall enough to plant for a screen but it is too easily hurt by the wind and likes to have a fence to lean against. If you do not need to have your garden wall so high, then you might plant a hedge by way of breastworks this might be defense enough. 16 .WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GARDEN SHIRLEY POPPIES "Take a poppy seed. . . . The genie in the Arabian Tale is not half so astonishing. In this tiny casket lie folded roots, stalks, leaves, buds, flowers, seed-vessels, surpassing color and beauti- ful form, all that goes to make up a plant which ia as gigantic in proportion to the bounds which con- fine it as the oak is to the acorn." Celia Thaxter. L WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 17 POPPIES "Choose a place which Has the sun all "day. Make the ground very smooth and fine, water it with fine spray. Then sprinkle the seed thinly and do not cover, press it down with the flat of your hand or with a board. Then, if you have them, strew lawn grass clippings over the bed to prevent the tiny seed from drying out. iWhen the little plants are up, lift off the grass clip- pings carefully, pull up some of the baby pop- pies so that those you leave will have room enough. rWhen the poppies are clone flowering, you can pull them up and plant dahlias or set out plants from your seed-bed. * In just the same way you can plant California poppies, only these do not need the sun all day. 18 .WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN. SWEET PEAS Here are sweet peas on tiptoe for a flight, With wings of gentle flush overspread with white And taper fingers catching at all things To bind them all about with tiny rings. John Keats. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 19 SWEET PEAS Sweet peas are not hard to grow, but they are very particular about a few things. This is the way to grow extra fine sweet peas : Dig a trench two feet deep and a foot and a half wide. Pill in with rich, well-worked soil until your trench is only one foot deep. Next put in a layer of sheep manure two inches deep. If you can't get this, use old cow manure. Then two inches of soil, then sprinkle wood ashes, then put another layer of soil. This is a queer kind of layer cake, but the sweet peas like it. Then you will have a trench six inches deep. Take a string and divide lengthwise into three parts so that each will be about six inches wide. The middle division is for brush. On the space each side, sow the seed sprinkle it thinly over the whole six inches. Don't sow it in a narrow row. Then cover the seed with one inch of soil and press down. After the little plants come up, fill in the trench until it is level with the ground. If you like, you can plant sweet peas just as you plant garden peas, but this way, although it is a little more trouble, is the way to have extra fine flowers. The worst enemy you will liave to watch for, is 20 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN the cutworm. You will find him a half inch below the surface of the ground hard at work cutting the stalks off. Sweet peas like to be kept moist. It is a good thing to spread lawn grass clippings over their roots. Here are some of the best kinds : White, Dorothy Eckford. Pale-yellow, Mrs. E. Kenyon. Scarlet, Queen Alexandra. Orange-pink, Miss Wilmot. Soft pink, Gladys Unwin. Hose, Prince of Wales. Lavender-blue, Lady Grisel Hamilton. Dark Blue, Navy Blue or Black Knight. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 21 22 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN ROSES The lily Jias an air, And the snowdrop a grace, And the sweet pea a way And the heart 's-ease a face, Yet there's nothing like the rose "When she blows. Christina Rossetti. tack tk o&e> So [WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 23 ROSES If your mother brings home a rose-plant from the Orphan Asylum of a bargain-counter, re- member to thank her for her kind intentions and treat the humiliated plant in this way. First, look carefully at the roots. It may be broken in root as well as in spirit. With a sharp knife cut off any that are bruised or broken. Then set the plant in a pail of tepid water, while you are making ready a place for it the roots are probably dry. Dig the hole deep and be sure you get it wide enough so that the roots will be com- fortable. Put some well-rotted manure in the bottom, then some soil. Now you are ready for the plant. Cut it back until it looks like illustration on opposite page. Be sure that the bud is two inches below the surface of the soil. Hold the rose-bush in your left hand, push the soil down around it with your right, work it in among the roots with your fingers, being careful not to hurt them. When the hole is half full, fill it up with water. Let this settle, then fill it again and let it settle again, then put in the rest of the soil. Press it down well and your rose is planted. This is the way to plant any shrub or bush but other shrubs don't need the tops cut off them. ,WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN Eoses have a great many troubles. One of the best ways to keep them safe from insects is to spray the leaves very often with water and soap and water. Insects, like untidy children, prefer keeping away from soap and water but the roses like it. To spray the roses use a brass syringe. This doesn't cost very much and has a great many di- verting uses. Some of the easiest roses to grow are these: CLIMBING ROSES. Crimson Rambler. Dawson. Keine Marie Henriette. BUSH ROSES Kaiserin Augusta Victoria. Gruss an Teplitz. Paul Neyron. Magna Charta. Prince Camille de Rohan. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 25 HABDY PHLOX AND OTHER PLANTS As soon as the ground can be dug, there are lots of plants you can set out. If an older gardener friend has promised you some of his hardy perennials, now is the time to remind him tactfully of his promise. Clumps of hardy phlox, clove-pinks, hardy chrysanthe- mums, Japanese anemone all of these he can take up, and divide now and give you some. If you like, you can buy young plants of holly- hocks and larkspurs and Canterbury bells and set them out now. You plant these just as you planted roses except that there isn't any "bud" or graft to look out for. The plants are set just as deep in the ground as they were before. The best time to plant things that bloom in the late summer or fall, is in the spring, for, since this isn't their busy season, they have now time to arrange their roots and lay in plenty of pro- visions ; but if you want to save money and aren't in a hurry, wait until August and sow the seed for next year. 26 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN CORNFLOWERS Have the soil fine and light and choose a sunny place in the garden, just where you want the plants to grow. The cornflower seeds are like tiny silvery shuttlecocks weighted so that the heads sink down. Sprinkle the seeds, cover them with the soil and then, water with a fine spray. .When the little seedlings are up, they must be thinned or they will all fare like the children of the Old Woman who lived in a Shoe, and have scanty suppers. Pull out the crowding plants until those you leave will stand two or three inches apart. This will give the baby corn- flowers enough to eat until they get to be four or five inches high, then you must thin them again. Cornflowers are hard to transplant, but it can be done, and it is kinder to give the un- wanted little cornflowers at least a chance of life. Then one doesn't feel quite so much as if one were abandoning a helpless infant, like the luck- less nobleman of the Winter's Tale. When the plants are about eight inches tall, pinch off the top to make it bushy and branch. This, like thin- ning, requires a great deal of strength of char- acter. In just the same way, you can plant WHEN MOTHER LETS US GAKDEN 27 Candytuft. California poppy. Sweet alyssum. Coreopsis. Japan pink. Portulaca. Mignonette. Petunia. Morning-glory. China asters. Sunflowers. 28 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN MARIGOLDS "The first small bed at the lighthouse island con- tained only marigolds, pot marigolds, fire-colored blossoms which were the joy of my heart as the de- light of my eyes. . . . When I planted the dry, brown seeds I noticed how they were shaped like crescents, with a fine line of ornamental dots, a 'beading' along the whole length of the centre, and from the crescent sprang the marigold plant, each of whose flowers was like "A mimic sun [With ray-like florets round a disk-like face." In my childish mind I pondered much on this fact of the crescent growing into the full-rayed orb." Celia Thaxter. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 29 MARIGOLDS Sow the seed in narrow rows in the seed-bed. Just cover the little seeds with soil, press it down with the flat of your hand, then water and keep the ground moist until the little plants come up. When two or three leaves have formed, with a flat stick or a broad-bladed jackknife pry out some of the plants, leaving others, so that those you leave in the rows will stand three inches apart. Press down the soil well and set out somewhere else or give away the little plants you have taken up. When the young marigolds are six inches high, dig them up and set them out in your garden, wherever they are to stay. In the same way you can plant Drummond phlox Balsam Tobacco plant Cosmos Zinnias China asters In the garden, these should stand one foot apart, except Tobacco Plant which needs two feet and Cosmos which should have four feet of garden-room. 30 3THEK MOTHER LETS VS GABDEX Candytuft and mignonette Don't transplant, or you'll regret; Morning-glory and nasturtium Hold transplanting in aversion; All sweet peas and poppies too Are of this home-loving crew; Cornflower and Japan pink, Coreopsis, too, I think, Petunia and sweet alyssum, Moved may die, and then you'll miss WHEN MOTHEE LETS 1^8 GAKDEN 31 KAfnnmro It agrees with nasturtiums to be poor. Even with a soil that other plants wouldn't think any- thing extra in the way of diet, they quit work, don't blossom and just "run to leaves." It al- most seems as if the poorer food they had, the happier they are. Therefore if you have only poor soil for your garden, plant nasturtiums and lots of them and perhaps California poppies and mignonette and you will have a gorgeous mass of color. If you want to cover a high board. fence with nasturtiums, first nail an inch wide strip of board along the top and another along the bottom of the fence and on this tack chicken- wire. Kasturtiums are not as expert climbers as some vines and can't hold on to string very welL They like lots of sunshine ; if the flowers ever find it too hot, they can easily put up a few more of their little Japanese umbrellas of leares to shelter themselves under. Don't plant them before May the 15th is time enough- Poke little holes in the ground three inches deep and drop a seed in each one. Cover up, press down and water. After the seedlings are up, puH out some until those you leave stand six inches apart 32 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GABDEN These are some of the best kinds . Dwarf Nasturtiums, Aurora, King of Tom Thumbs, Ruby King. (These are the kind to plant in garden-beds.) Tall Nasturtiums, Jupiter, Sunlight, Vesuvius. (These are the kind to climb on a porch or against a fence.) Lobb's Nasturtiums, Asa Gray and Lucifer. (These are the best for porch boxes and window boxes.) A NASTURTIUM HEDGE The way to make this is to set brush in a row, just as you set it for sweet peas. On the sunny side of the brush, plant tall nasturtiums and they will climb on the brush with pleasure. WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GARDEN 34 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN MORNING-GLORIES "The first instinct of the stems the instinct of seeking the light, as of the root to seek darkness what words can speak the wonder of it!" If "the seed falls in the ground with the springing germs of it downwards, with heavenly cunning the taught stem curls around and seeks the never seen light. ' ' Ruskin. .WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 35 MORNING-GLORIES Wait until nearly May before planting these. They are all lovely, the Japanese kinds are the showiest. Choose a place which has full morn- ing sun. Have the bed nicely dug and raked smooth. If you plant the Japanese morning-glories, it is better to soak the seed for two hours in warm water or else you can take a nail file and file a notch in each seed. The shells are very hard and unless you do this the leaves have to use up a great deal of muscle in pushing out. Poke little holes about one-half inch deep, drop a seed in each one, cover with soil, water well, and when the young plants come up pull out some just as you did with the poppies, until those you leave stand six inches apart. Morning-glories will climb on wire or you can stretch string for them. 36 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GARDEN PANSY PLANTS The easiest way to grow pansies is to buy the plants in April or May or June and set them out in your garden. If the soil is quite rich they will grow well in a shady place, or you can plant them in the full sunshine. Take your trowel and watering-pot out to the garden and then carry the box or basket with pansies out to the bed in which they are to go. Break the basket or take the little plants care- fully out, for the soil about the roots must be dis- turbed as little as possible. Separate the young plants. Dig a hole with your trowel. Take a little plant in your left hand and hold it in place. Fill in the soil about it with your right hand, just as you planted the rose-bushes. The little pansies should be set about a foot apart. You can make a bed of them, or use them for an edging. Cut off all the flowers but you needn't cut off the buds. In just the same way you set out forget-me- nots, geraniums, ageratum, any of the plants in pots or boxes which you buy in the spring to plant in your garden. .WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 37 PANSY SEED In March or early April as soon as you can, sow the seed in a row in the seed-bed, cover it up about a quarter of an inch, press down and water well. When the little pansies are up, they must be transplanted, and when they grow big again so that they touch each other, they must be moved again, but the next moving-time should be to the beds in the garden where they are to grow. Pansies have a great many pretty names ' ' Heart 's-ease, ' ' "That 's-f or-thoughts " ; the very small ones are called " Johnny- jump-ups" and the Germans call the pansy " little step-mother" because the three big petals are like its own chil- dren, while the two little petals are the step-chil- dren which it crowds out. But for all their pretty names, they are like the people who live in hotels and don't mind any; amount of moving about. Another time to plant pansy-seed is in July or early August. Plant it in just the same way, only in November cover the little plants with manure and straw what is called " stable-lit- ter," to keep them warm for the winter. [When you take this off in March you may find 38 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN the little pansies blooming sometimes under the snow. In July or early August, just as you planted the pansies, you can sow seeds of sweet William, hollyhocks, larkspur, Canterbury bells, forget- me-nots. These will not bloom until next year but by October you will have nice young plants with which you can supply your long-suffering parents. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 39 SNOWDROPS AND CROCUSES "I know the song that the bluebird is singing Out in the apple tree where he is swinging: ....... "Dear little blossoms down under the snow, You must be weary of winter, I know; Hark while I sing you a message of cheer: Summer is coming. And springtime is here. Little white snowdrop ! I pray you arise ! . Bright yellow crocus ! Come, open your eyes ; Sweet little violets, hid from the cold, Put on your mantles of purple and gold ; Daffodils! Daffodils! say, do you hear? Summer is coming ! and springtime is here ! ' ' Emily Huntington Miller. 40 t WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN SNOWDROPS AND CEOCUSES The best time to plant these is in early Sep- tember; the best place to plant them is in the grass, putting each bulb in a hole in the turf, like Mr. Stevenson planted his leaden soldier,* only when the springtime comes, the crocuses and snowdrops will come out themselves as the sol- dier couldn't. Don't plant them this way : as if they marked the corners of squares in a checkerboard, but plant so that they will come up in patches, like the bluets in the pasture grass. One way is to take up an irregularly-shaped piece of sod, 1 " dig the soil underneath with a trowel, make it level and see that it is three inches be- * In the turf a hole I found And hid a soldier underground. :"-!* .'-.' -*. . Under grass alone he lies, Looking up with leaden eyes, Scarlet coat and pointed gun, To the stars and to the sun. f For this it is best to have the permission of a parent or guardian of the turf. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 41 low the surface of the ground ; on this set the lit- tle bulbs, their noses pointing up like the musket of the lead soldier; they should be about four inches apart. Fill in about them with soil, then carefully lay the sod back again, just as it was before and you will have a fine surprise for the dandelions if they wake up in time to see it. The other way is to poke a little hole in the grass four inches deep and in this set the crocus- bulb. This is the way you plant Scilla Siberica, a darling little flower whose small, deep blue bells are the coloi* of the fringed gentian. Crocuses : white, yellow and blue. Snowdrops: Get the common snowdrop no one wants giant snowdrops any more than one wants giant babies. Chiondoxa (glory of the snow) flowers a little like an anemone, of a pale Delft blue. Spring snowflake. All of these flower very early, before the grass has begun to get green. If you can keep the grown-ups from having the lawn mowed until the leaves of your bulbs begin to fade, they will blos- som year after year. If you can 't they won 't. 42 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GAKDEN TULIPS " Dance, yellows, whites and reds, Lead your gay orgy, leaves, stalks, heads Astir with the wind in the tulip beds." Robert Browning. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEH, '43 TULIPS AND OTHER BULBS Unless in the autumn, some one gives you the bulbs, you won't be likely to have a spring gar- den. October to April is such a long time to wait ! But you might forget the bulbs and have them for a surprise. If you want to plant a solid bed of bulbs then take off the soil until the bed is level and four inches below the surface set the bulbs down care- fully, each on a little cushion of sand, their noses pointing upward. Fill in around them with soil, press it down and the work is done. In this way you can plant hyacinths, tulips, etc. If you are planting them in groups in your gar- den or making a row along the edge of the bed, then make a hole six inches deep, set the bulb in this and fill it up. When late November comes, give your bulb bed a covering of dead leaves. In just the same way, you can plant Daffodils. Hyacinths. Jonquils. Poet's narcissus. 44 .WHEN MOTHEB LETS US GARDEN A SUNFLOWER HEDGE Get a package of miniature sunflowers. Their baptismal name, which you will have to call them if you want to be sure to get the right thing, is Helianthus cucumerifolius. Early May is the time to sow the seed ; sow it thickly in a row, just where you want the hedge to be, and by July you will have a hedge four feet high, cov- ered with yellow flowers. Cut the flowers all you like and the sunflowers will bloom finely. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 45 THE LITTLE FLOWER-GARDENER'S TIME-TABLE The very best clock: to set your garden-watch by, is some old gardener in your neighborhood who always has plenty of lovely flowers. Make friends with him if you can. If you can't, hang over his fence and watch him. When you see him setting out plants from his hot-beds, then you will know that it is warm enough to sow nas- turtiums or plant corn or anything that is marked in catalogues " tender annual." Old gardeners sometimes seem cross because they make the mistake of thinking that the boys or girls who hang over their fence and look at their flowers, are the fierce creatures who step on the baby plants in their flower-beds and tear branches off their shrubs, when it is probably an ignorant grown-up who has done the mischief. If a gardener knows that you really love the plants and want to learn how to make them grow, h will usually be very glad to tell you if it is warm enough to plant your morning-glories. This time-table is for gardens in the latitude of New York. If you are farther south, then take your geography and count how many hun- dred miles south of New York you are and sub- tract six days for every hundred miles. If you 46 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN are farther north, add six days. This makes an interesting arithmetic example. But Mother Nature is very like some railroads. She doesn't stick to schedule time at all and, as I said, the very best way is to keep a lookout on some particularly pretty garden and when you see the gardener planting his seed, you plant yours. LITTLE FLOWER-GARDENER'S TIME-TABLE NAME Balsam WHEN" TO START LATER TIME WHEN IT BLOOMS (about) May 1 June 1 July to middle Sept. Bean Vine Apr. 20-30 California Poppy March June until frost Candytuft Apr. 20 June until frost China Asters Apr. 20-30 May 10-15 July until frost Chionodoxa Sept. Oct. Feb., Mar. Coreopsis Apr. 20 May 10 July to Nov. Cornflower Apr. 1-20 May 1-10 June, July, Cosmos Apr. 20 May 1-10 Sept. to frost Crocus Sept. Oct. Feb., Mar. Drummond's Phlox Mar. Apr. 10 July until frost Easter Lily it a Gourds Golden Glow Hollyhock Hyacinth August November May 1 Mar. 20-30 May 15 Oct. 15 Christmas Easter Aug. Sept. Plants Mar. Apr. Sow in July for July next year Oct. Nov., Dec. May in house " Feb., Mar. WHEN" MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 47 LITTLE FLOWER-GARDNER'S TIME-TABLE Continued. NAME Larkspur Lily-of-the-Valley Marigolds (Pot) Marigolds French ( African | Mignonette Narcissus Jonquils Daffodils Narcissus ( in pots ) Nasturtiums Morning-Glory Pansies (sow seed) Sow in July for next year Nov. May WHEN TO START LATER TIME WHEN IT BLOOMS (about) 'Apr. 15 Mar. or soon as you can Mar. 25-30 Apr. 25 Mar. or soon as you can Sept. Oct. Apr. 1 May 1-8, June 'Apr. 1, May 1, June 1 Nov. July until Oct. July, Aug., Sept. Apr., May. " set out Petunias Pinks Phlox (hardy) Poppies Portulaca Scilla Snowdrops Sunflowers Sweet Alyssum Sweet Peas Tulips Tobacco Plant Zinnia Sept. Oct. Apr. 25, Apr. 15-30 Mar. Apr. Apr. 15-30. Apr. 15-30 Mar. 25, Sept. Mar. or soon as you can May. Oct. Oct. May 1-15 Apr. 1-15 Mar. or soon ai you can Oct. Apr. 15 May 1-8 Nov., Feb. Dec., Mar. May 1 July until Oct. July until frost 15 July July until frost (for next year) May, June May until Nov. June to Nov. July until frost July, Aug. June, July Apr. May 20 Apr. 30 Nov. Apr. 30 June 1-8 July, Aug. Feb., Mar. May, Nov. June, Oct. April-May July, Oct. July, Oct. 48 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN SONG OF THE TOAD Oh, let no naughty, wicked child throw little stones at me! I'm watchman for the flowers and from harm I keep them free. Any horrid, prowling insect that at night would cause alarm, Is neatly swallowed down by me put where he does no harm. I'm better than the hired man at catching noisome slugs, I dine at night on cut-worms and I breakfast on rose- bugs. The thorniest caterpillar, he is safe inside of me, WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 49 And worms and insects any kind I eat them all with glee. So place for me a cool, flat stone a hollow tinder it, And here whene'er the sun is hot, I'll comfortably sit (I'll earn my board and lodging pay you ample rent for it). And let no naughty boy or girl throw wicked stones at me, I'm the watchman for your flowers and you'd best be nice, you see. SOHG OF THE WATEBING-POT This is the song of the Watering-Pot, Don't use me when the sun is hot; Wait until he has gone away, Fill me with water at close of day; Then soak your plants and soak again, Soak and soak, till they think it's rain, Soak till each root gets all it wants That's the way to water your plants! ' Next morning loosen the earth on top So the moisture below will stop ; Then hang me up on a nail quite high, Don't use me again till the soil is dry." 50 .WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN STAY-AT-HOME PLANTS Candytuft and mignonette, Don't transplant or you'll regret. Morning-glory and nasturtium Hold transplanting in aversion. All sweet peas and poppies too Are of this home-loving crew. Cornflower and Japan pink, Coreopsis, too, I think, Petunia and sweet alyssum, Moved may die and then you'll miss 'um! MAEKET GARDENING The chief of my care is my farming-affair To make my corn grow and my apple-trees bear. Old Song. 51 52 WHEN MOTHER LETS TJS GARDEN BUSH BEANS "Let them pass as they will too soon With the bean-flowers' boon And the blackbird's tune And May, and June." Robert Browning. " It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil." Hawthorne. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 53 BUSH-BEAU'S About the first of May, if the ground is warm and there is no danger from frost, you can plant your beans. It is best even then to choose a shel- tered spot. It must be well dug and manured slightly. Eake the bed smooth, and lay a board down for a ruler. With a sharp stick draw a line alongside it, making a little furrow two inches deep. In this drop the beans, three inches apart, cover over, press down, and water. Make your next row one and a half or two feet from this one. You can plant beans every two weeks all sum- mer, and so have a supply of fresh young beans ; but when you are planting in hot weather, re- member to plant the seed a little deeper, three inches instead of two, and water before you cover the beans with soil. 54 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN THE LATE RISERS Beans and cucumbers, melons, corn Don't plant these till the weather's warm ; Squash and tomato, pumpkins, too, Early sowing for these won't do ! WHEN" MOTHEK LETS US GARDEN 55 POLE BEANS OE LIMA BEANS First plant your poles. They should be eight or nine feet long and may be set up in various in- teresting positions. You can have them down each side of a path and make a bean- walk. You can tie a stick across the tops and make a bean pergola. You can set them up like tripods, or put them in a row or use them for a screen. Wait until the weather is really warm before planting the fifteenth or twentieth of May is time enough for Lima beans. Draw up the soil about the pole until it makes a little mound three inches high. In this plant your beans two inches deep, six to each pole. When they are well up, pull out the weaker seedlings, leaving only three. If the beans don't grow from the first planting try another crop in June. 56 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN PARSLEY, BEETS, CARROTS, TURNIPS, PARSNIPS "And where the marjoram once, and sage and rue, And balm and mint, with curled-leaf parsley- grew." WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 57 PABSLEY, BEETS, CABBOTS, TUBNIPS, PABSNIPS As soon as the ground can be dug you can plant your early vegetables beets, carrots, turnips, parsnip, parsley. The best soil is a rather light and sandy one; have it well dug, raked smooth, and make a little furrow two inches deep, just as you did for beans. In this drop the seed, cover, press down, and water well and your beets are planted. The rows should be a foot and a half or two feet apart. When the little plants are up, pull out the crowding one until those you leave stand five inches apart. Young beets you can take to the kitchen to be used as spinach if you pull them up when the beet is only as large as a hickory nut. If you have a pony, he will think young carrots nicer than the nicest sort of candy. You can sow every two week, then you will have fresh vegetables coming along steadily. 58 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN RADISHES "And then they planted cabbages, Potatoes, corn and radishes. " Oov. Bradford. WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GARDEN 59 RADISHES i Make the rows eight or ten inches apart. The soil should be firm and light and rich. Sow the seed and cover just as you did your marigolds. Eadishes can be sown every ten days until June, then it is a little too warm and you must wait un- til August before sowing again. Be careful not to let your radishes grow too large before you market them. The smaller ones are more pala- table. If you want to grow big radishes, try the Japa- nese Sakurajima. This, in its native country, is 43 inches around the waist. 60 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GAEDEN LETTUCE Don't let your lettuce pine for a drink; It likes water oftener than you think. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GAKDEN 61 LETTTTCE r As soon as you can make their bed soft and mellow you can plant lettuce. Sow the seed thinly in a row, just as you planted radishes. Cover the seed, press down and water. In two weeks sow another row. Big Boston is perhaps the best sort for earliest sowing and for sowing in the autumn. " Hanson" is good for warmer weather. When the first little seedlings are well up, pull out the little plants, leaving only the sturdiest to stand ten or twelve inches apart. Take the baby lettuce plants to the house and they will make a delightful salad. If you like you can set out the little plants instead. You can sow lettuce every two weeks until July, when it i ; rather hot to grow it well. When the middle of August comes sow again, and sow twice in September. 62 "WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN; DROUGHT WATERING Dig a furrow with your hoe In the space between each row. Next you run the water in it; Let it stand and soak a minute. Boots will think there's been a rain When you fill it up again. Put back the soil and laugh at drought. The sun can't find this watering out. WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GARDEN 63 PEAS Garden peas, like sweet peas, should go in the soil as early as you can get them. Make a fur- row four inches deep and in this drop the seeds one inch apart. Cover and press down. The next row should be four feet from this one. These are early peas. Don't sow wrinkled peas until the ground is quite warm, in May. In August you can plant early peas again. 64 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GARDEN COEN "Day by day did Hiawatha Go to wait and watch beside it: Till at length a small green feather From the earth shot slowly upward, Then another and another, And before the summer ended, Stood the maize in all its beauty, .With its shining robes around it, And its long, soft, yellow tresses, And in rapture Hiawatha Cried aloud, It is Mondamin." WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 65 COEN Before planting your corn, wait until the weather is quite warm about the 15th or the 20th of May. Sow in hills, three feet apart each way, putting five or six kernels in each hill. As soon as the blades are up, hoeing can begin, and here is a cheerful occupation for you. It should be hoed once a week oftener, if you like. When hoe- ing, draw the soil up around the stems. iYou can sow corn at intervals of two or three weeks until the Fourth of July. The best kinds are Country Gentleman and StowelPs Evergreen. 66 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GAKDEN WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GARDEN 67 MUSKMELONS This is also the way to plant squashes, cucum- bers, pole, or Lima beans. If you have sandy soil, it is easy enough to grow muskmelons, and this is the way to do it. Make little hills, five feet part from each other each way the hills should be about three inches higher than the surface of the ground. In these plant your seed ; sow eight or ten seeds in each hill. [When the little plants are up, before they begin to crowd each other, you must murder the innocents ; pull out the weaker ones until there are left only three seedlings on each hill. Various insects are fond of muskmelon leaves. The way to get the best of these is to get up early in the morning and, while the dew is on the leaves, dust lime or ashes on them. This won't hurt the melons, but it will discourage the insects who had thought of breakfasting on them. In just the same way you plant cucumbers and squashes and pole-beans. When you plant squashes, remember to plant them a long way off from your melon patch. Mother Nature sometimes plays practical jokes on gardeners and lets the wind blow the pollen dust from the flowers of one to the flowers of the other, and " mixes the babies up" as Buttercup did in Pinafore. The squashes do not taste so badly, but the melons ! 68 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GARDEN GARDEN WARFARE Don't wait to fight insects till plenty come; Kill the first, and the second brood stays at home. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 69 GROWING JACK O'LANTEKNS If you grow your own Jack O 'Lanterns, about Hallowe'en you will find yourself very popular. It would be a good idea to give a garden party the day before, inviting your friends to come and bring their jack-knives. You could give each one a pumpkin and let him carve his own. All you have to do is to remember to sow the seed at the end of May in the corn-patch, between the hills of corn. Plant four seeds to a hill, and have the hills ten feet apart. When the corn has past, the pumpkins will be on hand to occupy the ground. 70 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN THE WELL-AHMED GARDENER I've Bordeaux for all kinds of rot; For mildew in potato; For white-spots on my melon leaves And blight on my tomato. iPyrethrmn for the cabbage-worm And for his lettuce fellows ; .White hellebore for currant-worms (This is applied with bellows). For thrips and aphides, mites and lice, I have tobacco water. And in a pan of oil I drop Each rose-bug (when I've caught her), The melon leaves I dust with lime To check each insect-sinner; My gayly-striped potato-bugs Have Paris green for dinner. I give the insects first a word Of kind and friendly warning, Which, if they do not take, why thus I kill them the next morning. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 71 TOMATOES The easiest way to grow tomatoes is to buy the plants in late May and set them out just as you plant pansies, except that they must be in the sun. If you want to grow them all yourself, then in February plant the seed in boxes flat boxes about three inches deep and filled with light, sandy soil. If you haven't boxes, you can use old strawberry baskets or tin cans (with holes punched in the bottom for drainage) or anything. Put the boxes in a sunny window. When warm weather comes, set out the plants, putting them in hills four feet apart each way. The best way to manage tomato vines (which are undeniably limp) is to tie each vine to a four- or five-foot stake. Or, if you prefer, you can make a trellis for them like a miniature grape trellis, and tie them to this ; they will then make a more imposing appearance. Once a week cultivate or hoe your tomatoes. Keep the fruit picked. Even if your family and friends have abundance and you can find no one to take all your supply, pick it and throw away; for if you let the tomatoes decay on the vines, they will stop bearing, just as cornflowers and sweet peas do. 72 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN LITTLE MABKET GABDENEB'S TIME TABLE First Start Later Bush Beans May 1 May 20 Lima Beans May 15 June Beet March 15 April Carrot April April Cabbage April May Corn April 15 May 30 Cucumber May 15 May 30 Lettuce March April Melon May 1 May 15 Parsley March April Parsnip April April Peas March April Pumpkin May 1 May 15 Radish March April Squash May 1 May 15 Tomato February May 1 indoors Turnip April May Latest Sowing First Crop Ready for Market July 15 July August July June July July June 1 August July 15 July July July (for pickles) October End May June September 1 June August August June May 30 September 1 August April May 30 September June (set out) July July (for fall) INDOOE GABDENING 73 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GARDEN PLANTING SEEDS When the sun has gone away, That's the proper time of day; If you plant the seed too deep, Then the leaves may never peep. Seeds four times their depth must go- That is, if they are to grow. Keep the ground stirred in your garden-plot, It's better than too-much-watering-pot. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 75 WHERE TO PLANT THE WINDOW GARDEN If your mother lets you have a window garden, before you get your plants or before she gives you any, be sure you find out what window it is you are to have. The best is a sunny south win- dow. Here you can grow almost anything. Next best is an east window. This has the morning sun, but even if you have a west win- dow or a north window you can have some sort of a garden. A kitchen window is a very good place for a window garden, for the plants like the steam from the cooking. In a north window, you can grow English ivy, cyclamen, Boston fern and bulbs, like narcissus. In a south window, you can grow geraniums, heliotropes, azaleas, and almost any kind of flow- ering plant. 76 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GAKDEN WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 77 NARCISSUS IN STONES AND WATEE Get some bulbs of paper-white narcissus. For the stones, if you haven't any, you can buy a quart of pebbles for ten cents. Any kind of a bowl or deep dish will do. Put about one inch of pebbles in the bottom. Set the bulbs on this as many as the dish will hold. Fill in around them with pebbles, enough to keep the bulbs in place. Then pour in water, until it barely touches the bottom of the bulbs. Set the dish in a cool, dark place for two weeks, until plenty of roots have formed ; then bring it to the light but don't put it yet in a sunny window wait until the leaves are well up and the flower stalks and the white petals begin to push out. Then put the bowl in the sunshine and it will flower beautifully. This is one way you can grow Eoman hya- cinths, jonquils, yellow mammoth crocuses, Chi- nese lily. But the paper-white narcissi are the easiest and surest. The Chinese lily you have to be sure to keep warm. 78 .WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN. WATERING PLANTS When you water your plants, pour in until the water runs out of the pot at the bottom. Let the water stand in the saucer about fifteen min- utes ; some of it will be taken up again. Then pour off what is left. These are thirsty plants : Azaleas, heliotrope, bulbs when coming into flower, Boston fern and asparagus fern. Keep a pan filled with water in the shelf with your plants. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 79 HYACINTHS IN WATER For this, the first things to get are the hya- cinth bulbs, the next, the hyacinth glasses. Don't buy " double hyacinths," the single ones are best for growing in this way. Hyacinth glasses have a cup-shaped place at the top which holds the bulb, but lets the roots go down to the water. Dark-colored glasses are best roots al- ways dislike light. Fill the glasses with water, which must almost, not quite, touch the bulb. Put a small lump of charcoal in each glass. Then set them away in a cool, dark place to stay for a month or more, until the glass is well filled with roots. Then bring the glass to the light just as you brought the tulip bulbs. In the same way you can grow mammoth yel- low crocuses, Due van Thol tulips, narcissus. 80 [WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN THIS IS THE WAY TO TEAIN A GERANIUM When the little plant is five inches high, cut off the top. This will make it branch out. When the branches are five or six inches long, cut them off until they are only three inches. This will make them branch out. Keep on this way until your plant has lots of branches, like a tree has, instead of one or two long thin ones, when it will flower from twenty or thirty different places instead of only from one or two. When the soil is dry, give the plant a good soaking. Give it water until it runs out of the bottom of the pot, then don't water again until the soil is dry. But whenever you can do it, take the plant to the kitchen sink and give it a shower bath. Geraniums like sunshine. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 81 HOW TO GROW GERANIUMS In October, when your mother brings her plants indoors, probably she "cuts back" her geraniums. If she doesn't, she ought. You can use the pieces cut off to make little gera- niums out of, and if you take good care of them in the spring your geraniums will be better gera- niums than your mother's. This will give you a pleased and proud feeling. First get something a pot or a tin can; fill this with sand; then take the little pieces of geranium stalk and cut them off just below a joint or where a leaf starts. Snip the lower leaves off short. Cut off the tops of the upper leaves. This will make them stop thinking about growing for a while and the roots can have time to get strong. Take an old jack-knife and make a hole with it in the damp sand. Set your cutting in this don't push it in that cut end is very sen- sitive and you mustn't bruise it. 82 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GAKDEN /<& WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 83 POTTINQ TULIPS, DAFFODILS, HYACINTHS When September comes or early October, you can "put up" tulips and hyacinths in pots as your mother puts up preserves to have ready to bring out from time to time during the winter. They can all be "put up" at once, put in a cool place for storage and brought out one by one, so that no matter how your mother's window gar- den flourishes, you will have something in bloom from Thanksgiving to March. First get your bulbs. Next find the pots or boxes to put them in. You can use flat bulb- pans. The flowers look prettiest in these or ordi- nary flowerpots, or else shallow wooden boxes, three inches deep and of any size you please. Next comes the soil. This should be sand and garden loam be sure there is quite a bit of sand in it. Put a half -inch layer of broken crock in the pot for drainage. Then put a layer of soil then set the tulip bulbs on this ; fill in all around them till the soil is within one-half inch of the top of the pot. The noses of the bulbs should be just at the top of the soil. Jar the pot to shake it down don't press it, water well and then your "preserves" are ready to be put away. Set the pots either in a cool dark cellar, or 84: WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GAEDEN else dig a hole two feet deep, put three inches of ashes in the bottom to keep out the worms. On this set the pot of bulbs fill in with soil, bank the top with three inches of manure and straw to keep the ground from freezing so that you can't dig out your pots. In just this way you can plant Narcissus. Daffodils. Hyacinths. Tulips. Miniature Hyacinths. But hyacinths like to have more than the tips of their noses out of the soil; they like to have their shoulders out, too. So when you plant them, remember to leave one-third of the bulb uncovered. .WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 85 HOW TO TAKE CAEE OE A BOSTON FERN If your mother's Boston fern looks unhappy and bedraggled, get her to give it to you. [Very likely she has set it somewhere in the drawing- room or hall where she thought it looked pretty, but where the poor thing didn't have much light and air. This is the sort of thing grown people are very apt to do to plants. First cut off any leaves that are turning yel- low. Cut them off at the base and burn them. Next fill the bath-tub half full of water, and set the pot in this, so that the water comes over the rim. If your mother thinks this hard on the porcelain of the tub, take a tin wash-boiler, or a pail, set the plant in it and fill up with water that has had the chill taken off it. Let the plant stay half an hour and drink all it can. Probably this is the first good drink it has had for a long time. Sprinkle with a syringe if you haven't one, take a whisk-broom, dip it in the water and shake over the fern until the leaves are wet. Then find a comfortable place for it. A Bos- ton fern likes a cool room and prefers an east or north window ; it needs light, but not sunshine. Shower the leaves every day, soak it thoroughly once a week and water twice a week. 86 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN MAKING PLANTS FROM LEAVES This is lots of fun. If you can get your mother to cut off a leaf from a rubber plant or a begonia (one of the gorgeous-leaved begonias), you can make plants out of them. Cut off the top half of the rubber-tree leaf, and put the lower part in the sand, the leaf standing up- right, as if it were a sail, and it will grow ; that is all. Lay the begonia leaf flat on the sand. Get some toothpicks and pin the leaf down to the sand with them, sticking them through at the ribs. This makes lots of little plants they start where the leaf is broken. Or else you can tear the leaf and set it upright, the torn edge in the damp sand, and little plants will grow from this. When they have started and are growing nicely, pot them just as you potted the gera- niums, only the begonias don't like so much sun- light. They are happiest in a rather cool room and an east window. Then press the sand around it closely. You can put eight or ten cuttings like this in one pot. Set the pot in the shade for three days, then in the sunlight keep the sand moist. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 87. .When the little plants are beginning to grow, when you see little leaves sprouting, then you must " pot "them. First, have little three-inch pots ready and some soil. This you can get from a florist for a few cents. Take the little plants out carefully don't pull them out stick the old knife in the soil a little way from the plant stem and pry out the infant you mustn't hurt the roots. Hold the little plant in your left hand so that it is in the middle of the pot. Fill in with soil with your right hand just as you planted the rose bush. Then press down, water well, and let the young geraniums stand in the shade for a few days, then give them the sunshine again. Plants which are very easy to start in the same way are abutilon, begonia. 88 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 89 EASTER LILY This is one of the loveliest plants to grow. In October get your bulbs. Take a five-inch pot ; in this put some drain- age material, then a layer of soil, four inches below the top of the pot. On this set the brown lily bulb and just cover it with soil. Put it in a cool place in the cellar. In about two weeks the stalk will begin to push up, then fill in about it with soil, Keep on doing this, filling up with soil as fast as the stalk comes up, until the pot is filled to within one-half inch of the top that is plenty. By the middle of January you can bring the pots to the light. Put them in a cool room and spray the foliage often. If Easter is getting near and you want to hurry the flower, bring it into a warm room and the sun- light. If you would like to have the lily in blossom at Christmas, then pot it in early August, treat it just the same way, and in early October bring it into the house. This makes a very lovely Christmas present. 90 .WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN- SHKTTB-BRANCHES BLOSSOM In February, if the hired man prunes for- sythias and deutzias as he oughtn't to do col- lect the branches, put them in water in a cool room and not in the sunlight. In a little while the buds will begin to swell and show color. Then put the jar in a sunny window and in about a week they will be in full blossom. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 91 GARDEN PLANTS FOE THE WINDOW BOX In late September or October, look over your garden and you may find some plants which will do nicely for your window box. Here are some annuals which would die in a little while that, if you take up, will be glad to bloom for you for a little while, at least. Stocks, astors, tobacco plant, pansies, marigolds, sweet alyssum. Pick out the smaller plants, ones that have not bloomed very much. Give the plants a thorough soaking. Five hours afterward dig them up carefully. Have the pot or box ready then dig up your plant, try to get up all the roots. Pot it carefully, just as you potted the geranium cuttings. Next, cut back the plant and set it in the shade for a few days. Afterwards you can bring it to the light and it will go on blooming. 92 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 93 GAEDEN AGGESSOEIES In the garden lay supinely A huge giant wrought of spade ; Arms and legs were stretched at length In a passive giant strength, The meadow turf, cut finely, Bound them laid and interlaid. Call him Hector, son of Priam ! Such his title and degree, With my rake I smoothed his brow, Both his cheeks I weeded through; But a rhymer such as I am, Scarce can sing his dignity. Eyes of gentianella azure, Staring, winking at the skies ; Nose of gillyflowers and box; Scented grasses put for locks, Which a little breeze at pleasure Set a-waving round his eyes. Brazen helm of daffodillies With a glitter toward the light; Purple violets for the mouth, Breathing perfumes west and south ; And a sword of flashing lilies, Holden ready for the fight. 94 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN And a breastplate made of daisies, Closely fitting, leaf on leaf; Periwinkles interlaced Drawn for belt around the waist ; While the brown bees, humming praises, Shot their arrows round the chief. ' ' Hector in the Garden. ELIZ. BROWNING. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 95 HERE ARE SOME EASY GARDEN BEDS TOBACCO PLANT DWARF NASTURTIUMS EDGING OF DWARF FRENCH MARIGOLDS The tobacco plant is the tallest, so that goes at the back. Next comes a row of dwarf nastur- tiums and last the little edging of marigolds. If the bed is very wide, you can put a row of sunflowers behind the tobacco plant. ANOTHER GARDEN BED Zinnias Shirley poppies Cornflowers Edging of sweet alyssum. First sow the Shirley poppies and the corn- flowers; these you can sow very early. Then sow the zinnias in rows six inches apart and the little edging of sweet alyssum. When the pop- pies have gone by, you can pull them up, dig up some of the zinnias and put them in their places. 96 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN -Little Vjcarclen J^x 15 feet Plan of Little Garden WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 97 LITTLE QARDEN 15x15 FEET This little garden is in the corner of a back- yard. A bed of sunflowers screens it on one side, a hedge of sweet peas makes the other boundary. The little summerhouse is made by a post at the outside corner where the nastur- tiums are and this is connected at the top with the two sides of the fence. Strips of wire net- ting, a foot wide, fastened to the ground with staples and nailed to the crosspiece at the top, make the walls of the playhouse. The first thing to plant for this little garden beside the post for the playhouse is a hedge of sweet peas and the poppies. Then you can set out hollyhock plants against the fence. A little later in April, plant the Drummond's phlox, and in May plant your nasturtiums, morning-glories and the tall sunflowers. The grass space in the middle, and the summerhouse will give you room enough to entertain your friends. 98 WHEN MOTHEK LETS US GARDEN WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 99 GARDEN PLAYHOUSES An easy kind of garden playhouse is made of poles, such as beans are used to climb on. Set them up in tent-fashion. Stick the poles into the ground, a foot apart, and secure them with cord at the top to a crosspole. The poles can be as long as you like the longer the poles, the larger playhouse you can make. At the foot of each alternate pole, plant ornamental gourds just as you plant melons and early May is the time to do this. There are a great many kind of gourds which you might use. There is the squirting cucumber, dipper, dishcloth, mock-orange, Hercules club. They grow up very fast and cover anything very quickly. You can use other vines to cover your play- house, such as nasturtiums and scarlet runner beans, but they will not make so tight a roof as the gourds. Another easy playhouse you can make with poles is made like an Indian wigwam. Draw a circle as large as you want the playhouse to be. Plant the poles at its outer edge a foot and a half apart, leaving, of course, space for a door, and then fasten them together at the top. At the foot of each pole, you can sow scarlet runner beans or ornamental gourds; these will cover your playhouse. 100 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN GARDEN FITENITUEE Of course, you will like to entertain your friends in your garden. If there is a shady spot where plants don't grow very well, that's a good place for a seat. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 101 GARDEN BENCHES If you live in the country, here is an easy way to make a garden bench. Take two " chunks, " logs that have been sawed (they are usually a foot long), ready for splitting. Pick out two that are the same length and which have been sawed evenly so that if you stand them up on end the tops will be flat. Tote them out to the place in the garden where you want them and see how long your seat ought to be, standing one for one end and one for the other. Then find a board, nail it on top. The easiest place to make a seat in a city back- yard is against the fence and in the corner. Take the shady corner and put the board like a shelf, resting one edge on the ledge of the fence. Nail it there and make legs to support the front edge. tYou can call this an exedra if you like. 102 .WHEN MOTHER LETS US GAKDEN GARDEN TABLES You can find a good-sized " chunk" with a nice flat top. On this you can nail your table top boards fastened together to form a square, or if you prefer a round table, use a barrel-head for a top. A piece of drain tile stood on end can be used instead of the " chunk." WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 103 SWINGING TABLE This is another table that dispenses with the troublesome and uncertain four legs. This can be swung from a tree if the branch is low enough. First make your table top. Two cleats on the under side of a packing-box cover makes a good one. Bore a hole in each corner of the top. Take two pieces of rope that will fit the holes. Sling them over the branch, then fasten an end of each to one side of the table. Push the other ends through the opposite holes and pull the ropes through until the table is the right height just as you adjust a swing. Add a Japanese lantern for decoration. For such a table in a back-yard garden, you can lay a pole or nail a support in place across the corner of the fence. When not in use, such a table can be hauled up out of the way. GIVING THE PLANTS AIR In the middle of the day, when it is warm, open the windows and let the plants have some air. More plants suffer from lack of it than you have any idea of. 104 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN GIVING HOUSE PLANTS A BATH Plants are like children; they need air and light and they also need plenty of washing. If your mother has been thoughtful enough to put a piece of oil-cloth over the floor in front of your window garden, then you can give your plants a bath very easily. If you have a syr- inge, squirt water with it over them every day, especially on the under sides of the leaves. This will keep them nice and clean and you won't have much bother with insects ; or, you can take each plant to the kitchen sink and sprinkle it thoroughly there with a syringe or a whisk- broom. It is well to have your mother's or the cook's permission for this. About once in two weeks, your plant family ought to have a bath in soap and water. Take a tin wash-boiler or deep dish-pan, fill it with lukewarm water and make a strong suds with white laundry soap. Take your plants, one by one, and hold each one firmly by the pot and dip it head downward in the water. Afterwards sprinkle with clear water. This is about the easiest way of giving them a bath. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 105 INSECTS There are two kinds of insects that worry a gardener. There are those that can be killed by shooting at them with a syringe charged with some destructive stuff, as soldiers attack a town with shot and shell. But there are others that have such fine armor and such hard shell on their little backs, that you can shoot anything you like and unless it is strong enough to kill the plants, it doesn't hurt them. To meet these you have to put something on their food which, if they eat it, will kill them. Then you wait and see if they eat it ; if you like you can sing : "Dilly, dilly, diUy, dilly, come and be killed," as Mrs. Bond sang to her ducks. THE INSECTS YOU CAN THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOOT AT ARE THESE: SHOOT THEM WITH: Plant lice. Tobacco water. Red spiders. Clean water. Mealy bugs. Soap and water. Green hollyhock bug. Tobacco water. Bed aphis on sweet peas. Tobacco water. 106 WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN THE INSECTS YOU MUST PER- WHAT YOU GIVE SUADE TO KILL THEMSELVES I THEM TO EAT: Green lettuce worm. Pyrethrum. Rose-slugs. Hellebore. Cabbage worm. Pyrethrum. Eose bugs you will have to pick off with your fingers and drop in a pan of kerosene. Cutworms you have to look for just under the surface near the stalk of the plant and kill them yourself, or you can make a deep hole with a sharp stick near the plant and the guileless cut- worms will fall into this during the night and in the morning you can get them out and kill them or use them for fishing. WHEN MOTHER LETS ITS GARDEN 107 THE EARLY RISERS "The Early Bird catches the worm; The Early Gardener, the market." The Early Gardener first sows these [Parsley, lettuce, and smooth-shelled pease, Cabbage, turnip, radish, beet, And (his planting to complete), Parsnip, potatoes, carrots, he Gets in the ground as soon as may be. THE WISE GARDENER The morning after a heavy rain The gardener takes his hoe again, Loosens the soil between the rows, And the moisture will stay at the roots he knows. CULTIVATION To hoe or cultivate once a week Makes vegetables cheerful and keeps the weeds meek. A BULB'S REQUIREMENTS A hole that is just four times as deep As I myself am tall ; A cushion of sand to sit upon, And right side up that is all. My nose must be pointing to the air, My base to the ground below; Cover with earth and leave me alone, And when spring comes watch me grow ! 108 WHEN MOTHEB LETS US GAEDEN THE MEDICINE CHEST "On every stem, on every leaf, and on both sides of it, and at the root of everything that grew, was a professional specialist in the shape of a gnat, cater- pillar, aphis, or other expert, whose business it was to devour that particular part and help murder the whole attempt at vegetation." Oliver Wendell Holmes. WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN 109 HOW TO PEEPAEE MEDICINES Pyrethrum: There are three brands of this; you can use any of them. They are called Per- sian Insect Powder, Dalmatian Insect Powder, and Buhach. Before you sprinkle on the powder, mix it with three parts of flour. That is, take one teaspoonful of the powder and three teaspoonfuls of flour, mix well together and dust on the leaves when they are wet. Tobacco Tea or Tobacco Water: Take one- half pound of ground tobacco the cheapest you can buy (don't use your father's; the plants wouldn't like it, and he mightn't like it). Pour on this two quarts of boiling water. Let it stand until cool. Then take a syringe and spray the plants with this. If you haven't a syringe, take a whisk-broom, dip it in and shake it over the plants. White Hellebore: Be sure the hellebore is fresh. Dust it on the plants when the leaves are wet. Soap and water: Cut in thin pieces a quar- ter of a pound of Ivory soap, pour a quart of water over this and set on the stove to dissolve. When dissolved, put in a wash-boiler and add five gallons of water. Syringe the plants with this or dip them in it. 110 .WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN THE TOOL BOX Garden tools make very pleasing birthday presents. Here are some that you might sug- gest to parents or friends who are anxiously considering what to give you : Scuffle Hoe: This is a tool which makes weeding easier and pleasanter. [You push it be- tween the rows. Wheel Hoe: This is fine for cultivating your garden. Bun it between the rows once a week and the plants will thrive and the weeds won't. It is also so interesting an implement, with the little wheel in front and the bright red handles, that it is easy to beguile friends and visitors into pushing it. You can even show your little sister how to fasten her doll to it and give it a ride between the garden rows, which will be more instructive than a ride in a doll-carriage. DilUe: This you can make yourself. Take the handle of a broken spade or earth-fork, cut it off so that, with the handle, it is only a foot long. Sharpen the cut end. This is a handy little tool in transplanting. Rake, earth-fork, spade, hoe, trowel, water- ing pot. These are too familiar to need descrip- WHEN MOTHEB LETS US GARDEN 111 tion. If you do not own them, usually they can be conveniently and economically borrowed from your parents. " When the golden day is done, Through the closing portal, Child and garden, flower and sun, Vanish all things mortal. Garden darkened, dairy shut, Child in bed, they slumber Glow-worm in the highway rut, Mice among the lumber. In the darkness houses shine, Parents move with candles; Till, on all, the night divine Turns the bedroom handles." R. L. Stevenson. When Mother Lets Us" Series "WHEN MOTHER LETS US COOK." By CONSTANCE JOHNSON. An admirable cook book for very young cooks. Of genuine value. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US ACT."-By STELLA GEORGE STERN PERRY. A contribution of great value in amateur dramatics. This is not a book for work, it is a book for play. Tbere is nothing to learn by heart in it. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US MAKE PAPER-BOX FURNITURE." -By Q. KLLINOWOOD RICH, Brooklyn Training School for Teachers. This book shows exactly how to make fascinating doll's furniture out of paper boxes and materials which cost nothing. The ideas are new and unique. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US MAKE GIFTS."-By MART B. QRUBB. Tells children how to make all sorts of useful and charming things to give their parents and friends. No great outlay is required. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US MAKE TOYS."-By G. ELUNSWOOD RICH, Brook- lyn Training School for Teachers. This book is for boys as well as girls. It teaches the youngsters to make good use of their time, fingers and the cast-off materials of any household. " WHEN MOTHER LETS US MAKE CANDY."-By ELIZABETH & LOUISE BACBB. Tells the best and safest way to make all sorts of candy. The little readers are given many valuable hints that will help them in all kinds of cooking. 11 WHEN MOTHER LETS US CUT OUT PICTURES."-By IDA E. BOYD. A book that will be a boon to mothers and children on rainy afternoons. A joy to the convalescent or sick child. Full of clever idea*. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US KEEP PETS."-By CONSTANCE JOHNSON. All children love animals. This little book teaches the child how to care for the various kinds of pets. It is a guide for dog-loving boys and kitten-loving girls alike. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US GARDEN." -By FRANCES DUNCAN. A popular handbook of simple gardening for beginners of all ages. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US SEW." By VIRGINIA RALSTON (Mrs. Ralston). A wonderfully practical book full of ideas that children can easily carry out. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US PLAY."-By ANGELA M. KHYES. Deals with pantomimes, puppet shows, plays, spinning tales, rhyming, shadow pic- tures, "what to say" games and many other fascinating plays. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US HELP.-By CONSTANCE JOHNSON. Here are hints for bed-making, cleaning house, sweeping, care of cut flowers and house plants, notes on the ice box, the wood box, the pot and pan closet, etc. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US GIVE A PARTY."-B y ELSIE DUNCAN YALB. A useful book for birthday, Christmas in fact, for any and every kind of party. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US CARPENTER."-By JOHN D. ADAMS. A book telling boys and girls how to make many attractive and useful articles with faw tools and at small expense. Attractively illustrated. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US MODEL."-By HL*N MORTIMER ADAMS. A book to teach children the use of clay, giving directions for making practical toys and useful objects and graded suggestions for artistic modelling. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US TELL STORIES." By ENOS B. COMBTOCK. The aim of this work is to improve the child's power of observation as well as bis method of expression. "WHEN MOTHER LETS US DRAW."-By EMMA R. LB THAT**. Makes drawing interesting and amusing to children. Develops the "seeing "eye and guides the little hand. Each volume fully illustrated Price 75 cento, nf, each MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY New York UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY