Chapter 3

I

THE GARDEN CLUB

The door opened. A gust of wind and rain literally swept five boys, wet and breathless, into the room. The man at the big oak table in front of a huge open fire looked up, smiled, and said, "Off with your duds, boys! Bar the door securely, Jay, for it's a wild night. Throw a fresh log on the fire, Albert. And all line up."

For a few moments the big cheerful room seemed full of wriggling, twisting boys as great coats were pulled off and hung up carefully on pegs at the far end of the room. It was a rule here at The Chief's home that things should always be shipshape. Then the "line up" came. This was a little ceremony the boys always went through, having dropped into it quite of their own accord. They formed a line in front of the open fire with backs to it and faces toward the man. Then they solemnly saluted in military style. At this The Chief arose, saluted, and by a wave of the hand assigned each boy to his place at the table.

This little group of boys had formed itself naturally into a club. It met with The Chief every Saturday night. He was really no chief, this big, boy-loving man who had come to spend a while in this little country village, to rest and to write. The boys had named him The Chief because, as Albert said, "He could lead any tribe and tame any savage." At this Albert always laughed for he himself had been called a savage so many times he almost believed he was one.

The boys dropped into their places. Jay, or the "Little Chief" as the boys called him, sat opposite the Big Chief at the end of the table and right in front of the fire. He was slim and tall and light of foot. He could run faster, throw farther, and play better than any other boy in the village. He always led, he never bullied, he played fair, so the other boys always followed.

Albert, Jay's brother, big and heavy and as full of mischief as he could hold, took his place at The Chief's right hand. Albert called this his place of honour although knowing full well that he was there so The Chief might have him within reach. Next to Albert came George, frank-faced and bashful, sturdy and loyal. Opposite him red-headed, stubby Peter sat always on the edge of his chair, always with a bit of a smile on his face, never talking much, always agreeing good-naturedly. Beside Peter and at The Chief's left was Jack, who wriggled constantly like a young eel.

After the boys were seated and quiet, The Chief pushed back his work, a plan of his summer's garden, leaned back in his chair and said, "I think first we had better take up your reports." Then he pointed at Jay who began: "Well, when Albert and I asked father for a piece of the garden for our very own to work exactly as we pleased this summer, with no questions asked or answered, he laughed. He said that Albert wouldn't stick to it a day."

"I will, just the same," shouted out Albert quite red in the face.

"Just keep out of this, Savage, until I get through."

The man laid a restraining hand on Albert's arm and Jay continued: "But I begged father, and told him we'd always worked for him, and he might let us try for ourselves. Besides, I told him we'd not shirk his work. So finally he said we each could have the ten hills in the corn patch for the experiment, just as you wished. And then--"

"And then," broke in Albert, unable longer to contain himself, "what do you think he gave us? It's just no use trying, for he gave us an old piece of land below the barn. It's a regular old swamp; why, water stands there the whole spring long, and it takes half the summer to dry it out. Then it gets hard as a brick. Now what is the use of trying on that?"

"We'll take it just the same, and so we told father," continued Jay. "We have just got to make that old land do something."

The Chief nodded and pointed to George for his report. "Same here," began George. "My father wouldn't listen at all at the first; then he said I might have the hills of corn. He threw in also an old side slope which he thinks is too poor for any use." George sank back in his chair in a quite dejected manner.

It was now Jack's turn. "You see," he began at his lightning rate, "we haven't much land anyway, seeing as we live in the village. I can have the backyard, such as it is, but that's precious little use. It's never been used for a garden, and it's full of rock. One of our neighbours says I may have a piece of her corn patch for my corn, if I'll take care of hers, too. Of course I took her offer. Just had to."

Peter took his turn last, as usual. "We have no place at our home; too much lawn, and mother will not have it cut up. Grandfather said I might have any place I wanted in his garden if I'd really care for it myself."

"My!" said Albert, "what a snap! Your grandfather has the best garden land around here. You'll win The Chief's five dollars for the best garden; you just can't help yourself. I'd like to punch you, Peter, for having such luck."

Peter smiled a little more broadly. "Fin sorry the garden's so good, but I can't help it."

"It's all right, Peter," began The Chief; "after all, boys, I believe we are not having such bad luck. Cheer up! We are going to surprise those fathers of yours, and have a good time out of it, too. Jay and Albert have a big problem of draining; George has simply got to put that sandy slope in shape; it looks as if Jack would have to fill in for his garden; and Peter--well, some of you may beat Peter yet."

At this last Peter smiled, Jack skilfully tumbled him off his chair and Albert gave a war whoop. The Chief called his meeting to order again.

"And now, boys, I shall see you each one separately about your garden problems. Remember, not a word at home, for we are going to surprise the people. And at our next regular meeting, and at all others this winter we shall have reports on the manner in which you are going to get at your work and the way in which you will beat conditions. In this way we can keep track of each other's work. We must make our plans, too, on paper, which will help out. We have catalogues to write for, garden stakes to make, and no end of things will come up. But first you boys ought to understand a bit more than you do about the soil. It is a storehouse of good things. Knowledge of the soil is a key to this storehouse.

"We can roughly divide the soil into three classes and call these sand, clay, and humus. The ideal soil has all three of these elements in it. Sandy soil is made up, as the name itself really tells, of broken up rock masses. One can tell this sort of soil by its lightness and the ease with which a mass of it drops apart. By the word lightness one does not mean colour or weight, but looseness. A clay soil may be told by its stickiness; its power to form lumps or masses; its tendency to crack and bake under the hot sun. Such a soil is called heavy. Humus soil is made up largely of decayed animal and vegetable matter. Its presence is told by a dark, rich colour.

"In trying to improve the soil we are dealing with, we have first to think of its physical, and second, its chemical condition.

"The great needs of the soil are air and water. Just think of all soils as made up of many particles; let us say like a lot of marbles, one placed upon another. Each given mass of particles has a given air space between every particle. Again, if a marble is dipped in water a film of water remains on it a short time. Let us think of the particles as always having a film of water on them. Then, as roots and root-hairs of plants strike down among these they find the two necessities, air and water.

"Now sand is very loose and so lets the water drain down through it too rapidly. How shall we improve a sandy soil? Just add something to bind the loose sand particles together. Humus is good for this binding purpose.

"Clay absorbs much water. Then its particles squeeze tightly together and so air is shut out. Add sand to clay soils, to lighten them.

"Humus soil is very rich in nitrogen. This brings us to the chemical side of soils. There are many chemicals in soils which act as foods to plants, but only three are the essentials. If these cannot be unlocked from the soil, or are lacking, they must be supplied. These plant foods are nitrogen, potash, and phosphorus.

"The chief source of nitrogen is manure; of potash, nitrate or sulphate of potash, and wood ashes; of phosphorus, bone ash or phosphates. How can you tell when one of these is lacking? Well, first it is well to know what each one does for a plant. Nitrogen makes fine, green, sturdy growth of leaf and stalk; phosphorus helps blossoming plants; while potash makes plump fruit. If foliage looks sickly then nitrogen is needed. If one wishes a good growth of leaves, as in lettuce, nitrogen is needed. If the fruit is small and poor, supply potash; while if the flower and stalk need better growth, add phosphorus.

"Be careful in adding nitrogen. Nitrogen is the plant food which is most easily lost out of the soil. Study the soil you are dealing with, supply if possible what it lacks, and try to unlock to your seedlings the goodness already in the garden soil."

The interesting talk ended.

"Couldn't we meet oftener than just Saturdays?" questioned Jack.

"We'll see; it all depends upon how much work there is. Possibly we may have to meet Fridays, too, later on, for you have no lessons that night. Anything more, boys, before the popcorn?"

"I'd like to know," asked Peter, "if my cousin Philip, who comes from the city to grandfather's to spend almost every Saturday and Sunday, may join us too. He wants to fix up his city backyard and doesn't know how to begin."

"Bring him along next Saturday. We'll be glad to have him, shan't we, boys?"

"Don't know," blurted out Albert, "it's our club."

"Keep quiet, Albert. Let him in as long as he behaves and works. Isn't that right?" asked Jay.

"Yes," answered George and Jack.

"Then, boys, we'll have Jack's report next week, as his problem is not so difficult. If Jay and Albert drop in some day from school they shall have a book which will help them, and George needs one, too."

At this point Albert dropped off his seat in mock alarm murmuring as he fell, "Worse, much worse than school!" George dropped a heavy book on top of him to add to his comfort.

The Chief went on as if nothing had happened. "Jack and Peter, shell and pop the corn, George and Jay, crack the nuts. And you, Albert, run to the cellar for the apples. Get good ones, young man."

"Why," questioned Albert, as he picked himself up, "why must poor Albert always do the hard work, while the other fellows stay by the warm fire?" No one answered him and he slowly marched off.

Soon the corn was popped, the nuts cracked and the big red apples on deck. And then it was a quiet room save for the snapping of a shell from a half-cracked nut, and the munching of the firm apples as the boys ate. The firelight played softly over the old room bringing out strongly the big oak table, the group of boys, the silent man, throwing far back into the shadows the old rush-bottomed chairs, the short-legged rockers and the pieces of furniture at all distant from the fire.

The clock struck nine. The boys reluctantly got up from the floor and struggled into their coats. Jay unbarred the door. The man held the light high above his head sending a stream of light after them, George astride his old farm horse ready for his three-mile ride, Jay and Albert trudging after him, and Jack and Peter hand in hand on a run toward the village.

"Good-night!" they shouted back at the man, "We'll be on time next Saturday night, seven sharp. Good-night!"

II

THE BOYS' GARDEN DIFFICULTIES

"It's fine to see you back, Myron," began The Chief, looking at a big, good looking fellow, who had dropped quietly into his place by George. "Are you here for all the time, now?"

"Yes," replied Myron, "I got tired of the town and am glad enough to be back again."

"We are just as glad as you are. Is Philip here for Sunday?"

Philip wriggled happily beside Peter and said nothing. For Peter had impressed Philip with the fact that he must keep quiet for it wasn't very much his club anyway.

"There is business up for discussion, and two applications," began The Chief.

"Applications!" broke in Albert. "May we have those first?"

"If you can't keep still," retorted Jay, "you'll get applications all right, but of quite another sort."

The Chief passed two letters to George. George stood up, swallowed hard, for he was a bashful lad, and began. "'Will the Junior Garden Club give suggestions and practical help for the improvement of the Oldfield Centre School Grounds?' Signed 'The Teacher.'"

"Crickey!" said Albert. "That's white in her! Expert advice! I guess we will!"

"What shall we do about this?" asked The Chief.

"We just ought to do it, I think," began Jack. "There surely is no other public-spirited club in this place."

"Just so," murmured Peter.

"We ought now to have a secretary for the club, and a chairman, too. I believe to-night is the time to vote for these officers," suggested The Chief. "Suppose Jack and Philip tear up slips of paper and pass them. Then Myron and George collect, and count the ballots. We should vote for chairman first."

"What does the chairman have to do?" asked Myron.

"A chairman always calls a meeting to order and presides," answered the man.

For a few minutes they were all very busy with paper and pencil. The results were given by Myron.

"Jay has all the votes for chairman. Albert has four for secretary, and so I suppose we'll have to have him."

Albert, nothing daunted, said, "I guess you will, but I write like a hen."

"That's right, you do," chimed in Jack to Albert's apparent annoyance.

"Now, Jack, call your meeting to order and let's have these matters voted on."

"Come to order all of you. What shall we do about this school-ground business?"

"I vote," began Myron.

"Stand on your feet," advised Jay.

"I vote--"

"No, Myron," corrected The Chief, "move--not vote."

"I move, then, that we fix up those grounds."

"Who seconds this?" and Jay looked hard at George.

"I will," he responded.

"I'm not sure, now," appealed Jay to The Chief, "I'm not sure just how to go on."

"It's this way--it has been moved and seconded that this request be granted. All in favour say 'aye'; all contrary minded 'no'. It is a vote." Jay repeated this and the boys voted, Albert, as usual, voting "no," just for fun.

"Now, if George will read the second letter-----"

"I should think," Jack half questioned, "that the secretary should read things, now we have a secretary."

"So he should, hand those papers over, George."

George, delighted, gave place to Albert, who stumblingly read. "We girls wish to garden, too. We'd like to join your club. We can do just as good work as boys. Will you take us in?"

"Not much!" went on Alfred just as if he were still reading, "Girls in our club, no siree, girls never!"

"Girls might do something," began Myron.

"But," Jack broke in, "they'd after all spoil a boys' club. Why, it wouldn't be a boys' club then."

"They might have one of their own," suggested Peter.

"And do different things," continued Philip.

"I really don't see," Jay went on, "quite how we could have them. But, I suppose, they might meet with The Chief and we could help them sometimes."

"No," said Albert, "we don't wish to get mixed up with that sort of thing. They'd run the whole club in the end."

"That's right," agreed George.

This was put to vote properly and the girls were barred out.

"You must write them a letter, Albert," concluded Jay.

"Write a letter! A letter to those girls! Never!"

"Yes you will; you are the secretary and you have to, understand," said Jay. Poor Albert, not long before so proud of his office, looked as if he'd rather be whipped than be the secretary.

"The real business to-night is to hear reports so we can do a little experimenting and testing next week," suggested the man.

"All right, we'll have George's first."

"I shall, of course," began George, "plant my corn, Country Gentleman, in with father's. We have plenty of seed corn, so I shall not have to buy any. As far as my old slope goes I have to pick all the stone off. Then I am not sure just how to drain it, for the rains from another slope above wash it all the spring and summer. I shall then put some barnyard manure on and plant it all to corn. Of course, I must plough and harrow it, too."

"Now," said The Chief, "I guess we'd better stop right here and have a little talk, for George has brought up some problems for discussion. In the first place--let us consider the draining. All George has to consider is that he has to conduct or lead the water off his land."

"But," said George, "that is what seems to me difficult."

"Have you noticed how water takes definite courses down hills? That ought to give you some help."

"I see," cried Jack, "George could make gutters for the rain to travel along and so lead the water off his garden."

"Exactly, Jack has the idea. It is really a bit of engineering. Suppose George finds the highest point, the greatest slope, of his land. From this point a gutter or furrow should be dug so that the water is made to flow off and away from his land."

"How deep shall I dig the gutter?"

"Dig it about three feet deep and fill stones right into this gutter. Two feet of stone in the gutter is about right. Water falling on a stone mass drains off properly. It would sink into an earth mass. Bring a little sketch of this with you next week, George, showing where you are going to dig the drain. Now boys, how much fertilizer do you think ought to go on this poor land of George's?"

"I was going to put on two inches," said George.

"I should think he ought to put at least four inches on," half questioned Myron.

"I'll say eight," began Philip. The boys shouted at this.

"Philip," went on the man after the laughter ceased, "is very nearly right. If George wishes to get anything from this old land at once, he must fertilize it heavily. If your father can spare a foot of fertilizer put it on." The boys all whistled.

"Now about the corn! Did you know, George, that corn is a most exhaustive crop?"

"I don't even know what you mean."

"I do," said Jack, "he means corn tires the soil."

"Just so," continued The Chief, "the soil supplies food to the plant. Some crops use up more of the soil's goodness than others. Corn is one of these. Now, George, what do you think about planting a crop that works the soil very hard, especially when the soil you are dealing with is rather poor?"

"It wouldn't be the best thing, I should say. Will you suggest good things to plant?"

"Well, potatoes, tomatoes and cabbage demand less from the soil."

"Then I choose cabbage, I'll plant that entire old slope to cabbage."

"Now, Jack, suppose you talk."

"I have decided to build a coldframe, so I can get a little earlier start with my plants; I suppose I should have begun this frame last fall. I know this--that I have to dig out my whole garden spot and fill it in. So I thought I could get a start with the coldframe while I was working at filling in. I have decided to plant lettuce, radish, beets, tomatoes, peppers and some flowers. I think I shall plant asters, stock and sunflowers."

"Why sunflowers?" asked Philip.

"I want the seed for my squirrel's feed next winter. Then, too, I think sunflowers make a pretty nice background for a garden."

"If you wish to drop in to see me before the next week's meeting we'll have plans for the coldframe worked out to explain to the boys then. You measure the space where you are going to put the frame and ask your father about the lumber. As lumber is your father's business, I should almost think you could get us some soft wood, say white-wood, for our stakes and markers," suggested The Chief.

"Of course, I can," promised Jack.

"Now Peter," said Jay.

"My garden is to be just potatoes."

"Peter and potatoes!" jeered Albert. "Oh, Peter!"

"I don't care, I'm for potatoes and profit."

"Peter always does make money. So I suppose his potatoes will turn into money, too," volunteered Philip.

"My stunt," said Myron next, "is to be strawberries. I want to raise strawberries. Mr. Marsh, on the Longmeadow Farm, has offered to give me some plants. I'll do the corn stunt; aren't you going to, Pete?"

"Of course, that was understood, and Philip will have his corn at grandfather's too, for a city backyard is no place for corn."

"Now, Albert, you may talk for both of us," said Jay.

"Our land has to be drained, but it is not exactly the same proposition that George has. Water stands on our land. We had thought of putting a drain pipe in. It seems as if there should be an easier way, but we don't know one," Albert stopped and looked at The Chief, who leaned back in his chair and thought a minute.

"I guess, boys, we had better stop and talk over the matter of drainage. There are three kinds of drains, namely: the open drain, the blind drain, and the tile drain. Each one has worked out of the other. The simplest sort and the one man first used is the open ditch. A piece of land was covered with water. A ditch was dug through the land at the place or places where water was standing. Usually a little stone is thrown into the bottom to help drain the water off.

"Such a drain put out of use quite a bit of land. So partly because of this a second sort of drain was worked out. A good body of stone was put into the drain, then earth filled in over this. Water percolating down through the soil followed along these drainage courses. Formerly it settled in spots and made boggy land. Finally a more systematic sort of drain developed from this last one. Instead of a body of stone, a drain tile was placed on the bottom of the trench.

"Straight off you boys can see which one of these three represents the best all around drain. Out in the country or where there is no need to think of utilizing every bit of land, the open drain is often seen. But where every bit of land must be used, the open drain is out of the question.

"All drains come under the head of one of these three types. After all, boys, since you can put in the tile drain would it not be wiser to do so?"

"Surely," answered Albert. "But I should think soil which has been under water for some time, as this has, would be a bit poor."

"In case you find the soil is sour, as it may be, you can sweeten it up. There is a certain farm sweetener in lime," added The Chief.

"We shall plant on our land onions, peas, and tomatoes." continued Albert. "We believe that the soil is going to be especially good for onions."

"I guess I shall have to break in again right here. Onions need a fine, rich, deep soil. To be sure moist soil is good for certain varieties of onions. That is why, I imagine, you thought your soil good. You must get this soil into better garden condition before you devote it to a crop like onions. Try a general vegetable garden this season. Work out the crop value of the soil.

"Philip, do you know what you are going to do?"

"I know that I have everything to do. I thought perhaps I should do something like this. We want that old backyard to be really pretty. The yard is a long narrow strip of land just like most city backyards. I thought I'd make a walk straight through it. I want a little fish pond at the end. I thought I'd lay out a few flower beds with paths in between them. Mother says she will buy me a few shrubs."

"I say, Chief, don't you think some of us might go up to the city and help Philip make the cement pond?" asked Albert eagerly.

"We might," murmured Jay, "if we get invited."

"Boys, it's late. We know a little of what our stunts are to be. Next week each of you bring about fifty seeds of each kind you intend to plant. Be able to tell just how these seeds should be planted. Also have the dimensions of your plots. Jack will bring some soft wood along, too. And Philip, find out, if possible just how much money you can have for shrubs. Now on with your coats! Out of my house in two seconds!"

"No food to-night is a sad blow, Chief," said Albert pretending to weep as he opened the outside door.

"This blow is sadder," replied Jack, playfully shoving Albert clean out of the door.

III

THE GIRLS' SECRET

A very timid little knock roused The Chief from his study of Jack's coldframe plans. The outer door gently opened and three little girls entered and advanced to where the man sat. One, the smallest of the three, was thrust forward as spokesman. Gathering herself together she began with a rush. She thrust a letter into The Chief's hands.

"This is the boys' horrid letter. We don't care particularly about belonging to a boys' club. We wouldn't now, any way. But we'd like to show those boys a thing or two and we thought perhaps you would help us. Will you?"

"Sit down, and we will work out a little plot together. But first tell me your names. I like to know the names of people with whom I plot."

The girls came close to the man. The spokesman did the introducing. "I am Delia, Peter's sister, and just as smart as he is. This," pointing to a quiet, pleasant-faced girl, "is Ethel. And the other is Jack's sister, Elizabeth."

"How many more girls belong to this company?"

"They are all outside waiting, I'll call them in if you say so. They are behind the lilac bushes. You see we were afraid some of the boys might come to see you, so we hid. For we don't wish them to know about this at all. I'll call the girls in now." So Delia ran to the door, held it wide open, and called "Come girls, he wants to meet you!"

"Come right in, girls. This one," pointing to a girl with light hair and bright eyes, "is Eloise. Her father keeps the Inn. And this is Josephine, who has no yard at all; and Helena who has plenty of ground; and this," with a grand flourish, "this is the judge's daughter, Katharine."

"I hate," said Katharine, "always being labelled; I think it's pretty hard on a girl to be tagged this way."

"If you'll sit down," began The Chief--"although there are not chairs enough--we'll get right down to business."

And then how they talked! Closer and closer they drew up to The Chief until the eight heads were so close together they seemed almost one huge head. Finally they all shouted with laughter.

"Not a word outside, mind you, not one word. Prove that girls can keep a secret."

"We solemnly promise," said Katharine for the others.

"Look," cried Elizabeth, "there comes Jack; what shall we do?"

"Out this way," quietly replied the man, almost sweeping seven happy little girls out of the door. "Now, cut and run." And off they scampered over the fields.

IV

GARDEN EXPERIMENTS PERFORMED INDOORS

"The meeting is called to order," began Jay. "To-night, so The Chief says, each fellow has some special thing to talk about. Albert will have an accident with that bottle unless he begins right off, so tune up, Savage."

"This bottle is full of vinegar. I might have brought a lemon or anything else acid. This blue paper is called litmus paper. I got it at the drug store for ten cents. Just look right here, and you will see magic worked. I shall put some vinegar on this piece of paper. See!"

"Turned red as quick as scat!" said Jack.

"Litmus will always turn red when any acid gets on it. I've tried several acids at home. It works every time," went on Albert as if no one else had spoken.

"I cannot see what this has to do with gardens." began Philip.

"Now you keep quiet until I finish. Haven't you fellows heard your fathers talk about sour ground? Well, that means acid soil."

"Why, we have a piece of ground, where sorrel grows thick; father says that is sour," added George.

"Just a minute, Albert," broke in The Chief; "that is one way, George, that farmers tell a sour bit of land. Weeds grow thickly over such ground, but as George has said, sorrel is likely to predominate. Go on, Albert."

"Any soil may be tested with this litmus. The Chief calls this the scientific way of going at it. I was able to get a little soil from our future garden plot, and I'll find out right now if it's acid." Albert opened a small box which was full of soil that looked quite clayey. He wet a piece of litmus and buried it in the soil.

"We'll have to leave this a few minutes, and I'll finish what I have to say. If soil is very acid it has to be changed back again."

"Back again to what?" asked Jack.

"Why, back again, so it isn't acid," Albert continued, decidedly confused.

"I'll help you a bit," and The Chief came to the rescue, "Get that big bottle over there, Albert." Albert brought the bottle. In it was a liquid clear as water.

"Taste it, Peter," and The Chief handed Peter a little in a small glass.

"Why it doesn't taste like much of anything; sort of flat."

"That's it exactly, Peter. It certainly is not an acid, is it?" Peter shook his head. "It is lime water and does not belong in the acid class, but to one which is exactly opposite to the acids, the alkalies. Soils ought to be neither acid nor alkaline, but neutral, as it is called. An alkali will help make neutral an acid. If the soil is acid it is bad for your crop. Put a little lime water on the litmus which the acid has turned red."

Albert did this and the boys watched interestedly to see the effect. "Back again," sang out Jack as the red litmus changed to blue.

"Now from this you see a way to overcome the acid conditions of Albert's piece of land, if it proves to be acid."

"I see," said Jack, "lime it."

"Exactly! Now see, Albert, if the paper has changed colour."

"My, I should say it had!" and Albert held up the piece of litmus paper, now quite red from its contact with the soil.

"Well, Albert, it is pretty plain to see what you have to do. Did you find out the amount of lime to use?"

"In the book I read it said for clay soils 400-2000 pounds per acre."

"I should say," said The Chief, "for that special piece of land use about 20 bushels to the acre."

"How many pounds of lime," asked Jack, "to the bushel?"

"I can answer," grandly went on Albert, "there are 70 pounds to the bushel. So that makes 1400 pounds."

"Quite a proposition!" said Jay.

"Yes, but your land is only a half acre and so that changes matters a little. How much is lime a bushel, Jack? Ask your father, will you?"

"I think," said The Chief, "that we'll have to lay a drain pipe through your land. Anyway I shall come around in early spring and have a look at it."

"Now Peter, we'll hear from you," Jay announced.

"My work was to find out how long it took different kinds of seeds to germinate, that is sprout. I took a dozen each of different seeds, put blotters in dishes, wet the blotters, and placed the seeds on these. I kept them in a warm place in the dining room. I have made each of you fellows a copy of the table."

PETER'S GERMINATING TABLE

Beans 5-10 days. Onion 7-10 days. Beets 7-10 " Peas 6-10 " Cabbage 5-10 " Pepper 9-14 " Carrot 12-18 " Radish 3-6 " Celery 10-20 " Tomato 6-12 " Lettuce 6-8 " Turnip 4-8 "

"I'd like to know what use a germinating table is, anyway?" asked Albert scornfully.

"Well," Peter replied thoughtfully, "it gives you an exact knowledge of the time to expect your seedlings to poke up. Now suppose radish came up in four days. The carrot you had planted didn't come up and after twelve days, discouraged, you plant more seed. Now two days later the first carrots you sowed begin to appear. If you had known that it took carrots from 12 to 18 days to germinate you'd not have made the mistake of planting again so soon. I think of another reason," went on Peter warming up to his subject. "Suppose you planted beet seed. You waited ten days; nothing happened; you wait two more and still no seedling appears; something is surely wrong and you plant over again."

"What could be wrong," asked Philip.

"The seed might be poor," replied Peter. "George has been testing seed," said Jay, "and he might tell us about it now, couldn't he, Chief? It seems to come in here." The Chief nodded.

"I have been finding out whether certain seeds which I happen to have on hand are worth planting or not. If any of you fellows have seed and wish to find this out, you can easily enough. So you can be sure whether old seed is worth planting. Now it happens that father had some of his last year's corn and some from four years ago. So I took 100 seeds of each. If you test small seed like lettuce, The Chief says 50 seeds will do. These I put on blotters just as Pete did his. Of course, I kept them separate. From last year's seed 90 seeds sprouted out of the 100, or 9/10 of them. And that equals 90 per cent. If all seed was 90 per cent. good it would be all right to use, I think. Now when I looked at the four-year-old seed, what do you think? Only five seeds had started. That makes only 1/20, or 5 per cent. Of course, no one would care to use seed where only 5 per cent. of the seed sprouted."

"Is there any real percentage of germination that seeds should have?" Jack asked eagerly.

"Yes," replied The Chief, "although value as you see from George's experiment is lost by age. The real standard germination value for corn is 87 per cent., for beans 90, for turnips 90, for peas 93, etc. You can see that the per cents. for these vegetables run high. So do not use seeds when the per cent. has dropped too low.

"Has George found out the time when other seeds lose value?" asked Peter. "I did not work this table out because I did not have the old seed to work with," replied George, "but The Chief gave me a book to look it up in. I have printed on our press the table. So you fellows may each have a copy." George handed the sheets around the table.

It happened that The Chief had a little old printing press that he had presented to the Club. Club real estate, Albert called it.

GEORGE'S TABLE

AGE OF SEEDS FOR PLANTING PURPOSES

2-3 years. 3-4 years. 5-6 years. 8-10 years. Corn Tomato Beet Pea (5-6) Cucumber Celery Pepper Lettuce Radish (4-5) Melon Carrot Onion Turnip (3-6) Squash Bean Parsley Pumpkin

"Now, George," Albert begged, "give us a table of germinating per cents."

"Not much, each fellow can work out the value of his own old seeds and see if they are worth using."

"I think George is right," began The Chief after the laugh at Albert's expense ceased. "Perhaps you'd like to try the effect of depth of planting on corn. Here are some boxes of earth. George, you plant six kernels of corn one inch deep and mark the box with your name and the depth on it, Peter, plant the next box with six kernels at two inches. Albert, try three inches, and Jack, four inches. It will be your business, Myron, to drop in here each half day and note the first appearance of corn in the different boxes."

The result of this experiment, which took about two weeks in all, was as follows:

DEPTH OF PLANTING TIME TO COME UP 1 in. 8-1/2 days 2 in. 10 " 3 in. 12 " 4 in. 13-1/2 "

This experiment showed the boys that seeds too deeply planted are hindered in progress.

"Myron, you may take the floor now," signalled Jay.

"I have worked out and printed for you the amount of seed necessary to plant a certain space. I have printed my table just as George did. 'H' stands for hills and 'D' means drills."

"What is a drill?" asked Philip.

"Why a drill is a furrow. You can make a drill with a rake handle, or a hoe. We can show you better when we get outdoors, Philip," Myron answered quite condescendingly.

MYRON'S SEED-ESTIMATE TABLE

NAME METHOD OF PLANTING QUANTITY OF SEED HILLS OR DRILLS Bean (Bush) D 1 qt. for 100ft. Beet D 1 oz. " 50ft. Cabbage H 1 oz. " 2000 plants Carrot D 1 oz. " 100 ft. Corn H 1 qt. " 100 hills. Lettuce D 1 oz. " 120 ft. Musk melon H 1 oz. " 60 hills. Onion D 1 oz. " 100 ft. Parsley D 1 oz. " 150 ft. Pea D 1 oz. " 100 ft. Pepper D 1 oz. " 2000 plants. Potato H 1 peck " 100 hills. Pumpkin H 1 oz. " 30 hills. Radish D 1 oz. " 100 ft. Tomato H 1 oz. " 1000 plants. Turnip D 1 oz. " 150 ft.

"This table is all right, I suppose," began Philip, "but if a fellow doesn't know quite how far apart to plant his cabbage, say, I can't see how this table helps much."

"I took it for granted," Myron answered, "that you fellows know a little about things. But if a person didn't know what you ask, Philip, I suppose this table isn't much good. Shall I call all the tables in, Chief?"

"Not at all, Myron, this is a good table so far as it goes. Next time each of you boys look up this matter. Perhaps you can work out a good scheme for such information."

"Now, Philip, we'd like to hear about your shrub money and then we'll have time to see Jack's coldframe plans, before club time is over," at which Jay settled back in his chair as if club work was a strain on a fellow after all.

"I may have one dollar to spend. I have decided to buy three shrubs. I shall plant one by itself; the two others together in a clump. I wanted forsythia, but I have finally decided on Japan snowball and Van Houtte's spirea."

"Why?" asked Albert.

"You see the forsythia shows up best against a dark background because of the bright yellow flowers. I have no good setting for such a shrub. Then, too, it blossoms so very early in the spring, in April you know, that it seemed to me, since I must plant this spring, I'd disturb less a later flowering shrub. I chose the Japan snowball because it's less liable to have lice than some others and because it looks well all by itself on the lawn. That spirea is a specially good variety of spirea because it does well almost anywhere, and also it is very showy and the foliage is handsome all summer long. Some shrubs look scrubby after awhile."

"Where did you get all this knowledge, Philip?" asked Albert, half enviously.

"I made it my business to know. I hunted up shrubs in a catalogue, then I called on a florist, and we had a shrub talk together."

"Now, I call that getting down to real work," Jay remarked. Philip looked happy and Peter nearly tilted his chair over in his pleasure for he evidently felt the city was making good.

"Now, Jack, bring on the coldframe."

"I have my drawing right here," began Jack, spreading it out on the table while the boys crowded about. "You look at the drawing as I explain. Myron and Jay have promised to help me make it. It will be a coldframe this year; next fall I shall change it into a hotbed."

"How?" broke in Albert.

"I shall dig out the soil from the coldframe. Then I shall put in two feet of manure and cover it with four inches of soil. This spring about all I can do is to mix into the soil some well-rotted manure. I guess I shall put in about three inches in all. I guess I can explain," continued Jack, delighted at this opportunity to air his newly acquired knowledge. "The Chief has talked this over with me. It all depends upon what you wish to use the frame for. I want to use mine to get an early start this spring, so I make the bed rich and depend on the sun's rays mostly for heat. This, then, is a coldframe. The sloping glass frame helps you see. But next winter I hope to really get results out of this frame, so I have to supply extra heat. The layer of manure underneath gives this. I then have a hotbed. If I just wish to keep plants along, ready to force next spring, then the sun's rays would be enough for that work without the layer of heat."

"I see, thank you, and why do you say layer of heat? I should call it a layer of manure."

"Because it is heat, isn't it? And anyway real gardeners call it that. We may as well use the right names; don't you think so, Chief?"

"Surely, Jack. It's our business to know right terms. Each line of work has its own language. Jack has done a good piece of work so far. We shall have most of our next meeting in the workshop. Jack, Myron and Jay are going to work on this frame. You other fellows will be able to make stakes and dibbers enough for the crowd."

"What is a dibber?" asked Albert.

"That is for you to look up. If you have any old rake or hoe handles bring them along for dibber making. Good-night, boys."

Off into the night they scampered--a jolly, sound lot of lads.

V

THE WORKSHOP END OF THE GARDEN

"Before we go to the workshop we might take up the methods of planting our vegetables. Then if any fellow has worked out a table, Peter, the star printer, may strike off copies for all of us," began Jay, after calling the meeting to order. "I'd be glad to hear from any of you fellows who have done anything on this matter."

All was quiet. Finally Myron arose and began to read from a paper covered with writing. "The carrot--common name of the _Daucus Carota_--a biennial, indigenous to Europe, believed by some botanists to have been derived from the common wild carrot."

"Where'd you copy that stuff? No table can be made from that! Imagine a fellow out planting carrots and reading before he sows: The carrot--a bi--bi what, biped, did you say, Myron?"

Albert chuckled away and Myron dropped into his seat saying angrily, "I tried hard, anyway. It took me a whole evening to copy just the carrot."

"I should think it might have. Has any fellow a really simple table?"

"I've worked at it," Peter replied modestly. "I think I have something here that will really be of use." At this Peter spread out on the big table a neat piece of work.

PETER'S OUTDOOR PLANTING TABLE

NAME DEPTH TO DISTANCE APART PLANT SEEDS FURROWS Bean (Bush) 2 in. 12-20 in. 3 ft. Beet 1-1/2 in. 4-9 in. 12-15 in. Cabbage 1/2 in. 20-24 in. 3 ft. Corn 1-1/2 in. 3 ft. 3-4 ft. (hills) Lettuce 1/2 in. 6-8 in. 12-18 in. Musk melon 1 in. 4-6 ft. 4-6 ft. (hills) Onion 1/2 in. 4-12 in. 10-12 in. Parsley 1/2 in. 6 in. 1 ft. Pepper 1/2 in. 18 in. 2 ft. Potato 5 in. 12-18 in. 24-36 in. (hills) Pumpkin 1-1/2 in. 8-10 ft. 8-10 ft. (hills) Radish 1/2 in. 3 in. 6-8 in. Tomato 1/2-1 in. 3 ft. 3 ft. (hills) Turnip 1/2 in. 6 in. 12 in.

"That's all right," and The Chief laid a hand on Peter's shoulder and he smiled across at Myron.

"Each one of you boys ought to know how to make a working plan of his garden. I showed Jack how to make his coldframe plan. It is well done. Now gather about the table and I will make a plan of a supposed garden."

"I will lend you mine and you might make a drawing of that," craftily suggested Albert.

"No, young man, you are to make your own. Let us suppose for the sake of an easy problem that we claim our garden is to be on a square piece of land, forty feet by forty feet. In drawing to a scale, one takes a certain small measure to stand for a foot. If we take an inch to be a foot, then the entire forty-foot length would have to be forty inches. That is a pretty good large drawing. Let us take something smaller and say one-eighth of an inch equals a foot, thus 1/8 in. = 1 ft. So we shall have a length and a width of five inches.

"The first step in the actual drawing is to find the centre of your given piece of drawing paper. See, I just make short lines or portions of diagonals through the centre as shown right here in what I call Drawing I. Draw a vertical line through the centre extending to the top and the bottom of the paper. Now draw a horizontal line through the centre to the extreme left and right of the sheet. Now measure up from the centre on the vertical line the half width of the garden. If the centre is to stand for the centre of the garden, then the garden itself would extend up, down, and to the right and left of its centre, just 20 ft. or 2-1/2 in. in a plan with scale 1/8 in. to 1 ft. So measure up from the centre along the vertical line just two and one-half inches and place a dot. Letter this dot A. Do this same thing down the vertical line and we have dot B. Also measure the same distance along the horizontal to left, calling the dot D and along the right calling the last dot C. Now draw a horizontal line 5 in. long through A with 2-1/2 in. either side of the dot. This gives you one side of your garden or a 40-ft. length. Do a similar thing through dot B. Through C and D draw similar lines. We now have the outline of our garden of 40 ft. square. We have on our paper, though, a square 5 x 5 in.

"I have decided to have a circular bed in the centre of the garden which shall be 10 ft. in diameter. Therefore, the radius of the circle should be 5 ft. or 5/8 in. Get a pair of compasses for that, Jack. Now I shall swing the circle. But I wish a 2-ft. path all about this circular garden. If the path is 2 ft., then I must set my compasses on 2/8 in. more or now make the 5/8 in. into 7/8 in. Let us swing another circle with the same point as a centre.

"It strikes me that if I should lay my garden out into four squares, the combination of squares, central circles and straight main paths would look incongruous. So I shall cut the central points of the four square beds off by swinging circles. Have patience and you will see, for the general plan is in my mind just as it ought to be in the mind of any person who is to make a garden. Now swing another circle with a radius of 1 in., and still another the radius of which shall be 1-1/8 in.

"Now we come to stage two of this working drawing (Drawing II). I wish a 4-ft. path going down to the centre bed from the points A, B, C and D. Place your ruler, Jay, on point A, for you may draw now. Measure to the right of A 1/4 in. and to the left 1/4 in., and place dots at these points. You have the width of your 4-ft. paths. Do this same thing at points B, C and D. Number these points 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. With very light lines connect points 1 and 3, 2 and 4, 5 and 7, 6 and 8. Where the line 1-3 cuts the second circle from the centre, letter the intersections E and F. The intersections of 2-4 mark G and H, of 5-7 I and J, and of 6-8 N and L. You now see the outline of these paths running through the garden. Let us border each path with two 1-ft. borders. So place the ruler at point 1 and mark off two 1/8 in. spaces by dots. Do the same at points 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Connect the opposite dots by light lines.

"Now let George take the third stage (Drawing III). Go right over the inside circle so as to make it stand out boldly. Strengthen line 1 to E, 2 to G, 3 to F, 4 to H, 5 to I, 6 to N, 7 to J and 8 to L. Now these circles should be strengthened and lines erased that interfere. That leaves curve EI, GJ, LH, and FN standing out clearly. You see in the drawing one-half the garden plan erased and all right.

"After Myron has erased every line (Drawing IV), you will see the garden plan in all its neatness. Place the measurements on the drawing. It looks well, does it not, boys?

"These are the steps. Any of you can work out your plan if you have one to work out."

"Now boys, for the shop! Myron, Jay and Jack are to work on the coldframe. Peter will have an evening's work printing this planting table. Albert will tell us the use of the dibber and make you one each from all these old handles."

Albert, assuming a grand oratorical manner, gave the boys the benefit of his search for knowledge. "A dibber is a pointed tool, usually a stick, used to make holes for planting seeds, bulbs, setting out plants and transplanting of seedlings."

Off they all trooped to a little workshop back of the man's home. Soon the boys were hard at work, sawing, whittling, and setting up type.

Here are directions for what the boys made.

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING A COLDFRAME

Hemlock was the wood Jack used. The lumber for sides and ends is one inch thick while strips marked A and B are one and one-fourth inches thick. Cut out pieces 14 in. x 5 ft. 7 in., and 10 in. x 5 ft. 7 in., for the back and the front. Cut two pieces 14 x 36 in. and shape them according to drawing for the ends. Nail these four pieces together to form the frame. The sides should be nailed to the ends. Use ten-penny nails and drive them slantingly.

Saw out strips A two inches wide and as long as the slanting edge of the end of the frame. Be careful with this measurement not to measure the slanting edge of the _end_ piece only, but to include with it the thickness of both front and back pieces. Saw out two more pieces two inches wide and as long as the frame is wide at the bottom. Make strip B 2-1/2 in. x 5 ft. 7 in.

Lay out notches marked A by dividing top and bottom edges of front and back into three equal spaces. Cut notches to receive strips marked A. Nail strips A in place, also B. To make a neat piece of work the ends of strips A should be planed slightly slanting to make them exactly even, or "flush" with front and back boards. The real object of strips A is to keep the frame from bulging at the centre.

Jack had three common single window sashes, 22-in. x 3 ft. which made an excellent cover for the frame. These should be placed in position and fastened to strip B with two-inch butts. Notice the sashes project over the front so as to carry the water away from the frame. The sash should be fastened to the frame, putty side out.

GARDEN STAKE

The stake may be made of soft wood or hard. It is a good one to use in staking off the garden. It is entirely a piece of knife work. The dimensions are clearly given on the working plan. If the stake is made 12 inches instead of 14 inches, it may be used as a foot rule in measuring off furrows.

THE BOY'S GARDEN REEL

A piece of wood (ash is suitable for this work), 11-3/8 x 4-1/2 x 1/2 in. is needed. Draw pencil lines lengthwise and widthwise through the centre of this piece. From the centre measure out one inch in both directions, placing dots. These give the central points for centre cut.

Measure from the four corners of the piece 3 inches along the length. Connect by line the opposite dots. This gives the line marked 4-1/2 in. in the diagram. It shows the beginning of the cut to the centre line. One inch above these lines draw other lines straight across the wood. Find centre of these. Place a dot one-half inch on both sides of each from centre. This gives the one-inch end cuts. Cut this up to one-half inch of each corner. This makes a large substantial garden reel.

A PLANT STOOL OR TABOURET

The materials needed are four pieces 18 x 3 x 7/8 in. planed, for legs; one piece 14 x 14 x 7/8 in., planed, top; two pieces 8-1/2 x 1-3/4 x 7/8 in., planed, lower braces; one piece 8-1/2 x 8-1/2 x 7/8 in., planed, upper brace. Use chestnut, white wood, white oak, mahogany, cherry or birch. You will need also 2-in. blued screws, round head, for fastenings.

To construct the stool make with the two 8-1/2 x 1-3/4 x 7/8 in. pieces the lower braces, a lap joint. Find the mid-line of each piece by measuring 4-1/4 in. from the ends. From this line lay off two other lines parallel to it and at a distance of 7/8 in. to the right and left. This makes a 1-3/4 in. square in the centre of each piece. Now transfer these lines down the edges of the lower brace pieces. Saw on the inside of the lines down one-half the thickness or saw and chisel down to one-half. It is necessary to saw on the inside of the lines or a loose joint will result. The joint must be exactly in the middle and all arms must be equal in length when completed. Brads or finishing nails should be used to hold the joint in place. This lower brace is 7 in. up from the floor or bottom of the stool. In the picture the screws, which hold the brace, show plainly.

Now lay off an octagon, with a diameter of 8-1/2 in. on the 8-1/2 x 8-1/2 x 7/8 in. piece, sawing off the corner pieces so as to just fit the leg. Glue and screw this to the under sides of the top piece, placing the grain across that of the top wood. Warping is thus prevented. This brace acts as a support to which the upper ends of the legs are firmly screwed and glued. A 3/16 in. gimlet hole should be bored for each screw or the wood will split. The holes should not be deeper than 1-1/2 in. if the screws are to hold firmly. Try drawing the screws across a cake of soap and see if they will not be applied more easily.

To be sure that the legs go on exactly rigid it would be well to draw lines diagonally through the centre of the under surface of the top piece. The legs are to be attached at right angles to these diagonals. After the legs are screwed to the upper and lower braces sandpaper the entire stool. Do this lengthwise to the grain, never across. Then stain and wax.

VI

WHAT THE GIRLS MADE WINTER EVENINGS

While the boys were making their pieces of garden apparatus the girls were at work also. They met with The Chief at Katharine's house and made a number of pieces of garden apparatus. The directions for making these are given so that other children may make some too.

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING SEED ENVELOPES

Cut paper 7-1/2 in. by 5-3/4 in.; place it the long way of the paper going from front to back of the desk or table at which you work.

Measure from the upper left corner down 1-3/4 in., and place point 1; 3-1/4 in. farther down place point 2. Measure from the upper right corner down 1-3/4 in. and place point 3; 3-1/4 in. farther down place point 4.

Measure from the upper left corner toward the right 1-1/4 in. and place point 5; 3-3/4 in. farther toward the right place point 6. Measure from the lower left corner toward the right 1-1/4 in., and place point 7; 3-3/4 in. farther toward the right place point 8.

Draw dotted lines through 1 and 3, 2 and 4, 5 and 7, 6 and 8.

Measure 1/4 in. toward the right from points 5 and 7 and place a dot. Draw full lines toward the left to the intersection of the dotted lines. Measure 1/4 in. down from 1 and 3, and place dots. Draw full lines upward to the intersection of the dotted lines. Measure 1/4 in. up from points 2 and 4, place dots, and draw full lines downward to the intersection of the dotted lines.

Draw a full line from points 6 and 8 to the intersection of dotted lines.

Cut on full lines.

Fold on dotted lines.

Fold A, B, and C, in this order, and paste, leaving D for flap to be pasted down when the envelope has been filled with seeds.

DIMENSIONS OF MARKERS

The right marker is 3-1/2 in. long. The distance from head to central point of notch is 1/2 in. The distance between notches, or from the central point of one notch across the marker to the central point of the other, is 3/8 in. The width is 1/2 in. and the thickness 1/8 in.

The middle marker is 4-1/2 in. long, 1/2 in. wide, and 1-1/16 in. thick. Allow about 5/8 in. for the pointing at the end.

The left marker is rather larger and stronger; it, too, may be pointed and not notched, so acting as a good pot-marker. Make it 5 ins. long, 7/8 in. wide, and 3/15 in. thick. The line between the notches measures 5/8 in. and is 1 in. from the top of the marker.

A GARDEN SIEVE--MATERIALS

2 small boards 13 x 2-1/2 x 1/2 in. 2 small boards 7 x 2-1/2 x 1/2 in. 2 strips of wood 12 x 1/2 x 1/4 in. 2 strips of wood 8 x 1/2 x 1/4 in. Fine wire netting 13 x 8 in.

Make the framework of a box without a lid, using the 13-inch pieces for the sides and 7-inch pieces for ends, putting the ends between the side pieces. Use the wire netting for the bottom of the box, nailing it on with the strips of wood. Paint the sieve with two coats of dark green paint.

A BULB FLAT

The dimensions of the box are the same as those for the sieve except for the depth, which is three inches instead of two and a half inches. Of course the bottom is wood with three drainage holes bored in it. A flat may be constructed without the drainage holes as shown in the cut. In this case make the bottom of small pieces of wood leaving an inch space between each piece. This is Eloise's kind of a bulb box.

A GATHERING BASKET FOR FLOWERS

The materials needed are:

8 spokes, 10 ins. long, of number 6 reed. 3 weavers of number 2 reed. 12 weavers of number 3 reed. 31 spokes, 20 in. long, of number 4 reed.

_Directions_.--Split four spokes of number 6 reed exactly in the centre, and slip the remaining four through the slits in the first group.

Double a number 2 weaver and slip the loop over the upper vertical group and with the pairing weave go around each group four times. Next, separate the spokes in groups of two and continue the pairing weave until four more rows have been woven in. Then separate the spokes by ones and weave until the diameter is 4-1/2 in.

Cut all off that remains of the number 2 weaver, and insert 3 weavers of number 3 reed. Continue with the triple weave to a diameter of 9 in.

Cut off the ends of the spokes and insert 31 spokes, 20 in. long, of number 4 reed; one on each side of the spokes, except the first; in this instance insert but one.

Use the side which has been next the weaver for the inside of the basket, letting rough ends come on the outside of the basket. Turn the spokes up, and hold in place with one row of quadruple, weave over three spokes and back of one, using the number 3 reed. With the same reed put in eleven rows of plain weave, over one spoke and under the next. Next, one row of quadruple and follow with seven rows of double weave, over two and under one, and finish with one row of quadruple weave.

For the first row of the border carry number 1 spoke back to number 2 spoke, or the next spoke at the right, and out; number 2 spoke back of number 3, and out. Continue once around the basket.

For the second row carry number 1 spoke over number 2 and 3, and down; number 2 over 3 and 4 and down, and so on around.

For the third row carry number 1 over number 2 and down; number 2 over number 3 and down. This may be continued until you have formed a roll over the entire edge.

If handles are desired, on each side of the basket insert a piece of number 9 reed for the foundation of these. The end of a number 3 weaver is woven in at the left of the foundation under the third row from the top of the basket, and the long end of the weaver is twisted around the foundation to the other side of the handle. Here it is pushed down inside the basket on one side of the handle and over again on the other side of the handle, three rows from the top, making a loop inside. The weaver is then laid close beside the first twist and follows it across to the opposite side. Now it goes in under the third row on the left of the handle and out on the right side. Each row of twisting must follow close beside the last. Six or seven rows will cover the foundation. The end is fastened off by bringing it inside the basket again where it is cut off.

This flower basket may be made without the handles. But they add much to it without being a great deal of extra work.

A SUNDIAL

Take two pieces of the wood you have chosen:

A, 6-1/2 x 6-1/2 x 1/4 in. and B, 7 x 7-1/2 x 1/4 in.

_Construction_.--True up each piece to the given dimensions, and sandpaper carefully. Be careful to stroke the wood always with the grain--never across the fibres.

Next make a shadow-piece, or gnomon, as it is called. Get a thin piece of the same kind of wood as is used in piece A, and lay it out as follows: With the fibres running in the direction AB, beginning at point A construct an angle equal to the latitude of the place where the dial is to be used. For example, if the latitude of a town is 41 degrees construct the angle D 41 degrees, or if it is 42 degrees, let D be 42 degrees. Then cut from A to C, and sandpaper carefully. Take the wooden shadow-piece and fasten it to the centre of piece A. Fasten by two brads or small nails about 3/4 inch or 1 inch long, or glue it. Place piece A over piece B so that a margin of 1/4 in. will be left on all sides.

Place A so that the fibres will run at right angles to B to prevent the boards from warping. These two pieces may be fastened together by driving a brad in each corner, or gluing, or both.

POT-REST

Use almost any kind of wood, as white wood, cherry or white oak.

Two pieces of wood 8 x 1/2 x 1-1/2 in. are needed for the cross pieces. These should be planed. There are needed also four little pieces as feet or pads. The dimensions of these should be 1-1/2 x 1-1/2 x 1/2 in.

To make this stand, draw a line across the two long pieces 4 inches from either end. Lay off two other lines parallel to this 5/8 inch to the right and left. Transfer these lines down the edges by the aid of the try square. Saw on the inside of these lines down one half the thickness, or 1/4 inch. Chisel out for a half-lap joint.

The sawing and chiseling should be done carefully. It is necessary to saw on the inside of the lines or a loose joint will be had. Doubling the passage of the saw through the wood will often make the difference of 1/8 inch.

After these are made to fit, the upper ends may be rounded down by chisel and compasses, or bevelled, using the plane.

Use 7/8-inch brads or finishing nails, four in each pad or foot to fasten pads to the arms. The pads should project 1/8 inch from ends and sides. To finish the work nicely so the rest will both look well and stand exposure, apply a suitable stain. Allow it to stand at least thirty minutes. Then rub down with a cloth to an even stain. It is better to allow the stain to stand a day or so. This gives time for the stain to set before applying the wax. Otherwise, some of the stain will be loosened and removed when waxing and a lighter shade of stain will result.

PLANT JARDINIÈRE

The measurements are easy since the scale is one-half inch. That is, as you measure the line in the working plan you allow one whole inch for every one-half inch you measure on that. So, if a line measures three and one-half inches, make the line for your box seven inches. This is the real height of the box. Notice some lines have their real measures given at the side.

Directions for making are as follows:

Fold a piece of paper large enough for one of the sides and sketch one-half the outline on one of the folds. Cut to line and then draw the other half. This will give perfect balance. Cut two pieces of wood from this pattern by placing it on the wood and tracing.

Draw a line parallel to each side 3/8 inch in on the pattern for a new pattern for the other two sides. These sides will need to be 3/4 inch narrower, 3/8 inch on each side, as they must fit between the other two sides. If wood of different thickness is used it will be double the thickness.

Use a coping saw to cut out the base. The tapering sides may be cut to lines by saw, plane or chisel. The curve at the base may be bored by 1/2-inch auger, and in this way a better curve may be had.

Use 1-1/4-inch brads or finishing nails. A little glue added will make a firmer box. A much larger box after the same pattern will make a beautiful holder for a larger plant or shrub, using, of course, thicker wood.

Two small cleats should be nailed and glued from the inside to support a bottom. The bottom will give better service if it does not entirely fill the space. Let it be the proper length but allow a space of an inch on both sides for dirt and leaves to fall through and out.

Chestnut was the wood Helena used. It was stained and later waxed and polished. A beautiful permanent brown stain may be had on chestnut or white oak by applying strong ammonia to it with a brush and later sandpapering down and waxing. White wood is another good wood to use, but a stain will have to be applied to white wood, as ammonia will not act on it. A strong solution of permanganate of potash put on with a brush will darken any wood; it has no fumes.

VII

IMPROVING THE SCHOOL GROUNDS

During the first days of early spring The Chief and his boy assistants looked over the school grounds to see what should be done for its improvement.

The school was situated on a triangular piece of land right in the fork of two roads. The land was elevated; so much so that the building stood on a real slope; it was practically a road bank. This slope was washed by spring rains leaving large rocks exposed to view. The country road was especially poor at this section. There were deep gullies in it; the gutters were full of leaves and rock. About the school building was a comparatively level spot covered with rock. No trees grew here; a little grass struggled up each year, soon to lose heart and die.

"It seems to me," said Albert thrusting his hands deep down into his pockets, "that we have our life work here."

"Not at all," announced The Chief, "this is just the sort of thing which confronts most country schools."

Sitting on a rock The Chief gathered his clan in solemn conclave. At the close of the conference Jay marched into the schoolhouse and wrote the following headings on the board:

I. Constructing a wall to form an embankment. II. Cleaning the grounds and making a lawn. III. Planting of trees. IV. Preparation and planting of the flower garden. V. Cleaning and mending the road.

These headings represented the general lines of work the conclave had decided were the right ones, the most pressing ones to begin on.

First all the stones were picked up. The smaller boys and girls made little heaps of the small stones, while the larger rocks, requiring strength to move, were left to the older boys and girls. To some rocks the boys were obliged to take the pickaxe and crowbar. These were rolled, dragged and carted to the gutter at the bottom of the bank.

A sand bank of this description where the wash is great always needs an embankment of some sort to hold the soil in place. So the boys built a stone wall. They made this wall of the stones picked from the grounds. First the height was decided on. This was to be two feet. They drove stakes, one at the beginning, and so on for every five feet of extent. After leveling, two inches was measured from top of each stake down and a cord was strung along from stake to stake. Previously, to be sure that the stakes were at the same level, one of the boys, squatting down on the ground so that his eye was on a level with the stake nearest him, looked or "sighted" along the stakes. Where one stake seemed to rise up above the others it was hammered down a little to fall into line. Thus a straight line or top level for the wall was obtained. The wall itself was not difficult to build. It meant only the selection of stones and firming them into place.

Close to the wall there was a strip of level land; then the slope arose from this quite gently. After the stones were picked off the boys raked the ground all over fine, free from lumps and small stones.

One evening in the village store George's father offered to plough and harrow the entire grounds if Jack's father would give the grass seed. The bargain was sealed. But after all, this sandy soil was no sort of soil to plant grass seed in. The father of one of the girls gave to the school a few loads of good soil. This was spread over the slope to a depth of about a foot. Again they raked it all over smooth, filling in and making as pleasing a grade as possible.

The Chief told them it would have been far better if they could have had two feet of good soil. Grass needs all of that. Another way to have improved the soil conditions would have been to plant corn or potatoes on this ground for one year. With such a crop the boys and girls would have been constantly working it, stirring it up. This improves soil.

After the soil was spread the next thing was to make it firm. This was done in three ways. One day the teacher decided that for gymnastic work they might all turn out and tramp the soil. Up the bank they stamped, then down by the old drive to the road again, and up the bank.

Another way was by using tamping sticks. The boys made these sticks from old broom handles, to the ends of which they fitted solid pieces of board about ten inches square. Some were merely nailed upon the ends of the broom handle; but this method was insecure. The others were made with holes in the centre of the boards of the same diameter as the handles. These sticks were used to tamp the soil or spank it down. But on the day when an old farmer, stopping to watch the work, offered his roller, there was great rejoicing. Between classes, during recesses and at any odd time the slope was rolled. One boy in the very beginning pushed the roller but not after that, for when it was explained to him he understood why he should pull the roller. First, because pulled there are no foot prints left; and secondly, one slips and makes bad places on the lawn when pushing.

Next came the seed sowing. The allowance of seed was one quart to each 300 square feet. Jack's father chuckled when his son refused absolutely the variety he offered him. "No, sir, I do not wish Kentucky Blue Grass. It takes three years to get good results from it. The results are all right."

"Thanks," murmured the highly entertained father.

"We can't wait three years, we must have speedy results. I wish a recleaned mixture, and no chaff in it."

"Very well, young man, I wish to know two things: First, where did you get your knowledge? And second, where does my pay come in?"

"The Chief told me what book to read to understand about lawns. As for the pay, you made your bargain with George's father. Anyway I should think it would be pay enough to see a fine lawn in a public place made from your grass seed."

"Right you are, young man. Go on, read and read. But remember to work as well."

They chose a rather cloudy day for the planting, and a day when the wind did not blow. Grass seed is so fine it will blow all about if the wind is stirring. Grass seed is sown broadcast, that is, scattered by the hand. It is not sown in drills.

It was a pleasure to watch the sowing, for it was done right. First, the sowing hand was held low, the person stooping down. Some seed was taken with the fingers. Then the sowing arm was swung freely in a semi-circle. After going over the ground once, a second sowing was made at right angles to the first. A second relay of boys and girls came out and raked the sown ground all over. A third relay then rolled the ground. Do you see that there was little opportunity then for the seed being blown off the surface of the ground?

The children were delighted when a gentle rain, followed by several warm days came right after the sowing. A soaking rain or a series of cold damp days might have spoiled the work. The only way to have a good lawn from a poor piece of land is to do a thorough piece of work. Patching up means constant patching.

The paths and driveway to the school were just rock masses. The first thing was to clear out all the rock. Then loads of ashes were brought from the houses of the different children. All the parents were glad to get rid of the ash-dumps in the backyards. All kinds of carts were brought into use. For a week no boy dared appear without a load of ashes.

All these ashes were dumped into the drive and paths. Then the whole ash layer was rolled and rolled. It finally made a good solid kind of walk.

It was the business of the tree-planting committee to have two saplings ready by Arbor Day and to know themselves just how to plant. In the start of this work, committees had been formed. Now these committees were supposed to know exactly how to do the work and to procure the necessary material for it. It was not the duty of the committee to do all the work; by no means, or the others would not have known how to work.

Two trees were to be planted, one little maple near the building; another, a buttonball tree, down on the lower grade. A maple was chosen because it was easy to get from the woods and also because the maple is such a good all-round tree. Then later, because of a cold wind exposure on one side of the schoolhouse it was decided to plant a screen of little poplar trees. This was to shut off an unsightly view which could not be remedied in any other way.

One of the girls on the tree committee suggested a poplar in place of the maple. She was voted down. Now if quick results had been wished, of course the poplar would have been the tree to have chosen. That was why the poplars were chosen for screening purposes. But for permanence the maple, the oak, the buttonball are all better. The poplar shoots up quickly, to be sure, but again it sheds its leaves early in the season. Its life is not as long as the oak's. There are more reasons, too. But if you must have quick results, here is a trick. Plant first a poplar then a maple or some other tree and so on. Later the poplars may be cut out and you have left the fine sturdy, long-lived trees. At the same time the poplars have tided over that in-between period. We sometimes weary of waiting for an oak to grow sizable.

The tree planting was left until May because of the state Arbor Day. The maple and buttonball or plane-tree were dug up by the boys in the woods the morning of Arbor Day. The trees were chosen from a rather open part of the wood. It is better to choose trees from the open places than from the denser woods. Trees thus selected are far more likely to grow on being transplanted into a place similar to that from which they came. The boys chose trees about five feet tall. The smaller the tree the better. The following directions were the ones agreed upon:

(1) Dig a hole large enough and deep enough to accommodate the roots without cramping. Allow so that the tree shall sit one inch lower than it did before.

(2) Place the topsoil on one side of the hole; on the other the poorer subsoil. If the topsoil is very poor, get some good, rich, black soil.

(3) Place good soil in the bottom of the hole.

(4) Put the tree on this layer, spreading the roots out carefully.

(5) Shovel rich soil over the roots. See that it goes in between the roots. Don't be afraid to use your fingers for this work.

(6) The poorer soil goes in on top.

(7) Tramp the soil down with your feet, making firm about the tree trunk.

(8) If the planting comes late in the warm weather make the soil into a soft mud with plenty of water, in this form washing it in between and about the roots, all roots and rootlets come in direct contact with the mud.

(9) Last of all cut the tree back, shortening the larger branches about one-quarter their length.

After planting the boys kept the trees soaked with water, thus making it possible for the young saplings to have plenty of water. As the spring went on the little maple prospered but the plane-tree started to put out a few sickly looking leaves and finally died in midsummer. Just what was the trouble? Supposedly these two trees were planted according to the same directions. It finally came out that the boys who planted the plane-tree had not cut off the bruised rootlets. These rootlets being in a bad condition rotted and affected the entire root. Another mistake was the failure of the boys to put the good soil about the roots, and they had made the hole a little too small for the entire root area. Well, it simply went to show that such a piece of work must be done right and carefully, if success is to be certain. These were the reasons why our boys lost one of their Arbor Day trees. The Chief told the children that it might have been done over then, but that spring was the better time, because the transplanted tree has the good long feeding season ahead of it, and therefore has an opportunity to get over the shock and to get accustomed to its new surroundings before winter is on. Trees planted in the fall should not be cut back. Leave this until the next spring.

The children wished later that they had used something else for a screen. The poplar trees grew fast but of course did not fill out as evergreens and shrubs do. So, after all, the hedge of shrubs would have acted as a better screen. Had they chosen evergreens these would have made a better wind-break in the winter season for the exposure was north, cold, and windy. Such work, though, is worth while, because we learn so many better ways of doing things.

The flower garden was almost entirely the girls' work. In the first place the school had no money. Seeds do cost something. But the amount of seed which can be purchased for one dollar is amazing. Peter's grandfather, hearing of the school's needs, gave a dollar. This was money enough to buy seeds of ageratum, zinnia, dwarf nasturtium, California poppy and verbena besides some others. Most schools have interested friends.

All along the sides and front of the schoolhouse close to the building the nasturtiums were planted. The ground was hard packed. The plough had left the soil untouched near the building. So the boys spaded this up. All the stone was picked out. Good soil was brought from the woods, fertilizer from the barn and it was all worked thoroughly in.

Stakes had to be made. An easy stake to make is one from a lath. Mark off 18-inch lengths or such lengths as are required. Make one end pointed for about six inches; sandpaper. You have a good stake, that is, a good temporary one. These were driven in to the outer edge of these nasturtium strips at distances of four feet and strung with three cords four inches apart. The cords should be carried about the stakes in a groove made for this purpose. Thus the cord will be held and not slip up or down. Thus strung off, border beds will not be stepped on or run over by cats and dogs.

The nasturtiums were planted four inches apart, in drills one foot apart. Just two rows were planted. The first row was six inches from the front edge, then a foot space left, then another drill. Finally one foot was left between that and the foundation of the building.

The girls of the fourth grade made the drills with the hoe handle. The children of the first and second grades cut out pieces of paper in inch lengths. Four of these placed along in a row gave the right distance for planting the seeds. The nasturtium seeds were soaked over night. And since the soil was warm and mellow, it helped.

Along the walks ageratum was planted in the following manner to serve as a border. A drill was made as if for lettuce planting. The seeds were sown in the same way as for that vegetable. When the plants were an inch high they were thinned to six inches apart.

The zinnia was planted according to Helen's way of planting and told by her under the girls' planting in a later chapter.

The verbenas, as the other flowers, were planted in early May. They were planted one-fourth inch deep and six inches apart in drills one foot apart.

The poppy bed was made fine, very fine, by much raking. Then the seed was sown as the grass seed was, that is, by the method we term broadcast sowing. These plants were thinned later so as to stand about eight inches apart. But the plants thinned out were not used again, for these poppies will not stand transplanting. This bed was simply one gorgeous red in August.

In the early spring days the gutters were cleaned out thoroughly. The road patching was quite a different matter. These country roads, like those of many places, were just dirt roads. Now earth is poor material for road construction. But if drainage is properly looked out for, and the earth road is smooth from rolling, earth roads make, after all, fine roads for summer travel.

It was suggested that rock be filled in, and the earth over this. But when the boys considered how deep cuts would be formed in such a mend by wagon wheels, this was given up. Then it was decided to fill in with layers of rock mass. Myron brought a load of slate for this purpose. But slate, while it makes a smooth road, does not stand wet weather well. So Myron had to return his slate to the road-side bed from which he had taken it. Then The Chief told the children briefly about road materials; how soft limestone makes too weak roads for loads, how easily they wash and wear; how granite, because of its being made up of several materials, is poor, too; how flint and quartz, while hard, are brittle, and are not sufficiently tough; and that sandstone was impossible. Then he told them that good gravel, tough limestone and trap-rock were good road materials. Roads need materials having hardness, toughness and cementing qualities.

By taking a trip to a gravel bed, some three miles out of town, the boys were able to get gravel for their patchwork. They did not merely fill in the breaks but dug out the road bed straight across wherever a break occurred until they came to good road. Coarse gravel was put at the bottom up to six inches of the top surface. This was packed down and rolled. At the same time it was watered until mud rose or flushed over the top surface. Finally pebbles from about a half-inch size to coarse sand were laid on and rolled thoroughly.

This is the way these lads fixed one piece of poor roadway.

It happened that one of the farmers near by tethered his cow on the school grounds during the summer. One of the girls gave a workable solution for this problem. This was it: the boys should come back in relays all summer long and keep the grass so short that no cow could get a nibble from their new lawn. This was done and it worked.

When the subject of the care of the flower garden arose it was easily settled. The girls gladly divided themselves off into committees. Each committee's business was that of weeding, picking and distributing the flowers. The prophecy that there would be blossoms enough to supply the homes, the churches and the sick proved true. To be sure the garden did not look so well in the fall as in early summer, but it took only a short time to fix up the grounds when school re-opened.

Plans were made for another spring during the first weeks of school. The lawn would need a little more work done on it, an oak should be planted, a group of shrubs put in. But the foundation work had been done.

And one day when the news was brought that the town was going to put the first strip of real macadam road by the schoolhouse, a deafening shout went up.

VIII

MYRON'S STRAWBERRY BED

One fine day in early April Myron spaded up his strawberry bed. The bed was made in a sunny spot, on moist but not soggy soil, land excellent for strawberry culture because the year before it was part of a potato field. Following The Chief's advice he had spread over the bed only a very light covering of well-rotted manure. Myron first measured off his garden bed driving stakes in at the four corners. Then he strung off the bed with stout garden cord. "Now," he said to himself, "I know exactly what I have to do." Then going to one corner of the space with his back toward all the rest of the bed he began his work.

He had a fine spading fork which he had bought a few days before. Grasping the top of the handle with his right hand, with the left midway down the handle, he pressed the prongs of the fork with his left foot vertically into the ground. Then lowering the top of the handle toward the ground and backward, he slipped his left hand down the handle to about a foot from the prongs, and drew up the spading fork with earth on it. This earth he threw a little forward and with the prongs broke up the lumps. He continued this until all the work was done.

Then he looked at his spading fork, his brand new fork, and found the prongs quite bent, "The Chief told us to buy decent tools, but I thought I'd save a little money. Well, I'll break up some of these lumps a bit with my hoe and see how that will stand a little work." The land Myron's father had given him was very good indeed, rich and light, so that work of lump breaking was really very slight, yet it made the new hoe-blade rattle in its socket.

After this work had been thoroughly done the boy took his rake and started making fine the soil for the bed. Myron had learned well how to handle his tools. These lessons of handling tools The Chief had taught the boys for he felt that a tool should be a skilful instrument in the hand. "A gardener should wield his hoe as well as a surgeon does his scalpel," The Chief had often said. So the boys were proud of really knowing how to work.

After looking proudly at the fine, smooth bed the boy shouldered his tools and marched off to the village.

Do not think that you can save money by purchasing poor tools. It is quite impossible, because always one has either to buy new and better ones, or mend and remend the poor ones. The lad found out that a good trowel costs at least 50 cents although a smaller one called a transplanting trowel may be had for 15 cents; cast steel rake, 50 cents (10 teeth), 75 cents (14 teeth); hoe, 50 cents; Dutch hoe, four inches, 40 cents; spading fork, $1.25, and weeder 10 cents.

That afternoon armed with cord, stakes, a tape, and the plan of the bed, Myron started to mark it off for the plants. After tacking his plan up on the fence post he began the measuring. The piece of ground was 5-3/4 feet wide by 6 feet long. Beginning at one edge of the garden he measured in six inches along the width. The same thing was done from the opposite edge. Stakes were driven in at these two points and a cord stretched between. The same thing was done from the other two ends. So Myron had two cords extending down the length of his garden each six inches from the edge of the patch. These cords are lettered A A and D D in his plan. B B is 15 inches from A A; C C is 15 inches from D D.

The next thing was to get the position of each plant in the bed. This is the way it was done: beginning with A A, measure from the upper stake nine inches down the line and place a small stake. This is the place to set the first plant. From this, measure and place stakes at one-foot distances. There will be five plants down the line. Down B B, measure fifteen inches and place a stake. This gives the position for the first plant, then, as before, place stakes at one-foot intervals. C C is marked off similar to A A; and D D to B B. In all Myron then had places for twenty plants.

As the work was finished Myron looked up to see Jack's face peeping over the fence. "How do you like my strawberry bed?"

"It's all right," Jack replied, "especially the strawberry plants. They look very promising."

"Quit your fooling, and come in and see this bed face to."

As Jack went over the fence he stopped to look at the plan. "I say, Myron, this shows a plan's of some use to a man. What do you mean by succession crops?"

"That stands for the sort of seed you keep sowing at intervals and so getting several crops a season. I shall put in radish and lettuce. I am to supply our own table all summer. Father is not going to sow either of these. He is depending on me."

The trip to Longmeadow Farm for strawberry plants was one of pleasure and profit to Myron. The boys used to say that while old Mr. Mills had a crust inches deep, underneath this he was as fine as the strawberries he raised. I. Constructing a wall to form an embankment. II. Cleaning the grounds and making a lawn. III. Planting of trees. IV. Preparation and planting of the flower garden. V. Cleaning and mending the road.

"Strawberry plants are worth," said the old gentleman, "about two cents apiece. I will give you your plants if you will do two things. First, during this season, you are to pinch all the blossoms as they appear, off the plants. Secondly, I wish to experiment with a new variety of berry to see if it is good for this locality. I wish you to take five of these plants and try the experiment with me. Do you agree?"

"Certainly. But can't I leave just one blossom on each plant to see what the fruit is like?" And also leave one entire row blossoming as it will?"

"Yes, that will be all right. The reason for pinching off the blossoms the first year is to save the strength of the young plant. Otherwise it all goes to fruit forming. It pays to do this, because the second year you will have a good yield. Remember that strawberries which flourish in certain localities may fail utterly in others. That is why you and I are experimenting with this new berry. I am going to give you five plants of Marshall, five of Nick Ohmer, and five of Brandywine. Remember, shorten back the roots three inches before you plant. I shall be around to see your strawberry bed. Remember to cultivate after every rain, and in between times, too."

"Thank you, and good-bye," said the boy.

Myron set his plants after the following fashion: he dug trenches along the cord lines previously marked out. Then the roots were shortened. To plant, hold the plant against one side of the trench just as Myron did, as illustrated in one of the pictures. Then push the earth in from the other side and press firmly in place. The plants should sit so that their crowns are even with the top of the ground. When Mr. Mills came to see that bed he found two or three plants badly placed. Care must be taken in the placing. The days after planting were very hot so Myron covered the plants with straw to protect them from the heat.

As the season advanced the little plants sent out runners. These were immediately cut off. If they had not been, they would have become entangled and thus formed what is called a matted row. Some people cultivate strawberries this way. But Myron's way, the hill culture, while it means constant attention, is perhaps a better method.

One day, old Mr. Mills took Myron on a little trip with him to a farm where a man was cultivating berries by the matted row method and doing it in a very slovenly way.

"It taught me a lesson," the boy told his mother that evening, "that lazy methods are pretty bad."

Once or twice that season he sprinkled wood ashes on the ground of the bed. Just a little should be sprinkled on, as one sprinkles salt on a potato. Soil gives food to a plant. This food is nitrogen in various forms, potash and phosphorus. Sometimes we help the soil supply one or more of these chemicals. The wood ash adds a little extra potash which is very good for the strawberry.

It turned out after a second year that the new variety gave very small and flavourless berries. So the old gentleman and Myron wasted no more space on that variety.

The second year Myron obtained excellent results. From some of his plants he got one quart of berries each, during the season. That was good, but no better than a strawberry plant should do under good cultivation.

As far as his lettuce and radish went there was nothing new or startling in his experience. He tried this little trick of lettuce sowing with some success: Instead of sprinkling the seed in the drill, he placed each seed separately and four inches apart. By this method one need not transplant to get good heads. He tried the Black Tennis Ball seed. This forms a good head.

Did you ever try the Icicle radish? Myron recommends it. It is long and white and so gets its name. Along with the radish he planted parsley. This is a good way to do as these vegetables do not interfere one with the other.

"Grow any more lettuce and radish?" exclaimed Myron's father one evening in the village store, "not while I have a boy who can do it as Myron can. He beats me all right. And I am glad."

IX

JACK'S ALL-ROUND GARDEN

Just as soon as the ground was workable Jack set his coldframe. He chose a southern exposure, back of the barn, so that the frame should sit up against the stone foundation of the I. Constructing a wall to form an embankment. II. Cleaning the grounds and making a lawn. III. Planting of trees. IV. Preparation and planting of the flower garden. V. Cleaning and mending the road. building. First he dug down about a foot deep. As he dug, he knocked up the lumps and picked out the stone. Then he went to the barn and got a barrow load of horse manure, not fresh, but old, rotted manure. This he very carefully mixed in with the soil already made fine.

"Now I shall put the frame on. Come, Elizabeth, and give me a lift with this." After some tugging the frame was set.

"I thought frames were usually sunk in the ground," commented Elizabeth.

"I shall do that this fall and make a real hotbed out of it. You see this spring I just want to give my seeds a little extra start. That's why I made the soil so rich and so deep. Now I am going to bank the frame about with manure. Then I shall put dirt over that. You see I get some extra heat that way. Just see the fine slope of the glass. I guess Old Sun will get caught all right."

Jack busily banked the frame, spanking the fertilizer down hard with the back of his spade. He sloped it up some four inches along the sides and front.

"Now I am going to make drills for my seed. In the first partition I shall plant lettuce and tomato; then pepper and onion go in, and the third is for flower seed." Jack bent over the frame, and began to scratch lengthwise of the beds with the edge of his trowel. Red-faced from bending over, and hot from his former exertion, his trouser knees covered with earth and manure, he stood off and looked at his work.

"I'm precious glad Elizabeth has gone, for if those aren't the worst, crookedest old rows I ever saw."

And so they were. They were all distances apart, of different depths and entirely untidy-looking.

Jack picked up his rake and again raked the little beds over, so that no trace of his poor work was left. Then he found a board which stretched across the frame widthwise, so that he could kneel upon this and work to advantage in the bed. He next whittled out two little pointed sticks to act as stakes, and tying to these a piece of cord just the right length for the drills, he was ready for work. With one stake stuck in the bed at the upper end, the other at the lower, the cord between gave Jack a good string line for the drill. Then, with the end of a small round stick held close against the taut line, the drill was made. So he continued making drills at distances of four inches apart.

Pouring out some lettuce seed in his hand, Jack began to sprinkle it rather unevenly in the first little drill. Elizabeth, having returned, stood by watching and shaking her head. "I didn't know you were here. You make me nervous," began Jack.

"I feel more nervous than you possibly can, for you are wasting seed and sowing in a poor way. See, here you have a little pile of seed, and there you have none," and Elizabeth bent eagerly over the bed.

"Well, if you think you can do better, just try this next drill." Jack straightened up, and gave way to Elizabeth.

"Wait a minute," and Elizabeth ran into the house. Soon she came out with some small seed envelopes in her hand. From the bag of lettuce seed--for Jack had bought his seed by bulk--Elizabeth poured some into a small envelope. Then by shaking the envelope she carefully and sparingly sowed the lettuce in the drill.

"I say, that is good!" said Jack admiringly. "Now I'll do some myself."

"I should think you would wish only one more row; then have a row, or perhaps two, to transplant in. For I believe you'll have to prick out the plants before the garden is ready."

"You talk like the real thing, Elizabeth. What do you mean by pricking out?"

"Why, pricking is just lifting out the seedlings with a pointed stick from one row to another, or from a box or hotbed into the outside garden. What else are you going to plant, Jack?"

"I thought I'd put in--say two rows of tomatoes, one row of onions, and one of peppers. In the third partition I'd start asters. I just love asters. So I've made up my mind to make a kind of specialty of these."

"That's fine! May I help?"

"You certainly may, for you are a help."

Elizabeth chuckled away to herself, for Jack evidently was not questioning where she got her knowledge. "It seems to me," she rather timidly suggested, "that it would look more shipshape to label these rows, and put in little sticks where each row begins and ends."

"Well now, that is a fine suggestion." So Jack stuck in some little sticks he got from the woodshed. Elizabeth did not dare offer some nicely made little markers laid away in her desk for future use. She feared those would call forth questions.

Jack brought out a hammer and tacks. Then writing the names of the seeds on the little envelopes Elizabeth had brought out, he tacked one over each row onto the inside of the frame. They both stood off and admired the work.

Warm days Jack opened the frame, at first only a little, and later, wide open for all day. One night he forgot to close it, and a slight frost made a sorry looking set of seedlings next morning. He lost every single plant except a few little asters, which were protected by the inner partition of the frame. These seedlings he watered at intervals all day. This was at Elizabeth's suggestion. By this treatment these were saved. So Jack, sadder and wiser, started over again.

When the lettuce plants had four little leaves Jack, with Elizabeth's help, transplanted some into the drills left for them. When they were larger yet, they transplanted the lettuce to the real garden. This is the way they did it. In the first place the children chose a cloudy day for the work. A cloudy day is far better than a bright sunny one because bright sun is too strong for little lettuces which have been disturbed from their places and put into new ones.

To transplant, dig up a number of plants and plenty of earth with them. Use a trowel for this work, gently lifting plants and earth. A drill may be made; or, perhaps better yet, make holes with the dibber. Pour a little water into the hole. Then gently separate a plant taking as much soil with it as you can keep on its roots. Place the little plant in the hole or drill, and cover the roots with soil. With the fingers press the soil firmly about the plant. Water the earth, not the leaves of the plant. Next day, and for several days, cover the transplanted plants with strawberry baskets. These are far better than newspaper coverings, because light and air freely come through the crevices of the basket. The newspaper makes a covering too tight and close for the tender lettuces. Between plants the children left six inches.

Jack raised Boston lettuce. He not only had enough for his mother all summer long, but sold some, too. The way he happened to sell it was merely an accident. Not far from the village was a large summer hotel. One day the proprietor had driven around to the house to see Jack's father on business. As the men were talking Jack and Elizabeth came from the garden with two fine heads of lettuce.

"Have you any more lettuce than what you can use yourself?" asked the proprietor, after feeling of the heads of lettuce and admiring the good firm centres. "Yes," replied Jack, "I have now, and shall have all along, more than we can use. You see I keep making sowings every ten days in the coldframe, and transplanting."

"I'll take all the extra lettuce you have at five cents a head. That is what I pay all summer long for it. To-morrow bring me up what you can."

"Thank you, sir. Ten heads will walk up to-morrow."

"The first time I've ever heard of heads walking," laughed Jack's father, well pleased with his lad.

But we are away ahead of the story, for we have planted and sold lettuce before Jack has had a chance to really make his garden. The soil in the backyard was very poor, so Jack decided to cultivate only a strip twenty feet long and eight feet wide. He dug out all the soil to the depth of two feet. His father lent him the use of a horse and wagon, and gave him from the barns whatever fertilizer he needed. The digging was a long, tedious piece of work. It was hard, too; but the boy kept at it. Any piece of land can be used if a boy has a mind to work hard over it.

Some of the poorest of the soil was carted off, then into the top of the remaining soil he mixed the old manure. Then into the garden space six inches of manure was spread, and over this was filled in the old top soil and fertilizer, that mixture which he had previously prepared. About one foot of this was put in. Jack's father lent him the horse again and the services of a man. They drove to the Longmeadow Farm and got a load of top soil. Old Mr. Mills said he would give the soil if Jack could answer three garden questions correctly.

"All right," said the boy, "you'll probably knock me over, for I don't know much about gardening, but I'm trying hard."

"Question number one: suppose your backyard had been clay soil--what would you have done with it then?"

"I should have mixed in sand, using about one-quarter the amount of sand as I had of clay."

"Good! Question number two: suppose you had no sand--what then?"

"I'd have used ashes; old clinkers I guess would be best. Everyone has ashes."

"Question number three: what is the object of mixing sand or coal ashes or clinkers with clay."

"The reason is to break up the clay. Clay bakes hard, becomes sticky, and little air or light gets into it. Ash or sand breaks it up. I think that's about all I know about this."

"The soil is yours, young man, I shall be around to see your garden some day. Remember good gardening means working your muscles hard."

"Thank you, Mr. Mills. By the way my arms and legs ache, I guess I know about muscles."

"And remember too," continued Mr. Mills, "that certain vegetables are very closely related and will intermingle. For example, do not plant different kinds of corn close together. The pollen from one kind will fertilize another kind and so you get a crossing which results in a mongrel sort of corn. Melons and cucumbers will do the same thing. And so care must be taken in order that this sort of intermingling does not take place. You see, Jack, that there are many things a real good gardener has to consider. Gardening is not only a matter of soil preparation but it is also a matter of understanding plants and their relations one to the other."

So the good soil was put on and Jack was ready for business. Straight across the back was planted a row of sunflowers. Sunflower seeds belong under the head of large seeds, and should be planted one inch deep and one foot apart. Two seeds were placed in together. This is a safe plan, because if one fails to come up, the other doubtless will come up. If both appear, when the plants get about three inches high, pull out the weaker one.

Then the boy planted a second row two feet from the first one. The first row was planted close up to the fence. Jack found out that this was a mistake. Always leave all about the garden a space of a foot or so, in order that one may walk about freely and get at the rear row of plants without trouble. Again, do not plant too close to a fence, unless the planting be some vine or climbing plant, which you desire to have cover the fence.

Next the aster plants were transplanted. This was done after the same manner as the lettuce. They were placed about one foot apart each way. These were put across the entire spot just as the sunflowers had been. Thirty-two little aster plants were set out and still Jack had a number left over. It is amazing the amount of aster plants one can raise from a little packet of seeds. "I'm going to sell the rest of these aster plants," he declared. And he did. The boy tramped about until he found a lady desiring the plants, to whom he sold 50 little plants for $1 and set them out for 50 cents.

The rest of the garden space was used for the onions, peppers, lettuce, tomatoes and radish.

The onions transplanted from the coldframe gave fine early onions with a mild flavour.

When Jack was making furrows for the sunflower seed Jay came along and leaned over the fence. "Jack," he drawled, "you look like a kangaroo all humped over making that furrow. Why don't you use your hoe right?"

"I thought I was using it right. Come in here and show me how, will you?"

So Jay jumped the fence and picked up the hoe. "Stand this way! Straddle the furrow with your back in the direction you are going to hoe; or else stand on the left side of the furrow facing it. Grasp the handle of the hoe in the right hand near the upper end. The back of your hand should be up. Now the left hand should be a foot or more below the other hand. And see the back of my hand. It is toward the left and my thumb points down the handle, just so with the rake handle."

All summer long the boy worked or cultivated his piece of land. He kept hoeing and weeding constantly.

One of the August pieces of work was to fix the hotbed for winter. Now the frame was taken up and the pit dug deeper--about two feet this time. Previous to this a great pile of manure had been heaped up near by. Jack had sprinkled it with hot water to start fermentation. Steam rising from the heap was proof of this, and it may be used at this time.

Then the manure was put into the pit. An eighteen-inch bed of it was made and firmly tramped down. At first the temperature of this was over one hundred degrees. When it dropped to ninety-five degrees soil was put on. The temperature was taken by means of a thermometer buried in the manure. The frame was placed after two inches of soil had been put in; then four more inches went on. The surface of the soil was made to slope at the same angle as the glass. All about the frame was banked, again, manure covered with earth and leaf matter.

Jack transplanted violet plants into one compartment. These were good violets and were placed four inches apart. In the second bed he sowed foxglove, pansy and stock. The third was left for radish and lettuce, a bit later.

Elizabeth helped him sew together several thicknesses of straw matting as covering for the winter nights. They had decided that newspapers next the glass, then the mats, and finally a rubber blanket, would be protection sufficient.

But Jack's hotbed work is quite another story. However, I can tell you that the next winter he added two other frames to this one.

X

ALBERT AND JAY'S DRAINAGE PROBLEM.

The problem of draining which Albert and Jay had to consider, was perhaps the biggest piece of work that was done all that spring. In the first place, it should have been done in the fall. That is the time to do such work, for if put off until spring it delays greatly the spring planting.

It was a wet spring, too. The boys, rather impatient of waiting, started digging one day, but it ended in disaster. The ground was soft and wet and hence very heavy to handle. This piece of land was one hundred feet wide or deep. It had a frontage of one hundred and fifty feet. A slope rose up in front of it, which accounted for the water being drained onto this land. The water naturally would have run off the land into a brook at the back. But in about the centre was a hollow, and beyond that the ground rose a little, and then dropped toward the brook. The depression made a kind of drain hole and the water settled there all the spring through.

This strip of land of the boys was not by any means the entire piece of land, which was much larger, but the boys' father had given them this largely to try their mettle. He felt so certain they could not do it that he said they might have all they needed from a pile of drain pipe he intended to use himself on a piece of wet land the next fall. "I shall have all my drain pipe left to me," he said to the boys' mother one night. She smiled, for the boys had talked matters over a bit with her.

Myron's strawberry bed was all made, Jack's garden-filling work done, George's ploughing and planting finished, before the boys could lay the drain.

"It's no use," said Albert, "I'm ready to give up."

"Now Savage, there's to be no quitting. I'd be ashamed of you, at least we can surprise father."

"All right, Jay, I'm with you."

Finally the day came when The Chief and the boys started work. A drain pipe should be laid ordinarily anywhere from twenty inches to three feet deep. One may dig or plough to make the trench. It is wise to dig as narrow a trench as possible and so lift as little soil as possible. Then, too, the bed of the drain should slope gradually from the upper or highest point to the lowest. The drop in level should be about four inches per hundred feet. So the boys had to consider just this. This is the way they "sighted" to get the drop in level. They drove a stake into the ground at some twenty feet from the place where the drain was to begin. Previously a cord had been stretched from one end of the centre of the field to the other end. Since the centre of the field seemed to be the place for the deposit of water the drain was to go directly through the centre.

If you ever have a piece of draining to do the problem may not be so simple as this. You may find several natural drainage areas. Then you must lay drains through these. Or instead of separate drains make side ones which empty into a main drain.

Going back again to the "sighting" for the drain bed level--the boys have driven a stake into the ground. It stands five feet above the ground level. If a tree had been in line with the drain line this might have been used and saved driving the stakes. Across the stake, at right angles to it, a board with a perfectly straight edge was nailed. This board was about four feet long, one end pointed at the drain line. At the other end Jay placed his eye looking across this to where Albert had driven stakes.

One stake had been driven into the ground at the beginning where the drain was to be dug; another at the extreme end or outlet of the drain. Albert stood at the first stake and ran a little piece of paper slowly up and down the stake until Jay raised his hand. This meant that the paper was on the same line with the sighting board. Then Albert ran to the other stake and did the same. The difference in these two points gives the difference in level of the ground. Albert measured from the ground to his mark on the first stake, and, doing the same in the case of the other stake, found the difference to be eight inches. This was too great a drop. Then the boys drove two stakes in between these others and did the same work of level finding. From stake 1 to 2, or for the first twenty-five feet there was no difference in level. For the first fifty feet there was four inches drop; for the next twenty-five feet, five inches rise; and the last twenty-five feet, six inches drop. They marked all this on the stakes in order to make sure they got the level right. The bed must, you see, drop one inch for every twenty-five feet. For the first fifty feet of the line the drop was just twice too much; then came the abrupt rise and drop.

Albert ploughed a furrow straight along the line and ploughed back again. Then he reploughed. The boys then began to dig, making a ditch three feet deep right through the land. In order to get the right level they used a home-made device and plumb-line which can be made as follows: Nail the ends of two six-inch boards ten feet long, so as to make a right angle; then across the open end of the triangle, nail another six-inch board having the lower edge about a foot from the ends of the boards. Cut off the ends of the boards on a level, so that they will rest evenly on the ground. Next drive a nail into the apex of the triangle, and to it tie a line long enough so that when the triangle is stood on its legs, the plumb-bob, which you will tie on the other end of it, will almost reach the ground.

The centre must next be determined. To do it, set the triangle up on its legs on a level place and when the plumb-line comes to rest, mark the place. A lead-pencil mark will do, but as it is liable to become obliterated by the dirt, a saw mark is more permanent.

Now you know what the grade of the bottom of your ditch will be. Reproduce this on a level place by means of a board with a large enough block under one end to give the right pitch; put the triangle on this and when the plumb-line comes to a rest, mark the place on the cross piece. Reverse the ends of the triangle to get a similar mark on the other side of the centre or level mark. This makes a level by which a fairly accurate grade can be made.

The tile pipes were laid upon a bed of gravel. This prevents the clogging up of the loosely put together joints. To fit tiles place the small end of one into the large end of the next, and so on. Over the end of the last tile, which emptied into the brook, they wired a bit of rather fine-meshed chicken wire.

Then the trench was filled in. By test Albert had found the soil of this land acid. Lime was to be put on it. Now lime must be in a crumbling state for this purpose. So after they had bought the lime they dumped it in a heap on a corner of the plot. After it had become air slaked, or reduced to a powder by the action of air upon it, it was spread over the lot. This and considerable fertilizer was ploughed in. The boys then had an ideal sort of planting soil for almost anything. The drain actually worked.

Now some boy may ask, suppose a fellow has no tile and cannot afford to buy any. In such a case there are two alternatives or choices. A wooden trough may be made by nailing together boards six inches wide. Then make a gravel bed and tip this trough over on it peak up. The wooden drain, however, is likely to rot. The other way is to put a double row of stones right through the centre of the bed slope. These stones--perfectly flat ones--should be placed on end with a foot between the rows. In this space put small stones.

The chief thing to remember in the drainage problem is that one wants a gradual flow of water from inlet to outlet. Any boy can fix his wet, soggy garden spot even though he has no tiles. Stones can be found surely, and, if no gravel beds are near, all the little brothers and sisters can pick small stones.

The boys had decided on planting what they called a general vegetable garden--corn, pumpkins, beans (bush), melons, tomatoes, beets and carrots. This combination of vegetables was a happy choice as they all can well wait until rather late for planting. The boys used the planting table that Peter had worked out.

Many times boys and girls are bothered by the word "hill". I have seen boys make nice little heaps of earth and then make a hole in the top of these like a crater in a volcano. Down into this crater they poke seeds. Now a hill merely means a place. This place is not to be heaped up above the level of the ground. Place five seeds to the hill. Do not, of course, make a little pile of these seeds but lay them on the ground with a little space between seeds, say an inch. When planting beans place the eye of each bean down against the ground. The bean stands up on edge.

The pumpkins were planted in between the hills of corn. This is just the place to plant pumpkin or squash because there is opportunity sufficient for the vines to run. Remember not to plant these two together.

Soon after the pumpkins began to come up the boys noticed one morning that the leaves had been eaten. Some were completely riddled, looking like lace work. Digging about the ground Albert found a black and white striped beetle. Its name is the Striped Beetle. The boys killed these in the course of three days. They bought five cents' worth of white hellebore, which is a powder, and sprinkled it on the ground in a circle about the stems of the young plants. They made the circles some six inches from the plant stalk. Doing this at night, the evening dews prevented the scattering about of the powder. They put this on for three nights. Afterwards sand was sprinkled lightly over the hills and at the end of the runners. This makes a discouraging sort of prospect for the beetle who is hunting for something good to eat, not sand to walk over. If instead of sand they had used lime it would have been better. For the lime is quite likely to form a sticky mass on the legs of the insect pest. The moisture from dew or rainwater helps this along, while sand is far more likely to drop off the victim's legs. The Chief felt sure that besides the beetles there were slugs in the garden. Slugs are very likely to bother. They appear early in the season, feed chiefly at night and after rains, and lay eggs throughout the summer and autumn. These eggs are laid in the ground and in rubbish heaps.

The treatment suggested above and started just as soon as there are signs of slugs, will work. The boys treated their melons in the same way and had no further trouble with beetles and slugs.

The tomato plants were started inside. They were transplanted into strawberry baskets. These are excellent to use, because in transplanting to the ground the little strawberry baskets may be knocked apart without disturbing the plant nearly so much as if it were planted in a compact box. Be sure to line the basket with paper before filling with earth. When the plants began to straggle about and bend over stakes were driven into the ground and the plants tied to these.

Jay used hoops and made a sort of cage for the separate plants. He drove four stakes into the ground at distances of eighteen inches from the stalk and in a circular form. Then slipping hoops over the plant he nailed these hoops to the stakes. Some plants had two hoops about them, some three; it all depends on the size and needs of the plant. Only keep this in mind; that the object in staking tomatoes is not only to keep the plant erect, and the fruit off of the ground, but to allow plenty of light and air to get at all parts of the plant.

The bean culture resulted in a little private contest between Albert and Jay. That winter The Chief had given the boys a talk on inoculation of soil. One day while they were working on their land Jay suggested that they separate the bean section of their garden, having a bean plot at one end and another of the same size at the extreme other end; that one of them should inoculate the soil of his plot and the other should not. These plots being so far removed would not be in danger of soil washing one from the other. Albert, who rather scorned inoculation of soil, willingly agreed to make the experiment, stipulating that he have the uninoculated plot.

By inoculation of the soil is meant introducing into the soil a germ. This germ makes it possible that the nitrogen already in the soil be given to the plant in such a form that it may be absorbed, and absorbed in greater quantities than it otherwise could be.

Jay sent to the nearest State Agricultural Experiment Station, asking for the soil. This was sent free of charge. It was a soil, fine in texture and brown in appearance. According to the directions sent with it Jay spread it evenly over the top of his bean patch. A piece of land for inoculation should be prepared all ready for planting; then the inoculated soil is merely put over this, as frosting on a cake. After this the seeds are planted. They planted bush limas. Of course they had to plant the same kind of bean for the sake of the experiment.

Beans are not hard to cultivate. They should be kept free from weeds and the soil well stirred up. Albert, fearful of his beans becoming affected by spots or anthracnose, sprayed them from the start. This disease is likely to affect beans about July. So in order to get ahead of the inoculated crop the boy did what he later found there was no need of. To be sure beans are liable to this trouble, but it is not a surety. It is never likely to appear unless the weather be very moist. This summer happened to be a dry one.

The spray he used was the Bordeaux mixture. His father offered to supply him with the mixture if he would do mixing for both. So he used this receipt: Dissolve six pounds of copper sulphate in six gallons of water. It is an excellent plan to crush up this chemical in a mortar and put this powder into a bag. Hang the bag up so it just touches the surface of the water. Add twenty-five gallons of water to this. To four pounds of slaked lime add twenty-five gallons of water. Then add this solution to the other.

The boy's father had a spraying machine. So Albert used this. I have known boys to use a corn broom to spray with. Dip this in the spraying mixture and shake over the foliage. The only spraying rule Albert used was to keep the foliage covered with the mixture; this does not mean many applications.

At the close of the bean season Jay had the finer, larger, beans with a better flavour. His yield was one-third greater than Albert's.

"And think, too, how I worked," Albert moaned. "Hereafter I shall not make fun of inoculation."

There is not much more to tell of this garden. The poppies yielded well. These were supported as they grew by stakes, as tomatoes are. Carrots need rather mellow, upland soil. The boys found that their carrots did not do so well as the other vegetables. The soil was a bit heavy and moist for them. They found this out about beets: beets should not be transplanted. Transplanting puts them back. Albert transplanted a few and learned this fact.

XI

GEORGE'S CABBAGE TROUBLES

George had a long task in stone picking. The old slope seemed to be full of stone. George would pick continuously from school to supper time, and next morning declare that new stones had grown in the night.

The ditching was very little work. It meant digging a ditch about two feet deep and then making at either end of this gutter a side ditch at a very severe angle to the main ditch. These side ditches were directed along the sides of the hill for about six feet, and the water thus directed would conduct itself off. Of course the angle was such that the ditch led away from the garden spot.

As the stones were picked off he piled them into the gutter, where this stony bottom also helped the drainage problem.

George was a master hand at ploughing, for he had always done his share of it, so ploughing meant nothing to him. First, you will remember George had one foot of dressing to put on the land. This he ploughed in; and then reploughed. After this the slope was harrowed. You all know that the harrow simply makes fine the soil after the plough has done its work of throwing up the earth. The rake is a kind of harrow. Of course, when the garden plot is large, the rake is impossible, and then the harrow, really a big rake dragged by a horse, must do this work.

It took the boy longer than some of the others to do his work, for George did more work at home than the others. He was probably better informed on farm matters, however. His father was a real farmer; the other boys' fathers farmed, too, but not as a business.

Anticipating the amount of time this preparatory work would take he had not started his cabbage inside. To get an early crop of cabbage, seed must be planted in January or February; then one may start in March. But for the late crop plant in the open in May or June. This is just what George did.

He made furrows straight down his sunny southern slope. These furrows were two feet apart. The seed, of Savoy cabbage, was sprinkled in the furrows. This was done after rain. Cabbage needs much moisture for quick germination. George might have poured water into the furrows and puddled or stirred the earth a bit, if the garden had been small, but his was too large for this, so he took advantage of Nature's watering. When the plants were about two inches above ground they were thinned out to stand two feet apart in the furrow.

Cabbage, you know, is quite likely to become infested by pests. Perhaps the most common of which are lice or aphis and the cabbage worm, a green caterpillar. Therefore it is well to try a little prevention. So all over the ground about the plants sprinkle unslaked lime. Tobacco dust or soot may be used for this purpose, too. Good cultivation also helps prevent these pests.

One row of cabbage began to develop worms. These George picked off, but he found that he could not keep up with them; so The Chief advised him to buy a little pyrethrum powder at the store. This he mixed with five times its bulk of dust. Putting the mixture into an old potato sack he shook it over the infested heads of cabbage.

Except for this drawback the cabbage did well. He lost the infested row of cabbage. For he pulled them all up, spaded the ground over, and sprinkled it with the poison mixture. All the other cabbage heads were sprinkled with it, too. One may easily lose all his cabbage from these worms.

In the fall the cabbages were harvested. This was about the last of October. George pulled them up by the roots. He found some of the heads rather soft, some bursting open. As it does not pay to keep such cabbage over, these were fed to the cattle--a gift, George called it, to pay for the fertilizer.

All the fine solid heads are worth storing. In order to get nice white inner leaves, as the head begins to form break and bend over the outer leaves and those that protect the inner ones. It is a sort of blanching or bleaching process. Two hundred fine firm heads were the result of the work of this boy.

"What are you going to do with all these, I'd like to know?" asked Jack.

"I expect to store a number of them--one hundred and fifty, I should say. I'm going to give away fifty. In the winter I hope to sell about one hundred of my stored ones."

George's way of storing cabbages is a good one. A spot was ploughed in the orchard between the rows of trees. Then the cabbages were piled in a neat pile roots up, one cabbage fitting into the other. All about and over this heap a layer of straw about four inches thick was placed. To hold the pile in place stakes were driven in about its base. To hold the straw, branches were placed over the whole and boards put on last. The straw packing kept the cabbage from freezing. If George's father had had a good tight shed the cabbage could have been stored on shelves in this. The ordinary home cellar is no place for storage of cabbage.

Later in the winter he sold one hundred heads of cabbage to the markets in a near-by city. These he sold at two cents per head. They kept fifty at home.

The boys tried long and hard to find out where the other fifty went. But George would not tell. There was an orphans' home some few miles from the village. It seems that at one time an appeal had been made at the school to the boys and girls to give whatever they could to this home. At that time George had nothing to give. No one knew how badly the boy felt, so as his cabbages grew the lad made a pledge with himself to give one quarter of his cabbage to this home. One evening in late October, George had hitched up an old farm horse, loaded his cabbage in, and had driven over to the home.

The Chief learned of his kindness one December evening, when he visited the matron to see about Christmas gifts for the children. She told him that one evening in the fall a bashful lad had brought a load of cabbage to her, but would not tell his name. As the man walked home he thought of the really splendid ending of George's cabbage experiment. After all a garden reaches its real work when some of its product is given to those who are in need.

"Now I see," said The Chief out loud, as he walked past George's house on his homeward way, "why George made out of his garden so much less than the others. I never could understand why he lost the prize. I am glad there are boys who care less for money than for other things."

XII

PETER, POTATOES, AND PROFIT

Peter had a mile to go to his garden, which was on his grandfather's farm. This farm land, you will remember, was especially good.

The ploughing, fertilizing and harrowing were done for Peter. The soil was just the sort potatoes thrive on, a sandy loam. After the furrows had been made about six inches deep and two feet apart, Peter put a sprinkling of chemical fertilizer into the bottom of each furrow. This was sprinkled on as one puts salt on potato before eating it. Over this he placed some dirt so the fertilizer would not burn the potato.

Early the morning of planting Peter cut his seed potatoes. The date was the 1st of April, not a bit too soon to get in early potatoes.

The seed potatoes chosen were fair, smooth specimens of good size. These he cut so that only one eye was left to a piece of potato the size of a hen's egg. These pieces were dropped into the furrows at distances of fifteen inches apart and four inches deep. After covering, the man went over the potato patch with a harrow. A boy might use a rake for this work, but as Peter's patch was a small part of his grandfather's field the harrowing of the whole was done by the man.

When the little potato plants were well up Peter sprayed them with Paris green. This was wise because he thus got ahead of the potato bug. Some one may like to know how to mix up Paris green. The proportion used was one tablespoonful to a pail of water. This was put on with a watering pot every two weeks, thus Peter kept his potatoes quite free from bugs.

Although the rest of the potato patch was cultivated by the horse, Peter used the hoe. He could not plough, for Peter was a rather small boy for his age and not very muscular. The secret of potato culture is to cultivate well and keep the bugs down.

He dug his potatoes about the middle of June. From the one quarter acre his grandfather had lent him for his garden Peter dug seven bushels of potatoes. At the time new potatoes were selling for $1.25 per bushel. His father bought three bushels and the other four were sold in the city to Philip's mother and friends.

The constant working of the soil for potato culture gets it into a fine mellow condition exactly right for celery. Peter's grandfather suggested that the boy put this in, and so have another crop, a fall one.

Although this soil had been well fertilized in the spring for the potatoes this was yet not sufficient for celery culture. Celery ought to be started either indoors in flats, or in a hothouse or seed bed late in February--transplanted to other flats, and again finally to the open ground.

To prepare for the celery trenches were dug three feet apart and one foot wide. The earth thrown out in trench digging was piled between the ditches to be used later in banking up the celery. These trenches were six inches deep. In the bottom of the trench was put some enriched manure. This was of different materials. Peter used well-rotted barnyard dressing, a little hen manure, and about the same quantity of chemical fertilizer. Hen manure is rich, so he did not use the bulk of that. Over this was put an inch of soil.

Celery plants should be set about six inches apart in the trench. First cut them back; that is, cut off about one quarter of the root and one-third of the top. This cutting back increases the spread of root-growth later and decreases the amount of respiration of water from the leaves. The top alone grows more stocky and bulky.

Firm the plants well. That is, press the soil firmly about the roots and stalk. When the plant has received its growth it must be blanched. This process not only whitens celery, but also takes the bitter taste out of it. This may be done in various ways, but Peter used the earth process. He tied the bunches up together with bits of raffia. This was done merely to keep the earth from pressing in between the stalks. Then the earth which had been left in between the trenches was drawn up with the hoe about the stalks until only the top leaves poked out above. Do not do all this banking at once. Take several days at it. Boards may be placed along the sides of the banked celery hills.

Peter having heard of the self-blanching kinds told his grandfather that he would plant this kind to obviate blanching. But there were two drawbacks. In the first place, he had waited too late to start seed. And secondly, these varieties, too, should be bleached to take out the bitter taste. So Peter bought young celery plants from his grandfather. He paid $1 for two hundred small plants. Later in November he sold these to the same market where his potatoes had gone. Fifty bunches he sold to his father. These were left protected in the ground for use when needed. The rest he sold in the city. From his celery he made $1.80. In all the lad made $9.55. This was a pretty good sum to make. So Peter's saying of "potatoes and profit" actually worked out.

XIII

PHILIP'S BACKYARD

On a beautiful Saturday in late April one might have seen The Chief and his boys boarding the train for the city. It was the day set apart for helping Philip.

The boy had cleared up the yard ready for work. You will remember shrubs were to be planted, a walk and cement pond made, and a little gardening done. The shrubs were planted as the school trees were. One must be careful to dig the hole large enough to receive the roots of the shrub. If old shrubs are transplanted be sure to cut out all the old wood, and also cut the top back severely; that is, reduce it to one-third its former size.

It was great fun to make the little pond. Such a pond may be used for fish or for water plants or for both. Do not make too large a one, unless you have a very large yard. The smaller ones are easier to care for, and more pleasing in appearance.

First stake off the outside limits for the pond. Philip's was to be four feet by two and one-half feet. Dig down three feet. Fill in the bottom of the pond up to fifteen inches of the top with large stones. Then in between and over these put small stones so that you have filled in about six to eight inches of the cavity. Now it is time to mix cement. Mix only a little at a time. Get a board about two feet square. With a trowel put on the board one part of Portland cement to three parts of sand. Have a watering pot full of water at hand. Add water enough each time to the cement and sand to make a soft but not running mass. If it be possible for you to have small stones to put in, it will improve the mortar you are mixing. These stones should not be larger than one inch in size. Add four parts of these to the mixture.

Now over the bottom of the pond put on the paste about three inches thick. Fill in with the trowel and smooth it off with the back of this same tool. The sides are the next job. Put a board slantwise against the bottom of the pond so there is a space between the board and the side you are to plaster. Drop the mortar down into this space and press the board against the sides. This firms the mortar. Keep up this work all around the sides of the pond.

Another way to do this work is to make a box that will fit approximately into the pond, but that gives a space all around over three inches from the sides. Then the mortar may be dropped in. After three days knock out the box and you have the inside all right. If you wet the sides and bottom of the box the mortar will cling to it less.

If the mortar looks rather rough after you finish, mix cement with water, take a whisk broom and with this brush the paste all over the bottom and sides of the pond. All around the ground by the pond, mortar for about six inches. This prevents the breaking in of the edges.

Albert and George, who worked on this job, did the mortaring the first way. The pond was left unfilled for a week to dry thoroughly. Then after placing two inches of sand in the bottom it was filled with water. Philip bought two pond lily roots. He tied stones with string on the roots of the plants to keep them down: otherwise they would have bobbed up and floated on the surface of the water. Some one gave him two water hyacinths.

In the middle of the yard a round bed was made. To do this take a cord and tie a stake at either end. The cord should be whatever length you have decided shall be the radius of the circle. The radius of a circle, you remember, is the distance from the centre to the circumference.

Now drive one of the stakes into the ground at the exact centre. Grasp in your hand the other stake and swing a circle with it. The stake will scratch a well-defined line so that you have the outline of the circle, the boundary of the bed.

Jay spaded down to about six inches all along the outlines of bed. After that the bed itself was spaded. Philip insisted on outlining it with brick which had been given him. Some children use whitewashed stones, some use shells. Either plan gives a spotty effect. The idea fails of being artistic. A neat cutting of the turf and a slight heaping up of a round bed toward the centre gives after all a far more pleasing effect. Try to keep as near to Nature's own plan as you can. Shells belong on the seashore or in a collection; keep stones for road making, wall building, cement work and curbs; bricks are for foundations and buildings. Rarely use things for what they were not intended. It is better usually to border a bed with low-growing flowers. Ageratum, candytuft and dwarf nasturtiums are good for the purpose.

Along a walk to an old outhouse they planted asters on one side and four o'clocks on the other. Asters, as all boys and girls know, are better if started inside early. Then they may be transplanted to the outside. In his way one gets a bit ahead of the season.

But Philip was obliged to plant seed for both. So he planted it in a drill as one plants lettuce. Later the little seedlings were thinned out to stand six inches apart. This thinning was done when the plants were four inches high. Four o'clocks need lots of room as they grow bushy.

Plants in narrow strips are quite likely to drop over their limits. To keep these in bounds Philip later built a fence. For this he used stakes driven into the ground at intervals of every four feet. To these he nailed strips of railing. Sometimes cords are used instead of railings.

An old fence was all about the yard and an old unused outbuilding in the rear. These were both unsightly in appearance, so they had to be hidden. Vines were used for this purpose.

About six inches from the fence a furrow was made four inches deep. Climbing nasturtium seeds were dropped into this furrow at distances of every four inches. The seeds had been soaked over night. This was because the ground was very dry and the weather was now quite settled and warm. If the ground is wet and the weather cold, never soak seed. It just adds to the general soggy condition to do this.

Morning-glory seeds were planted along the end of the fence by the outbuilding and all around it. After these climbing things began to grow the pretty effect of the vines was amazing.

Many times one has to train vines so they will grow where one wishes. In such cases drive small stakes into the ground back of where the vine is planted. Tie a cord or string to the stake and carry this up to where you wish the vine to go. The string may be attached in the best way, according to the place. If it is to an old building, drive a nail into the side, roof or peak of this. Some people make latticed trellises. These may be made from laths.

A neighbour gave Philip some canna bulbs which he planted in an old sieve filled with rich dirt. Canna bulbs look much like sweet potatoes. Usually a bit of stalk is left on the bulb. Leave this in planting above ground for about one-half inch. Dig a hole large enough to place the canna bulb and deep enough so the stalk comes above the ground. Place one big, fat bulb, or two or three little chaps in one spot. Leave about one foot between plantings.

In the fall after frost cut off the stalks about two inches above the ground, dig up the bulbs, shake all dirt off, and put into a box with a little thoroughly dry dirt until spring. Leave this box where it is dark and cool.

It would have been far better had Philip planted the cannas either in the round bed or against the fence as a screen. As a general rule the planting in tubs, kettles, kegs and similar receptacles is not only inartistic, but gives the plant very confined and cramped quarters. When possible plant right out in the ground. Window boxes and roof gardening in boxes is "another story."

The cost of Philip's flower garden was 25 cents. He bought five-cent packages of each of the flower seeds. The cannas cost nothing. The shrubs were $1, the cement 70 cents, and the water-lily roots 50 cents. So the total cost for changing an ugly yard to a mass of flowers was $2.46.

Philip's clearing up seemed to be catching for the girl across the street started in with her work. For ten cents she bought a collection of flower seed. These seed were planted in three-foot beds. The beds were banked up or supported by strips of board. This same girl planted flowers in two old kettles and set one upon an empty cask and the other on an old drain tile. But she later decided very wisely that this was not after all so very pretty. Kettles are better for potato boiling than for flowers.

But such a good time as she had all summer in her own green, pleasant backyard! And so had Philip, too! "Just a few cents and some hard work will change your backyard into something beautiful," Philip was heard to say one day to a group of city boys.

XIV

THE CORN CONTEST

Each boy was to take a certain number of hills of corn in his father's corn patch. He was to select his seed corn after a few suggestions given him by The Chief. These hills of selected corn were to be cared for by the boy himself, but it was perfectly legitimate that the soil be prepared for him, since most of the boys were to plant in their fathers' cornfields.

In the growing of corn the first matter for a boy or girl to consider is the selection of the seed. Corn should be selected carefully by the individual stalk; that is, choose ears from stalks bearing an ear or ears at, or a little below, the middle of the stalk.

The stalk itself should be thick and free from suckers or any evidence of disease. The ear should be cylindrical. The kernels should be deep setting, uniform and compact. Then the cob should not be too large. Look at some samples. See how some ears have too large a cob, others too small, while still others show a right amount of cob.

The butt and tip of the ear should be well filled out. Look for a perfect ear. The kernels are uniform in size, in even rows, with only a slight space between rows. See the tip and butt. Very little space is lost at the butt. You have seen ears where the butt was all space.

There is still another sort of corn. It might be called mongrel. Any one can raise such corn. Good care shows in corn as good breeding does in boys and girls.

One more point the boys were told to consider in selecting seed ears, that was the relation of the circumference of the ear to its length. An ear should have a fairly large circumference at the base and taper toward the tip. To estimate relation of circumference to length, which should be as three is to four, measure the ear one-third the distance from butt to tip. So if the ear is eight inches long the circumference should be about six inches.

All the boys but Jack and Myron tested their seed corn to be sure of its vitality. Peter went a little further than the other boys. He not only tested for general vitality, but he tested for vitality among the ears he had selected as good seed ears. This he did in the following manner: He chose twenty-five ears, and used four kernels from each ear. First a soup plate was filled with sand. This was moistened by dropping a little water on the sand. Sand must not be too wet for this work. He partitioned off the sand-bed into rows with cardboard between them. On the cardboards was marked over each row of four kernels the number of the ear from which they came. The sand was moistened each day. Peter worked out from this the best ears for quick germination.

The next point to be considered in corn culture is that of the soil. Soil for corn should be mellow and fine. If it has vegetable matter or humus in it, then its value as a corn-growing soil is increased. Fertilize well and plough, or if the plot is small, spade. You ought to have surely eight inches of good, mellow soil. In planting corn place five kernels in a hill. You will remember that a hill means a place. For corn which grows high make the hills four feet apart; while for the low growing varieties place three feet apart. Cover the early varieties with one inch of soil; the later varieties with one-half inch.

As the corn shoots begin to appear every boy should appear with his hoe or cultivator, for one secret of good gardening is constant cultivation or stirring of the soil. Water, as you know, rises in the ground and coming to the surface evaporates. Now the point is to keep the moisture in the ground for the plant's food supply. So if one keeps stirring the soil he makes a layer of earth which stops the water as it rises. We call this a mulch.

When the shoots are six inches high choose the three finest little corn seedlings in the group of five. Pull the others out. The reason for putting in five kernels in the first place, instead of three, is that some may not come up. And, too, some that do come up may be poor and sickly.

Myron did a very stupid thing. At least he called it stupid. Some one sent him a packet of seed popcorn. Myron thought it would be pretty interesting to raise some and supply the club with popcorn at its meetings all the next winter. Now Myron did not know that from the corn tassels the pollen when ripe or dry blows all over the corn field. This pollen falls on the silk of corn plants anywhere in the field. The pollen fertilizes the plant and the ear of corn sets and grows. Because the pollen being light is blown to such distances and because different kinds of corn can interpollinate, is reason enough for not planting different varieties of corn in one patch.

Myron's popcorn and sweet corn fertilized each other and he got a corn which was a cross between the sweet corn and popcorn. He learned a lesson of pollination, but at the expense of the corn crop.

One may plant early and late corn in the same patch but otherwise he should stick to one kind of corn.

The boys in the fall were to submit twelve of the finest ears they had raised. These were to be scored or sized up as follows:

---------------------------------------------------------- | NAME OF CONTESTANT | VARIETY OF | DATES OF PLANTING | | | CORN | | | .................. | ..............| ................. | |------------------------------------|-------------------| | (1) Ear: | | | | A. Trueness to type | 10 | | | B. Shape | 10 | 20 | |------------------------------------|---------|---------| | (2) Filling of: | | | | A. Tip | 10 | | | B. Butt | 10 | 20 | |------------------------------------|---------|---------| | (3) Kernels: | | | | A. Shape | 6 | | | B. Arrangement of cob | 12 | | | C. Depth | 6 | | | D. Colour | 6 | 30 | |------------------------------------|---------|---------| | (4) Measurements of ear: | | | | A. Length | 10 | | | B. Circumference | 10 | 20 | |------------------------------------|---------|---------| | (5) Proportion of Corn to Cob: | 10 | 10 | |------------------------------------|---------|---------| | Total 100 | |--------------------------------------------------------|

This score card needs a little explanation. Take up (1) Ear, first. All the twelve ears presented ought to be much alike; that is, like the type or parent ear you are striving to produce again. So if, out of twelve specimens, six were fine ears and the other six were rather poor, then surely ten credits or points could not be given. The shape of an ear should in general be tapering, well rounded a little below the centre, and tapering not too abruptly toward the tip.

The second point is the Filling of the Tip and Butt. The tip should be filled with even, regularly arranged kernels. It should not be too pointed nor too blunt. The butts should be covered over with kernels except where a deep, clean-cut depression is left. Here, as in the tips, the shape has to be considered, for flattened and blunted butts are bad form.

As to Kernels, they should be uniform and well-shaped, not only on the single cob, but in all the specimens. The furrows must be uniform, regular, and with only a slight space between. To determine depth cut a square inch right out of an ear. All kernels should be of one colour. If a red kernel is in with the white then there has been an intermixing. All kernels on all ears ought to have the colour of those of the type form.

Not only should there be a proper proportion between Length of Ear and Circumference, but an ear may be too long. The usual length of ears is from eight to twelve inches, according to variety.

We have spoken of cob-relation before. This cannot be determined accurately by your eye but must be done by weight; so shell the corn, weighing the ear first. Now weigh the cob. The difference is weight of corn. Divide the weight of the corn by the weight of the ear. This gives per cent. of corn. For the exhibit the boys afterward used half their samples submitted and reckoned per cent. on this. The proper percentage of corn to cob should be 86 or 87 per cent. You can easily find out if you come up to standard.

Myron brought in some corn merely to show his mistake but of course did not submit any.

Jack, you will remember, did not test his corn and results showed this. Out of his twelve samples there were two good ears. The others showed many changes. The poorly filled tips, irregular rows, and wide space between rows--all these scored against Jack. George's corn was thrown out because black kernels were found here and there in with the others.

Albert's and Jay's Peep-o-day came out in fine shape. But Peter's Country Gentleman after all had the record. Philip dropped out of the race because he went on a summer vacation. So for a slight amount Peter took over Philip's corn hills.

That fall the boys made very careful selection of seed corn.

"After all," Myron said one night at club meeting, "although Peter's corn was the only really fine specimen, I think some of the rest of us got fully as much out of the corn contest."

"So do I," added Jack; "and I, for one, shall test corn after this."

"I think our corn was pretty good," Albert went on in a half-injured way; "but we are going to beat that record next year. We shall rotate our crop, planting our corn where the beans were this season. That's a thing fellows ought to know; that it's a mighty good thing to rotate crops."

"What's that?" asked Philip.

"Rotating crops means not always planting the same crop on the same piece of land, but changing every two or three years. It happens that beans are very good to plant before corn. They do not take from the soil, The Chief says, what the corn needs. So a piece of soil planted to beans gets in shape for corn planting another year. It would not be well to plant corn on a certain piece of land more than two successive years. Then something else should be planted on this land and the corn put somewhere else."

"Good!" said The Chief. "Some day we shall discuss rotation of crops more fully. There are no end of topics for us to work over this next winter."

XV

THE GIRLS' SECRET WORK

The girls were each to raise something special at their own home and then each was to have a share in a big garden. Katharine, who had quite a lovely yard, was to give the space for the general garden. This was largely because Katharine's home was on the river road, a bit out of the village and near none of the boys' places, for the girls wished to keep the knowledge of their work from the boys as long as possible. Helena lived next house to George and the land she might have used for this big garden would have bordered George's corn patch. So that, of course, would never do.

The garden while formal was ornamental. The girls were all to work on the staking out and preparation. But each girl was then to take a section of it and plant and care for that.

Katharine was to take the centre portion of grass and cannas. Now a grass plot is very pleasing in a garden. It is restful to the eye and is much more harmonious with the other colours in a garden than a mass of brilliant blossoms. Cannas have some height, a delicate splash of colour in the blossom and so work in well. It is always well to put some tall-growing plant in the centre. The effect is that of working up to a climax. One should not immediately jump from very low flowers in the beds to a few tall ones in the centre. This is ludicrous. Make the gradation gradual from low to high.

This garden of the girls may seem almost to violate this principle. Not so, for the nasturtiums merely acted as a border. Then all around the garden were the zinnias, poppies and marigolds a step up to the cannas. One may buy tall or rather low growing cannas. These latter grow about four feet high. They chose these low ones with yellow and orange in the blossom to harmonize with the yellow and orange of the nasturtiums.

Note the proportional amount of grass space in the girls' garden. Observe too that it is the centre of interest.

The nasturtium border was Elizabeth's. Zinnias were chosen by Helena, and Katharine was to help in this work. Eloise loving the mignonette had asked for it, poppies were Josephine's and marigold was for Dee. Ethel wanted the border of sweet alyssum although it represented a long strip to work.

If you think over this garden with its brilliant poppy colour, the heavy yellow of the marigold, the lighter colour effect of yellow in the nasturtium, the dark red zinnia--quite a splash of colour, was it not? In order to have great masses of brilliant colour in the same garden one must break them in some way. There are two possibilities that are good: first, paths between beds, and second, borders of white or inconspicuously coloured plants. Sweet alyssum is good for this purpose and so too is mignonette. Mignonette has such a small and modest little flower that one thinks always of mignonette in terms of green. The mignonette was massed at the entrance of the garden for pleasing and subdued effect.

In staking out a garden it is well first to put heavy stakes, like the ones the boys made, in each of the four corners of the entire plot and put a string around. This strings off the outline of the entire garden. Sight along the lines as Jay and Albert did to be sure the lines are straight. In sloping land true up with great care. On a level bit of land sighting is easy.

Next if there is a main path string that off using twine, stakes and always sighting. If the garden is a large one of many small plots the next thing to do is to string lengthwise the entire garden, measuring off plots and paths. Then widthwise measure off paths. The side paths give you the width-boundary of the plots. But the paths have cords through portions of them. So put stakes in the corners of the plots. Cut the cord in the centres of cross paths and tie to stakes. If carefully done each plot is marked off shipshape.

In general make the main paths four feet wide, plot paths or side paths eighteen inches. Plots with widths about one-third of the lengths are right. This did not hold true for this garden since the beds were long narrow strips. In such cases the width should be a comfortable one to lean over and work across.

In staking such a garden plot as the girls' it is well to first line off with stakes and cord the entire outline of the garden. Then next string off main paths and intermediate ones. It is very easy then to string off the beds, for the path boundaries have done most of the work for you.

The girls planted all their seeds except poppy and grass seed in drills just as one plants lettuce and radish. This is a far easier way to plant since as the little seedlings come up one can easily distinguish the nice even row of little plants from weeds. They decided later that it would have been easier if the poppy had come up in drills. For it came up in little tufts here and there. And, sad to say, the poppy does not stand transplanting.

In making drills take two stakes and a string. To either end of the string tie a stake. The length of the string after tying should be the length of the drill one wishes to make. This will be usually either the length or width of the bed. This, then, is your line for the drill making.

Another thing the girls did which makes garden measurements easy is the following: mark off on the rake or hoe handle three feet. One of these feet measure off into inches. This saves carrying a measuring rod into the garden. The marking should be done on the edge of the handle and not on either the under or upper surface of it. If garden stakes are made one foot in length they can be used in measuring.

Nasturtium culture needs some explanation. Nasturtiums are the most accommodating of flowers. They will live on almost any soil. The seeds are large and so are very easy for little girls to handle. They may be placed two seeds together six inches apart in the furrow. If the soil is very dry and the weather very warm, soak the seeds over night. Plant the seeds about one inch deep, cover over the soil and firm it well. It is easy enough to keep the nasturtium bed weeded for the seedlings are large and not to be mistaken. Keep the flowers well picked all summer and you will have numberless blooms.

Sweet alyssum is a charming border plant. This, too, grows in almost any soil. It is well to sow the seed in a box indoors. Transplant when the little seedlings are two inches high. But alyssum may be sown right outdoors in the garden plot. Sprinkle the seeds along in the drill. After the seedlings come up and are about an inch high thin out until the seedlings stand six to twelve inches apart.

Marigolds are very gay sort of flowers. Many do not like them on account of their disagreeable odour. But a strong point about these flowers is this: they bloom and bloom, and then they bloom again. There are three kinds of marigolds one might plant. These are the African, French and dwarf. They differ in height and also bushiness. The African varieties must be thinned out to stand fifteen inches apart, the French ten inches and the dwarf six inches. These seeds are dry, dead looking chaps, but are not so small that they cannot be handled separately and placed carefully in the drill. Plant them nearer together than they are to stand later. For instance, put the African five inches apart, the French five inches, too, and the dwarf three inches. Then you have extras, so if some do not come up your garden is not crippled.

Mignonette, again, is accommodating and will grow in almost any kind of soil. These seeds are small and may be sprinkled along in the drill. Later thin out so the plants stand from six to twelve inches apart. In choosing mignonette seed remember that there is a great difference in mignonette. Some is very sweet, some is not: some have large sturdy spikes, while others have rather small spikes. It pays to buy good seed.

Poppy is a trifle more particular about the soil it grows in. It requires a rather rich, sandy loam. Again remember that poppies never stand transplanting. Poppy may be planted broadcast or in drills. The tall growing varieties should finally stand eighteen inches apart and the smaller ones nine inches. In order that poppies may blossom freely you should never let a seed capsule form. For you see that if one wishes bloom, one must not let the strength of a plant go to any other work except blossom making.

Zinnias are satisfactory just as marigolds are. To be sure they are not a very graceful flower. But what of that? We need all kinds of flowers. When you buy the little packets of seed you usually get a mixture of colour.

In order to have just the colour one wishes, seed must be bought from the seedsman by the ounce. The girls wanted dark red zinnia. One ounce planted this space. It is not as expensive to buy seed this way. A number of people may club together for seed.

Helena's method of planting zinnia was to sow the seeds in a drill. Later she thinned her seedlings so that they stood eight inches apart in the row.

Cornflowers or bachelor's buttons are lovely too. They are far lovelier if bought by bulk so one may have the one colour, that lovely blue. These seeds may be planted in drills two seeds every six inches apart. Later thin to twelve inches apart.

Most people start cannas from the bulb. When one does this, plant a good sized bulb and leave about an inch of stalk above ground. If the bulbs are smaller use two to a hole or planting. If cannas are started from seed follow this direction: File holes in the canna seed. The reason for this is that the outer crust is tough and filing helps the young plant to get out. These seeds should be soaked in warm water for a day. Plant in pots. When the plants are six to eight inches tall transplant to the garden. Cannas should stand two to six feet apart. It depends on variety, whether tall or dwarfed, how far apart to place them.

When the flower garden was first started the question arose: "Shall we plant annuals, biennials or perennials."

"For my part," said Josephine, "I don't know at all what these words mean."

Katharine got a dictionary and soon she and Eloise had these botanical terms worked out as follows:

A perennial is a plant which lives year after year in the soil. It usually blossoms its second season. Trees and shrubs are hardy perennials.

A biennial is sown one year, blossoms the next and then dies. Biennials should be covered lightly with straw or leaves through the winter.

An annual blossoms and dies its first season. But some annuals sow themselves and so come up again the next season.

The girls worked out a table of planting by months which Ethel called the plant time-table.

Besides the garden which the girls all had together each one did something to improve things at home.

THE FLOWER TIME-TABLE +--------------+-------------+--------------------+ | NAME | SOWING TIME | BLOSSOMING TIME | +--------------+-------------+--------------------+ |Ageratum | May | June-October | |Aster | May | Until frost | |Balsam | May | June-September | |Calendula | May | June-October | |Cal. Poppy | May | August | |Candytuft | May | June-September | |Coreopsis | May | June-August | |Cornflower | April | June | |Cosmos | May | August-September | |Four o'clock | May | July-August | |Foxglove | May | June | |Gaillardia | May | July-October | |Helianthus | May | August-September | |Hollyhocks | August | August | |Iceland Poppy | May | June-September | |Larkspur | May | June-July | |Marigold | May | Until frost | |Mignonette | May | Until frost | |Morning-glory | May | July-August | |Petunia | May | July-September | |Phlox | May | July-October | |Scabiosa | May | July-August | |Stock | May | June-July | |Sunflower | April | July-September | +--------------+-------------+--------------------+

Ethel and Dee set up a sundial in Ethel's own backyard. The directions that follow will help other girls and boys in setting up theirs. Sun-time and clock-time are not quite the same. There are four days in the year when, if you work out the sun-shadow time, your dial will be almost accurate. This is because on these days the sun-time and the clock-time practically coincide. These dates are April 15th, June 15th, September 1st, and December 24th.

Before you go outdoors draw on the platform of the sundial a straight line from angle B of the gnomon to the front edge of the platform.

Set the dial out in direct sunlight. The shadow cast must fall right on the straight line which you previously drew. When the shadow and the line coincide, mark the extreme end of the line XII. This stands for twelve o'clock. Now screw the sundial in this position to the column you have made for it to rest upon. At one o'clock mark where the shadow points, and keep on with this for every hour.

You remember the gnomon angle was the number of degrees corresponding to the degrees in latitude of your special place. Poughkeepsie boys and girls will be interested to know that if a sundial be brought to them from Rome, it will be right for them. And if New York City boys and girls could get one from Florence, they would find it accurate for their own use. These girls lived near Poughkeepsie.

Elizabeth planted a border of nasturtium, sunflower and zinnia along her sidewalk. It cost eight cents for seed to plant these two by ten feet strips.

Helena made a bed of different kinds of flowers right back of her father's field. The garden was thirteen and one-half feet square. The edges her father helped her sod, this making a terrace effect. Nine little flower beds were marked off with paths between. In the beds were asters, celosia, balsam, nasturtiums, marigold, zinnia, carnation, schizanthus, sweet peas, dahlias, gladiolus, candytuft, lilies, scabiosa, stocks, salvia, snapdragon, phlox, mignonette, four o'clocks and petunias. Helena's mother worked with her in the garden as did one of the boys across the street. He was not a club member but was hoping to be one the next year. And so Leston worked with Helena all summer long. He finally won his place in The Chief's club.

Eloise decided she would have a window garden and so before all the front windows of the inn, window boxes were placed.

Most of the trouble with the window box is a lack of drainage space. Estimate off the bottom of the box something like this: To every foot bore six holes. This is none too much. The great trouble usually is lack of drainage, or lack of air, or sour soil. Over each drainage hole put a bit of broken pot. Then it is well to put a half-inch of drainage material in the box. Stone, broken pot, sphagnum moss, or hay will do for this. The soil should be good, rich, garden soil. With this one might mix in some sand to help drainage. Window boxes should be watered with care; they should not be flooded.

Eloise had very effective boxes. Vincas trailed over the edges; dwarf cannas were in the back of each box; and red and white geraniums were a glory all summer long.

Josephine's gardening was a little difficult. She had no space at all. The backyard at her house was seeded down and her mother did not wish it spaded up. She had no front yard. Josephine thought and thought for some time, then decided she would just simply have to make a way to have a garden.

So one day she went to the grocery store and bought a soap box for ten cents. This she filled with soil from Eloise's garden. Then she bought a five-cent package of parsley seed. These seeds were soaked over night in warm water, for parsley seeds are slow to germinate.

Then the seeds were planted in neat little rows in her box garden. This garden was most convenient. It stood out near the house in the backyard all summer. It went to the exhibit in the fall. It stayed on the piazza until frost and then went into the kitchen for the winter. Josephine had parsley enough for her mother's table all the year around.

XVI

MORE ABOUT THE GIRLS' WORK.

In late September the girls began agitating the matter of bulb planting for the school grounds and their homes. The boys were rather scornful of it.

"I believe in gardens," said Albert with great finality, "but bulb work seems to me like fancy work. And then too, bulbs are pretty expensive."

"Very well," answered Dee, "we girls are quite able, as you boys know, to work alone. But spading is pretty hard, and I should think some of you would be glad to help."

"I'll help any time," Myron volunteered, "and I promise to bring two of these other chaps whenever you say."

"Thank you, Myron. We'll not bother you boys further now." Off the girls ran to Katharine's home to study bulb catalogues. Katharine's father gave five dollars for bulbs for the school grounds. This he stipulated was for outdoor planting. Elizabeth and Ethel were going to plant outdoors at home. The other girls had each some money for indoor work.

You may all like to know what the girls found out from their search in bulb catalogues. In the first place very good and perfectly reliable information is obtained from the catalogue of any reputable seed house. The girls found out that certain bulbs are better adapted to outside planting, while others do equally well indoors or out. Take tulips first; these are suited to the outdoor conditions. To be sure the florist, whose business it is to raise them inside does so with great success. But boys and girls are more likely to have trouble with inside planting of tulips than of other bulbs. Oftentimes lice cover them when the bulb is first brought up from the cellar. Then when treated with kerosene emulsion or some other insecticide the bud becomes blasted, for the blossom is close under the folded outer leaves, so is in a very precarious position. Then, too, tulip bulbs rot easily and the buds blast easily. So it is wise not to run so many risks but try the kinds of bulbs which are less prone to trouble. The easiest and safest bulbs for children to work with are narcissus (including daffodils, jonquils, Chinese lily bulbs and paper narcissus), and hyacinth.

Hyacinth has one bad habit when planted indoors. This is the tendency to unfold its blossom too soon. So the beautiful hyacinth blossom appears dwarfed and stunted close down near the ground. To avoid this condition do not take the bulb from the dark until the leaves are about an inch to two inches above the earth and until they have spread apart. This gives the blossom a chance to shoot up. Tip the pot over and see if the roots are visible through the drainage hole.

The time to buy bulbs is in late August or early September. After this bulbs through shrinkage depreciate in value; by which value is meant not one in price but in soundness and ability to produce blossoms. Do not buy cheap or cut-rate bulbs. Buy good, big, sound ones.

The Roman hyacinths are excellent for forcing. They are small flowered, quite different from the large sturdy Dutch hyacinths more commonly planted. In choosing hyacinths you have to decide upon the colour and whether you wish double or single varieties. In general most people enjoy single flowers better. If you are to use the hyacinths for outdoor planting or bedding it is perfectly safe just to write for bulbs which are to be bedded. La Grandesse is a beautiful white; King of the Blues speaks for itself and the Sarah Bernhardt is a salmon pink. These do well inside, too. Charles Dickens is a fine rose colour, Prince of Wales, violet, and L'Innocence, a fine white. These are good for inside planting. Some may like the smaller Roman hyacinths, which do splendidly indoors. Very good hyacinths are bought for fifteen cents.

Tulips do especially well outdoors. A capital one for either bedding or indoor forcing is the Isabelle. It is a beautiful red tulip which is bought for five cents. The Summer Beauty, a hardy white tulip, is well worth the ten cents asked for each one. Some of you may like to raise some freaks; then try parrot tulips at about thirty-five cents a dozen. A thing to remember about the indoor planting of tulips is this--tulips, more than other bulbs, are likely to have plant lice, so watch out!

In daffodils you may be sure of the Van Sion. These are worth forty cents a dozen. You can buy daffodils for twenty.

If you wish to lay in a stock of bulbs for water planting choose, of course, Chinese lilies, but try, too, the paper white narcissus. These bulbs cost forty cents a dozen. Buy from the five-and-ten-cent store a glass dish, and gather stones for it. About three weeks before you wish blossoms plant a dozen of these narcissi in the glass dish with the stones as a foundation, and water enough to come up around the base of the bulbs. It is a good plan to set the dish of bulbs in the dark for four or five days.

You can grow hyacinths in water too. For this a special glass is sold, although I have seen children place a bulb in the top of a preserve jar. It works all right. Bulbs must never drop low into water or they decay. These, too, should be placed in the dark for about a week.

Suppose you have a quarter to spend. You can make all kinds of interesting combinations. Three daffodils for ten cents, a hyacinth for ten, and a tulip for five, give you a chance to experiment.

A word more about narcissus. This is a large family, One gets confused sometimes with the names daffodil, jonquil and paper white narcissus. All these are of the family narcissus. The daffodils are the bulbs with large single or double cups. The jonquil has a cluster of small blossoms of from three to six single flowers. The paper white narcissus has four to twelve single blossoms to the flower head.

Ethel and Dee had good lawns at home which their mothers were not willing to have spaded up, but they gave consent to the girls putting crocus bulbs here and there over the lawns. These bulbs should be planted about an inch deep and three inches apart in the group. These were dotted about in clusters of six. The dibble is a good instrument to use in dotting bulbs around the turf. Crocuses are good for indoor planting as well. They may be planted in flats or in indoor boxes. Remember crocuses are of practically no use for cut-flower purposes.

The school tulip bed was made just as Philip's round bed was made. The time to plant depends on the weather. It is always well to get all outdoor planting done before the time of frost. Why? Because you wish to get the bulbs in while the earth is still warm. Bulbs lie in the ground all winter slowly putting out roots, slowly starting to push up toward the light above. For good root forming they need this long time of slow growth. Get the outdoor bulbs in the ground during September.

Before this the ground may be prepared. In all the beds dig down about two feet. Work over the soil well. Make it fine and free from lumps and stones. Ordinary garden soil will be right for these beds. Put no fertilizer in. If your ground is clayey, mix sand with it. Use one-quarter sand in a mixture of this sort. This makes a lighter soil. Clay soil is what we call a heavy soil. Bulbs require light soils.

Now comes planting. Different kinds of bulbs require different depths of soil. Place the tulip bulbs four inches deep, and six inches apart.

Hyacinths were planted by Elizabeth in a strip beside the house. Jack also planted daffodils in a corner sheltered by the house foundation and an old high fence. The daffodils were planted exactly as the tulips, but the hyacinths were planted six inches deep, instead of four.

In buying bulbs for outdoor planting ask for bedding bulbs, while for indoor work buy forcing varieties.

One bright day in October the girls met at Katharine's house to pot their bulbs for winter. Some had made wooden boxes or flats during the winter; others had bought low pots; while still others had the ordinary high pot.

In potting bulbs or any other plant two things are to be kept in mind--first, the soil, and second, the drainage. The soil may be any good garden soil. To a given quantity one may add one-fourth rotted manure and one-fourth sand. This last helps lighten the material, allowing more air to get at the entire mass and making good drainage easier. Mix all this together. If one lacks the well-rotted manure and sand, any good garden soil may be used. Sift the soil until it is perfectly fine.

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'Immaculée

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 crêpe 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 jardinière 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.