The Mary Frances Garden Book; or, Adventures Among the Garden People

Perhaps it would interest you to know that Damask roses were found around Damascus, in Syria, and taken to Europe in about the year 1573; that the “Cabbage”, or “Provence”, rose...

“Yes, certainly, if saying so makes it so,” replied the voice. “But it is not so in my opinion. For instance—pardon me till I catch that fly—how many snails do you imagine I hav...

“I heard,” her little friend laughed, “but I was so busy putting the last curl to the tail of the address on the last envelope that I couldn’t pay attention.”

The earliest Spring garden flower, sometimes coming literally out of the snow as early as February; but usually blooming in March. The blossoms are small, white, bell-shaped, no...

“Billy told me,” she said, “that when he was little, he used to wonder why things wouldn’t grow if they were just ‘stuck down’ in the ground. You see, he didn’t know that the ma...

“REMEMBER in all gardening, that experience is your best teacher. Do not become discouraged if you fail. Do not undertake too much. Remember that most people fail to get good pl...

“YOUNG ladies,” began Jack-in-the-Pulpit, “Bouncing Bet and I have arranged a little play for you. It’s to be this way: after finishing a few introductory remarks, I will call t...

“Through years of care, the wild flowers have improved so that it would be almost impossible to trace each of the plants in your gardens to the wild flowers from which it was st...

“WELL, as nearly as I can remember,” began Billy, “Miss Gardener said she had been studying very hard on the formation of parts of flowers, and the story of fertilization. It wa...

“FIRST of all, we must understand that the seed has a coat which holds the living, sleeping baby. You see, the baby itself is so tiny and delicate that it would not be safe for...

“Well, I don’t want to seem to be too proud or conceited, but to me it is quite a pleasant thing to think that the roots of Jack-in-the-Pulpit, or _Indian Turnip_, which is my o...

“VERY many people love roses more than any other flowers,” began Billy, “and Miss Gardener explained to us that for this reason, rose growing has become a specialty among profes...

“No.” Billy referred to his clipping. “Scientists have examined the contents of the stomachs of the birds, and have learned what food each kind of bird uses. There was a time wh...

“That’s a good idea, Son—we’ll leave the girls and the lunch; and if the doctor says she may come, I’ll drive mother out late in the afternoon after she has rested.”

The Worker Bees are divided into various groups: who forage for nectar; who gather pollen; who guard the entrance to the hive from enemies; who clean the city; who build the com...

There are two thousand different kinds of bees known at the present time, but the most useful and best understood are the honey bees. The homes (usually wooden boxes) furnished...

THE boys had been at school several weeks, and Mary Frances and Eleanor were well started in their studies, when one golden-leafed day in October, each girl received a letter fr...

“Say, you girls get to work!” exclaimed Billy, and they flew to gather parsley, and tiny little red peppers, and thyme, and leeks, out of which Mary Frances made penny bunches o...

“I mean,” Mary Frances caught her breath, “I mean you think only of the vegetables, and forget that I will bring in a beautiful bouquet of flowers for the table.”

Someone has said that weeds are plants that are not wanted, and people often find that the less they are wanted, the harder it is to get rid of them.

Before you can make a list of the roses you wish to order, you must understand something about the state in which they will be when received, how far apart they may be planted,...

“MOTHER NATURE has taught plant mothers many secrets as to how to take care of their babies,” Bet continued, “but perhaps her most amusing trick is the wrapping of certain seed...

“REALLY, there is some truth in that,” said Billy. “I’m not certain that I can remember much about the subject; but, since you are so anxious to learn, my children, I’ll refer t...

THE children worked in the garden early and late for days, and if the grown-ups in the big house suspected they were gardening, they did not hint that they thought of such a thing.

“This is my secret. Our dear old friend, Eleanor’s father, has to go away on business—maybe he will be gone a year—and Eleanor is to come live with us.”

“It’s a wonderful story,” Bouncing Bet spoke in her sweet voice. “You see, the plant food soup is carried up into the larger roots, into the sapwood of the tree, into the branch...

A few Annuals may well be added to these lists. Even though Annuals must be planted every Spring, there are many worth the trouble; in fact, a garden would look lonesome without...

“Oh, there are many more,” spoke Jack, “but our time is shortening, and as Daisy wants very much to greet you, I shall call for some members of the very large—

“Pshaw!” exclaimed Billy, “that’s just like a girl! I wouldn’t let a few names scare me! Besides, there aren’t so many names; some are _repeated_ in each list. That’s not a very...

“PERHAPS you suspected, Mother dear,” said Mary Frances after showing the radishes and lettuce, and telling about the garden lessons Billy had taught her. “Perhaps you and Fathe...

He took a little box out of his pocket. Opening it, he shook out a shining powder, and before the girls could see how it came about, the tiny tree just as they first saw it, gro...

If possible, it is best to run the planting of the rows or drills north and south so that _the sun will shine_ upon the rows of plants all day, from the east in the mornings; fr...

So one sunny day in the early part of March, just the very day Eleanor discovered some of the snowdrops blooming, the boys surprised them. About an hour after they came, the lum...

“MARY FRANCES,” called Billy, as she came into the house, “I say, let’s start work in your garden to-day. The first thing to do is to dig and spade it.”

“Not Feather Flop! He has been so interested from the very first that I myself have been amazed. Eleanor, you should hear about the cutworms and other insects he has eaten, and...

“Well, well,” replied Mary Frances, “I see you really want to help me, so we’ll plan out what we’re going to do. I want all kinds of flowers and vegetables.”

“Matter?” cawed Feather Flop hoarsely. “Matter? Why, this: I’ve nearly crowed my bill off trying to call you. I’m so hoarse I can scarcely whisper! I grew so weak, finally I had...

“OH, yes,” continued Billy “I’m going to tell you how the plants eat, and why they are so fond of plant-food soup, and why they like bones (of course, for soup! that is right);...

“Well, Eleanor,” said Mary Frances, “you’ll be able to teach Bob a lot about gardening if Billy will let you share the lessons he’s been giving me. By the way, Billy, what did y...

“WE bought,” said Billy, taking the packages in his hand, “only the seeds of the perennials which are easily grown. It’s far better to buy the young plants of the more delicate...

“I suppose because the little rootlets need rain, and little hills would make the water run off,” guessed Mary Frances, “and I’ll do it right after this; but, really, Billy, I’m...

“There are lots of beneficial insects named,” he said, coming out of the play house, “but the one you know best is a different kind of a bird from the feathered——”

“Well, so this is where you girls were hiding!” Billy’s voice made both the girls jump. “My, you gave me a scare! Not a bit of lunch tasted, and not a sign of you!”

“Come help me catch him, and you’ll see. I’m going to make a prisoner of him!” Billy just then caught sight of Feather Flop as he half ran and half flew across the lawn.

In the new style of building, happily the old-fashioned boarded-up fence is disappearing, being replaced by iron fencing, which gives an open appearance and admits air to the re...

“Not so very,” answered Mary Frances, “but I would like to take a little rest,” sitting down on the garden bench. “Doesn’t everything look lovely—the beds all laid out, and neat...

------------------+--------------+---------------------------+-------- | Botanical | | Common Name. | Name. | Remarks. | Height. | | | ------------------+--------------+--------...

“COME,” cried Bouncing Bet. “Now, I am going to tell you a wonderful, true fairy story. You never realized, did you, that plants travel? I mean that they travel without the help...

Aster (Wild) Alkanet (Anchusa) Baby’s Breath Bellflower Bergamot Blanket Flower Bleeding Heart Campanula Candytuft Centaurea Chrysanthemum Columbine Coreopsis English Daisy Forg...

“JUST in the nick of time,” said Billy as Mary Frances came racing with Eleanor around the front of the house. “Why, hello! who’s here? Excuse me, Eleanor, I didn’t know you wer...

VERY early in the morning Mary Frances awoke and listened a long time for Feather Flop’s signal, but not a sound was to be heard except the faint crowing of a distant rooster at...

“SO much, then, for the disrespectable murderer branch of the family,” he continued. “Now I will tell you about some of our thieves. We don’t approve of them any more than you w...

“UNLESS you speak to me, Feather Flop,” said Mary Frances, when she took his breakfast to the coop next morning, “unless you speak to me, I am not coming out again! I’m going to...

+------------------------------------------------ | Names. | Remarks. | ---------------------+------------------------------------------------ Snowdrops. | Pure white small bell...

“QUEER,” said Feather Flop, as he stopped crowing for a moment early the next morning, “queer, that I can never get to see my little Miss alone any more. How I do hate to see co...

(_b_) On one end, fasten a large yellow bead to form the _stigma_. Cut a piece of fine wire eight inches long. One inch below the _stigma_ bead, hold the folded _filament_ wires...

“IF he mentioned cutworms,” said Billy, as Mary Frances finished telling him the story of the hop toad, “If he mentioned cutworms among the insects he eats, I certainly am glad...

As Mary Frances came out of the door, Feather Flop walked around the corner of the house. The little girl was so absorbed in looking at the plan that she did not see the rooster.

Indeed, she is a real color artist. What could be lovelier than the purple of the New England aster, near the lavender of the Joe Pye weed, with an interlacing of wild carrot an...

“That’s an all-right garden,” interrupted Billy, “but, Mary Frances, it isn’t much compared with my plan for your wonderful play house garden, as you’ll soon see when I give you...

Now, Mary Frances, I have really planned a delightful landscape flower garden for you to plant in front of your play house, and a wonderfully useful vegetable garden for the bac...

------------------+---------------+---------------------------+------- | Botanical | | Common Name. | Name. | Remarks. |Height. | | | ------------------+---------------+--------...

------------------+--------------+---------------------------+-------- | Botanical | | Common Name. | Name. | Remarks. | Height. | | | ------------------+--------------+--------...

A little later, in _February_, get the hotbed ready, and spray roses with Bordeaux Arsenate of Lead, remembering it is a violent poison. Use one tablespoon to a quart of water....

EVERY boy or girl who will carefully make up the Mary Frances Garden Cut-Outs, and will study the lists of flowers printed on the reverse side of each garden, will very soon bec...

-----+-------------------------+-----------+-----------+-------------- No. | | | | on | No. of Flowers | How Deep | | Average Map. | to Plant. | to Plant. | Color. | Price. ----...

In grafting, the top of the plant is cut off and a branch of another plant is inserted. These branches are usually cut in the Autumn and kept in sand all winter.