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yard. They do not look well there, and the grass roots run 

 under them and steal the food and moisture. I am sure that 

 you would not like to see a picture hung up on a fence-post. 

 It has no background, and it looks out of place. The picture 

 does not mean anything when hung in such a spot. In the 

 same way, a flower bed does not mean anything when set out 

 in the center of a lawn. We must have a background for it, 

 if possible, — a wall upon which to hang it. So we will put the 

 flower bed just in front of some bushes or near the back fence, 

 or alongside the smoke-house, or along the walk at the side of 

 the house or in the back yard. The flowers will not only look 

 better in such places, but it will not matter so much if we make 

 a failure of our flower bed ; there are always risks to run, for 

 the old hen may scratch up the seeds, the cow may break into 

 the yard some summer night, or some bug may eat the plants up. 



Perhaps some of the children may live so near to the school- 

 house that they can grow their plants upon the school grounds, 

 and so have sweet peas and asters where there are usually 

 docks and smartweeds. Grow them alongside the fence, or 

 against the schoolhouse if there is a place where the eaves will 

 not drip on them. 



2. Hoiv to make the bed. — Spade the ground up deep. Take 

 out all the roots of docks and thistles and other weeds. Shake 

 the dirt all out of the sods and throw the grass away. You may 

 need a little manure in the soil, especially if the land is either 

 very hard or very loose and sandy. But the manure must be 

 very fine and well mixed into the soil. It is easy, however, to 

 make sweet pea soil so rich that the plants will run to vine and 

 not bloom well. 



Make the bed long and narrow, but not narrower than three 

 feet. If it is narrower than this, the grass roots will be apt to 

 run under it and suck up the moisture. If the bed can be got 

 at on both sides, it may be as wide as five feet. 



Sow the seeds in little rows crosswise the bed. The plants 

 can then be weeded and hoed easily from either side. If the 

 rows are marked by little sticks, or if a strong mark is left in 

 the earth, you can break the crust between the rows (with a 



