2 



and steal the food and moisture. I am sure that you would not like 

 to see a picture hung 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 s|)ot. In the same way, a flower bed does not mean any- 

 thing when set out in the center of a lawn. We must have a back- 

 ground for it, if possible, — a wall upon which to hang it. So we 

 will put the flower bed just in front of some Ijushes 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. 



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 phlox where there are usually docks and smartweeds 

 Grow them alongside the fence, or against the school house if there 

 is a place where the eaves will not drip on them. 



2. How to make the hed. — Spade the ground 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 l)e got at on both sides, 

 it may be as wide as five feet. 



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

 then l)e weeded and hoed easily from either side. If the rows are 

 mai'ked hy little sticks, or if a strong mark is left in the earth, you 

 can break the crust between the rows (with a I'ake) before the j)l ants 

 are uj). The i-ows ought to be four or five inches further apart than 

 the width of a nari-ow rake. 



3. How to water the jylants. — I wonder if you have a watering- 



61G 



