pot ? If jou have, put it whore you cannot find it, for we are going 

 to water this garden with a rake ! We want you to learn, in this 

 little garden, the first great lesson in farming, — how to save the 

 water in the soil. If you learn that much this summer, you will 

 know more than many old farmers do. You know that the soil is 

 moist in the spring when you plant the seeds. "Where does this 

 moisture go to? It dries up, — goes off into the air. If we could 

 cover the soil with something, we should prevent the moisture from 

 drying up. Let us cover it with a layer of loose, dry earth ! We 

 will make this covering by raking the bed every few days, — once 

 every week anyway, and oftener than that if the top of the soil 

 becomes hard and crusty, as it does after a rain. Instead of pour- 

 ing water on the bed, therefore, we will keep the moisture in the bed. 



If, however, the soil becomes so dry in spite of you that the 

 plants do not thrive, then water the bed. Do not sprinkle it, but 

 water it. Wet it clear ihrough at evening. Then in the mornfng 

 when the surface begins to get dry, begin the raking again to keep 

 the water from getting away. Sprinkling the plants every day or 

 two is one of the surest ways to spoil them. 



4. When and how to sow. — The sweet peas should be put in just 

 as soon as you get this Monthly. Yet good results can be had if 

 the seeds are put in as late as the middle of May. If sown very 

 early, they are likely to bloom bettei', Ijut they may be gone before 

 the middle of September. The blooming can be much prolonged if 

 the flowers are cut as soon as they begin to fade. 



Plant sweet peas deep, — two to three or sometimes even four 

 inches. When the plants are a few inches high, pull out a part of 

 them so that they will not stand nearer together than six inches in 

 the row. It is a good plan to sow sweet peas in double rows, — 

 that is, put two rows only five or six inches apart, — and stick the 

 brush or place the chicken- wire support between them. 



Phlox may be sown from the middle of May to the middle of 

 June. Phloxes are sunnner and autumn flowers, and they should 

 be in their prime in August and September, 



Sow the seed shallow, — not more than a half inch deep. The 

 plants should stand 6 to 10 inches apart. 



617 



