414 



Junior Naturalist Monthly. 



out and eat those that she does not 

 want to grow. 



Plants may be crowded so close that 

 they become weeds to each other. 



The next thing Little Pepperpod 

 does is to push back the plank and 

 scatter a thin covering of earth over 

 the peppergrass seed. 



Seeds need a covering as much as 

 boys and girls do when they go to bed. 



This covering should be thicker for 

 large seeds than for small ones. 



It would better be at least four 

 times thicker than the seed is big. 



Next she walks over the row, heel 

 and toe. 



This is very important, for it snug- 

 gles the grains of soil together and 

 makes the seed more sure to grow. 



GERTIE GUMPTION AND HER 

 EGG-SHELL FAR^I 



This is Gertie Gumption. She is 

 making a small hole in the big end of 

 a hard boiled egg. When she has 

 finished making the hole, it will be as 

 large as the lead part of a pencil. 



W'hen she has put some fine and 

 rich soil in the egg-shell in place of the 

 meat of the egg, she will sow some 

 seed in it and call it her egg-shell farm. 



She will then write her name on the 

 shell and put it in the window with the 

 farms of other pupils. 



The small hole that Gertie Gump- 

 tion is making is for drainage — 

 that is, to let all tlie water that the 

 soil does not neetl run out of the shell. 



This is the same Gertie Gumption 

 and the same hard boiled egg. This 

 time she has broken the shell at the 

 other or small end of the egg. 



She has made the opening large 

 enough to put in the handle of a tea- 



