New Series, Supplement to November, 1905. 



415 



spoon. With the handle she is taking 

 out the meat of the egg. She is doing 

 it neatly and cleanly so it will be good 

 for a lunch. 



Gertie Gumption does all her work 

 with a velvet hand. By that I mean 

 that she works with the opposite of a 

 slap-dash, helter-skelter, hit-or-miss 

 style. 



Children who work without a velvet 

 hand would ruin four eggs before 

 getting one shell fit for the soil and 

 seed. Gertie Gumption did the task 

 with one egg the first time. 



Now we see her filling one of the 

 egg-shell farms with soil. She has 

 three such farms. 



One she will fill with clean sand, 

 one with soil from the garden, and 

 one with soil that came from the 

 florist. All will be sowed to pepper- 

 grass and each will be given the same 

 opportunity. The crops in each may 

 be about the same at the beginning. 

 Note the difference at the end of four 

 or six weeks. 



Here Gertie Gumption has the three 

 egg-shell farms, each set up on the 

 drainage end in a small box partly 

 filled with earth or sand. 



Each shell has a dent in the earth that holds it upright. 



Gertie is gently pouring on water until it runs out of the drainage 

 hole in the bottom. If the surplus water could not run away the plants 

 would be in a little " mud-hole " and would be very uncomfortable. 



The soil can provide comfort for the plants when it is moist and 

 not wet. 



Can you children tell when a soil is moist and when it is wet? 



Uxcle John. 



