New Series, Supplement to April, 1906. 445 



My dear Nophczvs and Nieces: 



Yoai Unc'i John has asked the printer to put all the illustrations on 

 the first fc.ii oages of this leaflet. He knows how boys and girls read the 

 pictures first. In fact he often does it himself. If you will read carefully, 

 you Vv^iil find that two ways are shown for raising peppergrass. With the 

 smaller pictures you are told about raising it when the soil is in boxes up 

 in the air. The rest of the pictures show how to raise it when the soil is 

 lying where nature has placed it. There are many people living in 

 crowded cities who have no other way of growing plants, except when 

 the soil is in boxes, pots or tubs. Even people who have ample lawns, 

 have window-boxes and veranda-boxes, which, wlien filled with plants, 

 adapted for such places, look very attractive. You can all succeed with 

 plants in such locations, but they need close attention in watering in hot 

 weather. I shall tell you about that later. 



When a boy or girl has attained success in raising peppergrass in a 

 berry-box, he has taken an important step toward knowing how to raise 

 beautiful flowers and trailing plants in window -boxes. 



I have among my nieces and nephews, beginners, some of whom can- 

 not tell a dandelion from a bit of chickweed, up to boys who aspire to 

 become captains of baseball teams, and girls who give parties with refresh- 

 ments. In what I may say, I shall try not to reach too high for the one 

 class, nor stoop too low for the other. 



It is no fancy or fairy talk when I say that there is such a thing as 

 becoming acquainted and making friends with plants. It is as real as to 

 make friends with a dog or cat. To get such a feeling, in the best way 

 one must begin to care for plants in one's childhood. Like playing the 

 piano, one should begin the work when young. It is much better to begin 

 with simple things — things easy to raise, and go on step by step, learn- 

 ing how to succeed with more diflicult plants. I speak of this for the 

 reason that I know the inclination of children to try to walk before being 

 able to creep. 



The first and greatest thing of all is to know how to make plants 

 comfortable. Remember, plant comfort lies at the bottom of your success 

 in gardening and farming. I may speak of plant comfort as often as did 

 my teacher about some of the important rules when I began the study of 

 arithmetic. 



The class of elementary farming better begin with peppergrass. All 

 things considered, it is about the easiest plant to raise that can be found. 

 If sown under favorable conditions, the seed comes through the ground 

 in a week, and sometimes less — and that is a faster pace than that of 

 most weeds. It has no insect enemies worth considering. It is good to 

 eat, and big enough to harvest in a month from the time of sowing. That 



