New Series, Supplement to April, 1906. 447 



need it. You need much more during the hot dry summer than during 

 cold, winter days. If I had the power to make you drink by rule, summer 

 and winter, there would be many hot days when you would suffer for the 

 want of water, and it would be a punishment to be obliged to drink the 

 same amount on zero days in winter. You must learn to tell of your own 

 knowledge when the plants need water. Mothers know when to feed 

 babies and you must know when to water plants. 



This knowledge, is much more important when plants are growing 

 in pots, berry-boxes, and window-boxes, anywhere up in the air, than 

 when planted in the soil of the garden. There the roots can reach out for 

 moisture, and the moisture can creep up to the roots from away down 

 deep. 



The best test that I can give you that you may know how to tell when 

 a plant is feeling like a man lost in a desert, is to take a pinch of the sur- 

 face soil of the box and squeeze it hard between the thumb and finger. 

 If the grains crumble when you let go, the plant is probably thirsty. If 

 the grains of soil hold together, no water is needed. When you water, 

 make it a bath — a souse of water going entirely through the soil. All 

 the water over and above what does not stick to the grains of soil will 

 drain away. It is for such drainage that Billy Boy bored the holes in 

 the bottom of the boxes which you saw in the primer sent you before 

 this one. 



Plants may be given too much water even when there is ample drain- 

 age. I have seen plants in shady places kept so constantly moist that the 

 surface of the soil was waxy, putty-like, and when in that condition for 

 a long time, tiny mosses would begin to grow. Ferns and swamp plants 

 may be comfortable in such locations, but sun-loving plants are not. 



Yes, I know that some plants are very fussy about their comfort, and 

 some boys and girls are the same. They expect to find some one who 

 loves them and loves to gratify them in their fussiness and you must be 

 the same good friend to plants. 



From raising peppergrass in a berry-box. it is but a step to having a 

 window-box with attractive flowers. Plants are not proud or haughty 

 and do not seem to mind the difference when growing in a soap-box or 

 tomato can or when growing in an elaborately ornamented window-box 

 with carved ginger bread work. Either makes a happy home if the plant is 

 given comfort. The window-box should be at least ten inches high and 

 ten inches wide, inside measurements, and as long or as short as you wish. 

 Do not forget the oft repeated instruction to put holes in the bottom for 

 drainage. 



The soil should be as fertile as good garden soil, but some good 

 garden soil is out of place in a window-box. If the soil is not of a 



