BOOK OF THE HOME GARDEN 



box and wet it whenever it becomes dry. This will 

 keep the seeds just moist enough and you will not 

 need to water the soil again until the plants start. 



In a few days you will notice the ground cracking 

 and soon your plant-children will raise their heads. 

 Then we must take off the wet cloth and sprinkle 

 the earth when it begins to dry. As the plants 

 grow, turn the box every day or they will be 

 crooked, for they always reach towards the light of 

 the window. 



Once a week scratch the soil between the rows 

 of plants with the round end of a wire hair-pin or 

 nail or match stick. This keeps it from getting 

 sour and helps the plants to grow. 



There is one trouble you will be very apt to have 

 with house-plants, and that is aphis (pronounced 

 affis). It is a tiny green bug so small you can 

 hardly see it, but it has a sharp bill which it sticks 

 into the leaves and stems and sucks the sap, which 

 is to a plant the same as blood is to us. We cannot 

 poison them because we cannot reach their food, so 

 we have to murder them and the best way is to dust 

 them with powdered tobacco, or make tobacco tea 

 by steeping tobacco in hot water. When cold, 

 sprinkle the tea over the plants. These little aphi- 

 des multiply so fast you may have to fight them 



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