LITTLE GARDENS 



selves, or, at any rate, associated with green and 

 white, and kept away from the shouting scarlet 

 of the geranium and the assertive yellow of the 

 marigold. Zinnias have occupied a group by 

 themselves In my little garden, and have luxuri- 

 ated in a light and pebbly soil, Interspersed, to 

 my sorrow, with relics of a glacial age, among 

 which I shall not Include tomato-cans and whale- 

 bone. They like water, and will eat a trifle of 

 fertilizer and be thankful for it in the spring. 

 Like other annuals, they are to be sown during 

 the last of April, or a few days later, if the sea- 

 son Is backward, and it may be well to relate here 

 that the manner of planting such seeds Is to stir 

 the ground with a rake, or with a spade, if it has 

 not been previously loosened, breaking up tough 

 and clayey clods, and smoothing the surface; 

 then, with a stick or trowel-tip, marking a tiny 

 trench, half or two-thirds of an inch In depth. 

 Into this the seed are sprinkled. With the stick 

 or trowel flick the displaced earth back Into the 

 crevice, then crumble soil over the bed for half 

 an inch or so, with the hands if the tract Is small, 

 with a sieve if otherwise. A light sprinkling 

 with the hose may follow, using only the finest 

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