I04 



How to Make a Flower Garden 



the kitchen door, on the south side of the house, for shade, ornament and 

 fruitfulness, and I was much pleased with the beautiful effect. 



I planted the seeds of the small pie pumpkin in a box, in the house, 

 early in April, and they were almost ready to run when I set them in the 



ground about the first of June. 

 Five plants were set out a foot 

 apart on each side of the steps. 



I spaded deep into the rich 

 soil, and powdered it fine, leaving 

 a saucer-shaped depression in the 

 ground about the plants so that 

 the moisture would settle around 

 the roots and not run off. 



Three or four times during the 

 season I stirred the soil thoroughly 

 with the hoe, and watered the 

 vines with liquid fertiliser from 

 the stable. A more interesting 

 subject for nature-study I have 

 never had. My vines grew about 

 six inches a day, and every few 

 days I found it necessary to tie 

 the sprays to the wires and slats 



Pumpkin vine at the back door ^^ ^j^^ arbOUr. 



In a few weeks they had reached the top of the trellis, and formed a 

 canopy of shade so dense that the sun could not shine through, even in spots. 

 The leaves grew so large that they resembled palm leaf fans, and the 

 scores of rich golden blossoms, opening every day during the summer, 

 were wonderful to behold. The pumpkin arbour became the admiration 

 of the whole neighbourhood. Seven golden pumpkins ripened and were 

 duly made into pies. 



I learned several interesting and profitable lessons from my experiment. 



1 . That no plant or vine grows more rapidly, or makes a more 

 luxuriant, tropical, and dense shade, than the pumpkin vine. 



2. The tendrils are so strong that, after they have made a dozen 

 tight coils about a wire or around each other, they become almost 

 as tough as the wire itself. 



