156 THE SCHOOL GARDEN BOOK 



bit of nature seemed appropriately placed beneath the carv- 

 ing that signified the goodness of nature's God. The follow- 

 ing spring Alessandro's father was one of several who rented 

 the only back yard of the street and turned it into a group of 

 thrifty kitchen gardens. Thus a little garden, if merely a 

 keg, may produce a bountiful crop of vigorous self-sown 

 seedlings. 



Herman was better situated. His father had been skilled 

 in gardening in Germany, and was thrifty enough to rent a 

 cottage with an ample back yard. Herman and his sister took 

 great pride in their home, and under their father's instruction 

 spent many hours in work about it, so that they well deserved 

 to win the first prize of ten dollars for home ground improve- 

 ment. The shrubs were pruned and fertilized. The lawn 

 was renewed and kept trim. The walks were edged and 

 raked. Flowers were placed in border beds and beside the 

 porch. In the rear there was row after row of vegetables 

 within the border of small fruit. Not only were there peas, 

 beans, corn, and the like, but celeriac, salsify, winter radishes, 

 cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, endive — familiar enough 

 in Germany, but most interesting to the neighbors here in 

 America, who came to see and inquire, and at times to imi- 

 tate. 



Arthur's large back yard garden is a wonderful surprise to 

 one who knew this same yard last year — a waste of dump 

 heaps overgrown by a tangle of burdock and jimson weed. 

 Arthur was the leading spirit in transforming this forbidding 

 tract of street sweepings into an orderly array of plots for 

 flowers and vegetables, with trim walks sloping down to the 

 brook in the rear. This large family of French-Canadian 

 boys and girls had put the same energy into clearing away a 



