THE WIZARDRY OF THE SOIL 



Yet give it any kind of seed, bulb, or slip 

 to work upon, and a small pot of earth even 

 a couple of handfuls will silently give you 

 a true illustrated fairy story which will put 

 to shame all the cruder human arts of fiction. 

 In children's tales, which some of us never 

 outgrow, the good fairy grants the favored 

 hero or heroine three wishes. But the good 

 brown Earth, a more lavishly indulgent god- 

 mother, gives every one of us many thousand 

 wishes. 



Is it a beautiful green carpet you wish 

 for your lawn or meadow? "Certainly, my 

 child," answers the kind godmother. "Wait 

 but a few days while I call my genii, the 

 sun, clouds, and earth-gnomes, and you shall 

 have your carpet." 



Or is your wish a field of buttercups, 

 daisies, or clover, a rosebush, or a bed of 

 mignonette? 



With the same maternal willingness to 

 give good gifts, the under-mother grants 

 your desire. "You must wait a little longer 

 for these fair marvels, my child," she an- 

 swers; "for it is no journeyman's task to 



