102 DAVET'S PRIMER 



Here is Paul with apples, parsnips, carrots, turnips, 

 pumpkin, squash and potatoes. He looks a little " pig- 

 gish " by the way he is "hanging on" to those good 

 things, but he is only showing you what any boy of ten 

 years old might grow if his father has a few rods of 

 land. This boy has been trained to grow plants, as all 

 boys should be rich or poor but you can have no 

 success with the vegetable garden unless you learn 

 from the start what we have been trying to teach you 

 concerning the trees, namely : that they are LIVING 

 CREATURES, and, therefore, subjects to all the gen- 

 eral laws that govern animal life. If you want to 

 fatten a hog or an ox, you feed it. If you plant corn 

 or cabbage under the shade of a large tree, the tree 

 will steal the greater part of the food and you cannot 

 blame it, you would do so if you were the tree ; but 

 quick-growing crops, like spring onions, lettuce, or 

 early string beans, will be a partial success under the 

 tree, especially if you give a plenty of water in hot 

 weather. However, to grow good vegetables, you 

 must have the open sun-light and be away off from 

 the roots of trees. If the soil is wet and soggy, you 

 must make ditches or put in under drains to carry off 

 the surplus water ; for, except in the case of a few 

 water plants, you can get too much water and drown 

 the little feeding rootlets. 



Don't cultivate the ground to kill weeds; keep the 

 soil stirred to make the plants grow, and the weeds will 

 never appear. Plow or spade the ground deep and 



