PLANTING SWEET PEAS 49 



when we dug the bed, so the roots when they are 

 hungry will go down even farther to find something 

 good." 



"Is that far enough apart*" 



Mr. Trommel looked down into the trench 

 through his spectacles. "Two inches," he said; 

 "that will do, but we shall have to thin them later. 

 Thinning always seems a wicked thing ; it is like 

 killing some of the children because there is not 

 enough to eat for all, as the bad stepmother does in 

 the fairy stories. Wait, wait ! " he exclaimed sud- 

 denly, "not so deep. We do not want more than 

 two inches over these little things." 



"I thought you said they must go -in deep," said 

 Mary. 



"Yes, yes ; but the seedlings are little things and 

 do not like to push their way up through quite 

 such a heavy blanket. When the seedlings are up, 

 then we push the soil around and cover them up to 

 their necks." 



"But you said, when we were potting in the winter, 

 that we must n't cover the little plants with earth 

 only just as deep as they were before, or else they 

 could n't breathe," objected his listener. 



"Yes, yes ! " said Herr Trommel, impatiently. "I 



