176 MARY'S GARDEN AND HOW IT GREAV 



soak and soak them, so that the leaves are all wet, and 

 the water goes 'way down to the roots. Next morning 

 you work over the ground with a rake or hoe. When 

 the earth is loose on top, and looks as if it had n't 

 been wet, the sun does not notice that there is some- 

 thing he can dry up, so the water does not e-vap-o-rate 

 so fast. That is what a mulsh is for. 



"Yesterday, because there had n't been any rain for 

 a long time, Mr. Trommel showed me how to water 

 my sweet peas. You make a little trench between 

 the rows, fill it with water, and let them drink it up ; 

 then fill it again, and they drink that ; and do it once 

 more. Then put back the dirt ; and over that I put 

 grass- clippings an inch deep to make more mulsh. 



"Spraying the leaves also washes off the insects. 

 When plants are strong and clean the insects do not 

 go for them so much as when they look thin and are 

 not feeling well. This is mean in them, I think, and 

 reconciles me to having some insects killed, although 

 Mr. Trommel says they are often hard-working fa- 

 thers and mothers of large families." 



"I watered my garden every single afternoon," 

 said Margaret "that is, when I first had it," she 

 added. 



