180 MAKY'S GAKDEN AND HOW IT GEEW 



about, Buddy," commented Margaret. "I 've got 

 chickweed and dandelions and smartweed and witch- 

 grass in my garden," she enumerated proudly. 



"Then you ought to get your hoe and dig them 

 out just as soon as you go home, Margaret," advised 

 Finnan Haddie ; "and smartweed 's just the same as 

 knot-grass, anyway." 



"Hoeing is n't the best way to weed," said Donald ; 

 "you just cut off the tops and don't get out the roots 

 that way. I get down on my hands and knees and 

 pull them out." 



"I know a better way than that," asserted Mary ; 

 "you just lie flat down on the grass in front of the bed 

 and lean on your elbow, and then you can pull out 

 every little weed. When it 's quitch-grass, you have 

 to follow up the roots with your hands." 



"It would be nice if some animal would just eat 

 up the weeds, like the toads eat insects for us." 



"Mr. Trommel says," observed Mary, "that if you 

 weed and weed and weed when the plants are little, 

 then the flower gets a head-start and you don't have 

 so much to do by and by." 



Mary's yellow-haired neighbor lingered after the 

 other small guests were gone. 



