wild cucumber is; if not, the morning glory will do very well, and you 

 can get morning glory seeds almost anywhere. Dig up the earth where 

 you want to plant the seeds, and, having broken it up very finely, mix 

 with it some of the rich black earth of which I have already spoken. 

 Do not plant the seeds very deep, certainly not over half an inch. 

 In a few days the morning glories will begin to come up, but the twO' 

 leaves which first appear do not look at all like the later leaves. Now 

 put a small stick in the ground near the young morning glory and,, 

 tying a string to it, stretch the string up to the top of the stump or 

 fence which you want to cover. This string is to support the stem,, 

 which is too weak to carry its load of leaves without some such help. 

 The vine grows very rapidlj"-, and it will not be long until the stump 

 or fence is completely covered. Watch the stem from day to day as 

 it twines itself about the string. Does it always twine in the same 

 direction? Is this direction from right to left, or from left to right? 

 Suppose you put some of the sticks to which the strings are tied, a 

 foot or more away from the young morning glory, and watch the 

 plants every day. Does the young stem ever go in any other direction 

 than towards it support? How do you suppose it finds is way to the- 

 string? Watch other vines which climb by twining, and see if they be- 

 have in the same way? Do you think the plant can see? If not, how 

 does it know where the support is to be found? 



You will also see that the fiowers are visited by many insects. What 

 do they come for? Are their visits of any use to the plants? See if 

 you can find how many kinds of insects visit the flowers. 



The morning glory can stand more sunlight and heat than the ferns 

 and does not need as wet a soil. Indeed, it will grow freely and vig- 

 orously in almost any place if you prepare the bed as I have said. If 

 you are trying to cover the side or end of a shed with the vines, be 

 sure you dig your bed far enough away from the building to escape 

 the drip from the eaves. If you do not, the soil is liable to be washed 

 away from the seeds before they germinate, or else to be packed so- 

 tightly by the beat of the rain that the plant can not get any air. As 

 a plant is a living thing, it breathes, and if air is cut off it dies just as 

 an animal would die under similar conditions. With these morning- 

 glories, then, you see you can cover many unsightly objects very 

 rapidly. 



Then, in the other odd corners, I would make flower beds, in which 

 I would plant some of our beautiful wild flowers. These beds ought 

 to be dug up to a depth of at least a foot and the earth broken up very 

 completely, and then thoroughly mixed with rich earth. If the origi- 



