CHAPTER XV 



The Kinds of Plants 



We have now got so far with the study of plants that we 

 understand how they grow, and what they need to grow 

 upon. Winter is passing, and it is time to order our seeds. 

 For seeds should be ordered early, if we do not wish to take the 

 risk of delay by ordering later, at the "rush" season. We 

 need to test the seed, and to be ready, also, to start indoors 

 certain plants which are worth such care. And now, in order 

 to understand just how to plan the work of the whole summer, 

 we need to take a general look ahead. 



We know that, besides plant food, the two greatest needs 

 of plants are warmth and moisture. The house-plants 

 which our mothers and our teachers grow for their pleasure 

 depend on these. A large part of the work of tending house- 

 plants lies in giving just enough water, and in seeing that the 

 plants have about the right temperature. The greenhouse- 

 man, with plants that are well started, merely does the same. 

 But the man with two greenhouses is likely to keep them at 

 different temperatures, in order to suit the plants which like 

 a cooler or a warmer air. Violets and lettuce prefer a cool 

 house, geraniums and cucumbers a hot one. And the reason 

 for this has much to do with the whole management of a 

 garden. 



In winter the ground is frozen. Try to thrust into it the 

 point of your umbrella : you cannot do it. For two or three, 

 and in places for four or five, feet, according to the severity of 



109 



