298 THE BEGINNER'S GARDEN BOOK 



should be pulled at once; the gardener should never be too 

 busy to stop and pull one of these big weeds. For they are at 

 the danger point : another few days, and the ripened seeds 

 will be falling, to make trouble another year. So the annuals 

 should be pulled, and the perennials should be dug out. If 

 the seeds are already formed, the seed-stalk should be broken 

 from the root, lest there should be enough strength left in the 

 plant to ripen the seeds. 



Again, there is the work of picking. Pleasant it is, yet 

 it takes time. It should be regularly attended to. I have 

 spoken of it in the first part of this book, yet I will repeat 

 briefly here. The gardener should always know which flowers 

 or vegetables are "coming on," and at the right time he should 

 descend upon them with his basket. They should never be 

 left too long. The flower that is not yet in full bloom, the 

 vegetable that is still tender, are better for the parlor or the 

 kitchen than those which are too old. With vegetables 

 especially it is a strong temptation to leave them overlong, 

 so that the basket shall be fuller. But they are never so 

 pleasing to eat ; the beans are a little stringy, the peas 

 too firm. Pick them while still young, and you will 

 know the real difference between market vegetables and 

 home-grown. 



There is also the war against enemies to be continually 

 carried on. Part of it will be irregular, a call to battle by 

 the sudden appearance of insect or disease in some new place. 

 The call should be hearkened to at once. Go immediately 

 to the work, and pick or spray until the danger has been 

 met. The loss of a day may be very serious. Then for the 

 vegetable gardener, at least for the one with a potato patch, 

 there will be the regular work of spraying. The old spray 

 will show for some time ; but as soon as it weathers off, or 

 whenever the new growth shows in good quantity, the spray 



