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GARDENING 

 YOUNG FOLKS 



|., CONDUCTED BY ELLEN EDDY SHAW 



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Punch holes with a pencil in the 

 dry fern ball 



A Garden Christmas 



THIS title does not mean that Christmas is spent 

 out in the garden but that Christmas is made 

 out of the garden. Now how is it done? Well for 

 years I have been doing it with boys and girls. We 

 have thought of the simple things which have to do 

 with garden interests and such things we have made. 

 I do not have in mind for gifts all those attractive 

 garden accessories seen in fashionable shops. Not 

 a bit of it! Perhaps the easiest way to explain is to 

 suggest a few things and then, doubtless, these will 



bring to your own 

 minds many, 

 many others. 

 And if any of you 

 boys and girls, or 

 mothers and 

 teachers, who 

 read this maga- 

 zine, do make 

 garden gifts, and 

 if you will write 

 about such gifts 

 and send their 

 pictures too, we 

 shall be very glad 

 to pay for any 

 such articles 

 which could be 

 used next Christ- 

 mas. 



Now for sug- 

 gestions. A crow 

 weather vane was 

 a present made 

 by my boys and 

 girls of a fifth year class. And I can tell you those 

 big, black, wooden crows on a barn or in a garden 

 looked every bit as if they were real. All over one 

 village they were scattered as the result of one 

 Christmas gift to fathers. You would be driving 

 along and see a big crow on a shed and cry out 

 "There's a monster fellow." As you drove nearer 

 behold it was only a crow weather vane. To be 

 sure we got our idea from some very beautifully 

 made ones in a shop. But we cut big paper pat- 

 terns, life size; these patterns were laid on a bit 

 of soft wood. After that from this outline the bird 

 was cut out, painted black, mounted on a spike, and 

 one present was ready. You see the sort of gift I 

 mean. 



Now for another! 

 Buy for twenty- 

 five cents from any 

 florist a fern ball. 

 They are big, dried 

 balls; the dry outer 

 part is moss and 

 tucked inside are 

 fern roots. Soak 

 the ball in a pail of 

 water for some 

 hours — over night 

 will not be too long 

 for the first soak- 

 ing; hang it up to 

 drain off the extra 

 water. To help a 

 bit before soaking 

 punch holes in the 

 ball here and there; 

 six or eight holes in 

 all will suffice. The 

 water penetrates 

 the interior of the 

 ball a little better 

 for this punching of 

 holes. After some 

 days out through 

 the sides of the 

 moss delicate fern 



1 



Pine needles in bundles of two, three and five each, an easy way to 

 distinguish the pines 



153 



leaves will thrust their way. Do not let the ball 

 dry out completely but every few days give it 

 a soaking, but never again will it need to be 

 soaked such a long time. Mother or grandmother 

 would enjoy this present for the fern ball grows 

 lovelier and lovelier as the weeks go on. Such a 

 gift is a pleasure not for the mo- 

 ment but for all winter. I would 

 print on a card directions on the 

 care of the fern ball and send 

 these with it. For example: 

 "Never let this ball dry out. Soak 

 it for one half to a whole hour in 

 water every week, oftener if neces- 

 sary. In the spring let the ferns 

 die down, the ball dry out and put it 

 away in a cool, dark place until next 

 fall." 



If you have seeds left from your 

 garden and gathered last fall, let 

 these serve as gifts. There are 

 annual, biennial, and perennial seeds. Hunt in 

 seed catalogues and find out which yours are. Per- 

 haps you will have all three kinds. Put the seeds up 

 in different colored envelopes — white for annuals, 

 pink for biennials, and blue for perennials. Make 

 these envelopes and upon them letter neatly the 

 name of the seeds inclosed. This gift would be 

 more valuable if directions for planting were placed 

 on the envelopes or tucked inside on a separate 

 sheet of paper. 



Now for a number of gifts! The boys could 

 whittle out pot labels and tie them up in bundles of 

 six. Take an ordinary clay crock and paint it 

 gaily in stripes. Such. pots are fashionable affairs 

 now-a-days, if you can ever call flower pots fashion- 

 able! Do you remember that Wardian case men- 

 tioned in the November Garden Magazine? Why 

 wouldn't that be a fine gift for mother? It might 

 take father's pocketbook to help pay for it, for the 

 Wardian case is rather expensive but charming. 



I remember another nature gift which caused 

 pleasure at home. We called it "Our Evergreen 

 Book," or "How to Recognize Common Ever- 

 greens." This is how we fixed it up. First blue 

 prints should be made of the most common ever- 

 greens. The process of blue printing was described 

 in the October number of this magazine. The 

 most common evergreen trees differ somewhat in 

 different localities. Perhaps pines, spruce, hem- 

 lock, fir, red cedar or juniper and arborvitae may be 



the choice. Look 

 at the picture here 

 of pine needles and 

 you will catch the 

 idea of how to show 

 in a very simple 

 way what you wish 

 some one else to 

 see. Pine needles 

 are bound up 

 neatly in bundles 

 of five, three, and 

 two each. Here 

 is the key then for 

 understanding the 

 pines: they fall into 

 classes of five, 

 three, and two 

 needled varieties. 

 White pine is a 

 well-known mem- 

 ber of the first 

 group; pitch pine is 

 an example of the 

 three-needled 

 group ; and red is a 

 representative of 

 the last named 

 division of two 

 needles- to- the- 

 bundle pines. Take 



A crow weather vane 

 made by a fifth grade 

 boy 



very small pieces of spruce, hemlock, fir, juniper, and 

 arborvitae for printing; if too heavy pieces are used 

 the arrangement of the needles and scales on the 

 branches cannot be seen clearly. If such prints 

 are mounted on gray paper and the names lettered 

 with white ink beneath each picture, the general 

 effect is pleasing. 



The baby has not had a Christmas 

 gift out of the garden. Here is 

 something to try, but you must be 

 a bit of an artist to do it. Choose 

 a number of birds which help or 

 hinder the garden work, such birds 

 as the crow, robin, sparrow, oriole, 

 etc. Get some sheets of drawing 

 paper, size eight by ten inches or 

 even larger. Upon these sheets 

 paint larger pictures of birds, one 

 bird on each sheet. For a list of 

 such birds write to the Department 

 of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, 

 and ask for the bulletin on ' ' Birds and Their Relation 

 to Agriculture." This bulletin has pictures of the 

 birds but they are not colored. So for color go to 

 "Bird Neighbors." The baby will like the birds far 

 better if they are colored. Now what is done with 

 this set of bird pictures? They are to be cut out 

 and pasted on the nursery wall. What a fine bird 

 border these cut-outs will make! And better still, 

 as the spring comes on, perhaps if you take a little 

 pains the baby will recognize, from her Christmas 

 gift, some of the real birds as they arrive from the 

 South, and those too, that belong in the vicinity 

 all winter long and all the year also. 



There are many, many more presents which come 

 from the garden but it is more fun to do a part of the 

 thinking for yourself. And do not forget if you have 

 a bright thought, work it out and then tell us about it. 



The Birds' Christmas 



ONE December afternoon right before Christ- 

 mas, we started out, some boys and I, to give 

 the birds their holiday. We had long strings of 

 cranberries, and bright wood's berries, bits of suet, 



A fern ball in its full glory: a present giving lasting pleasure 



bones, buckwheat, and other grains. As we 

 tramped through the woods we scattered the grains, 

 the boys laying bits of boards under the trees upon 

 which the grain was placed. At the boys' homes we 

 hung in the trees our berry strings, bones, and bits 

 of suet. Some bones were hung to window blinds 

 so the birds would be forced to come, close to the 

 house for food. Of course, this sort of a bird party 

 really ought to go on all winter long. You will be 

 surprised to see the birds come for their food. The 

 invitation seems to spread like magic among them 

 for from all about they flock to such a Christmas 

 feast. As the weather becomes colder and food scarce 

 the birds come in greater quantities for their food. 

 Water put out, during the middle of the day, is much 

 appreciated. Do not forget the birds' Christmas! 



