The Junior Gardeners 



CONDUCTED BY AUNT HEPSIE 



A LETTER EROM AUNT HEPSIE HERSELF 



Bear Boys and Girls: 



I have some news for you. I have persuaded 

 the publishers of Home and Flowers to give 

 us a page every month that we can call our own, 

 and I believe we can have many pleasant hours 

 together, I shall be glad to hear from you 

 about your gardens, flowers, fruits, and vege- 

 tables. 



Tell all about your experiences, what you did, 

 what success you had, what difficulties your en- 

 countered, and you may also ask questions. 



Others may help you to solve your problems. 



I believe that boys and girls love flowers and 

 gardens just as much as older folks, and I will 

 try to help you get more pleasure as well as 

 profit out of your gardens. 



I want to get acquainted with you alL, I 

 know some of you already, and will print some 

 of the letters I have received. 



With best wishes, I am your 



Aunt Hepsie. 



Address Aunt Hepsie, Springfield, Ohio, care 

 Home and Flowers. 



A good gardener 



Dear Aunt Hepsie : 



I was glad to hear from you last week, and 

 thought I would like to be one of the first to 

 have my letter printed in the Junior Gardener's 

 page. 



I have had xevj good results so far with my 

 vegetable garden this year. I had some of the 

 finest peas you ever tasted, and grew them this 

 year in a new piece of ground, and that was 

 little more than a gravel bed with a thin coat 

 of clay spread over. Of course, I fertilized it 

 well. This year I have peas, string beans, to- 

 matoes, .onions, lettuce, beets, rhubarb, a few 

 potatoes, and some cabbage. Quite a large 

 collection^ I assure you, but I feel well paid, 

 and never felt better. I never had a bit of 

 spring fever this year. I believe my garden 

 work cured me. Your friend, 



Pennsylvania. Willard Benton. 



HOW A little boy HELPED 



Bear Aunt Hepsie : 



Last year my papa let me help him when he 

 plarited some Nasturtium seed for mamma. He 

 sp£.ded up the ground, and I helped him break 

 iTi:- lumps and rake the bed nice and smooth. 

 IZ'z let me plant the seed, and I liked it. 1 



like to help. I watered the bed, and papa said 

 I must keep the weeds out. We had such pretty 

 flowers all summer. The more I picked the more 

 flowers I seemed to have. I kept mamma's vase 

 well filled and carried a good many bunches 

 to an old lady who lived near us who was sick. 

 Yours truly, 

 Illinois. Bennie Wilson. 



AN ENTHUSIAST 



Dear Aunt Hepsie : 



What a fine idea to have a page for us boys 

 and girls ! 



When I got your letter I was out in my gar- 

 den picking a great big bouquet of Sweet Peas 

 to carry to Aunt Millie. She is so fond of 

 them, you know. I wish you could see my Sweet 

 Peas this year. They are over six feet tall, 

 and have loads and loads of blossoms. I found 

 some fertilizer in the barn, the kind you buy in * 

 the stores, and I worked some of it around the 

 roots. My, how- they did groAV. I have such 

 fine Begonias, too, and you ought to see my 

 Asparagus Sprengeri, It is so green and fresh 

 and has so many new shoots coming up, that I 

 just know it will be, oh, so beautiful in my 

 window garden later on. 



With best wishes for the Junior Gardeners, 

 I am, Your friend, 



Michigan. Hazel Parker. 



HOW^ A garden helped PAPA 



Bear Aunt Hepsie: 



I love to dig in the dirt, * and guess most 

 boys do, too, but as I am not a boy, but only - 

 a girl, I guess the boys won't care. I just love 

 flowers, and so does mamma. Papa did not like 

 them once very well, but he does now. When ' 

 the doctor told him he must work outdoors as 

 much as he could or he would have to go to Cali- 

 fornia, mamma asked papa to help her make a 

 big flower garden, and so papa began to spade 

 it all himself just for the exercise outdoors. 

 Of course mamma and I were delighted to have 

 such a big garden all spaded up and fixed . 

 nicely. We planted and planted. Papa said 

 he must do the work, or most of it, anyhow, so 

 he worked and we did the bossing. He felt so 

 much better after working outdoors part of 

 every day that he kept it up, and now is 'well 

 and happy. He loves flowers, too. He says 

 he ought to like them, as he owes his health to 

 them. Your friend. 



Massachusetts. Eiith Thornton. 



