54 
Garden W ork 
seeds, which, under favourable conditions, germinate and 
produce young plants in spring. 
If the reader has thought carefully about his garden 
and plants during the perusal of these pages he will at 
once see how important it is to understand thoroughly 
all about his plants. He will then be able to put his 
knowledge to the best possible use, and the most menial 
operations will become intensely interesting. Even weed' 
ing may become pleasant when we think of it as giving 
the plants plenty of air and allowing the maximum amount 
of sunlight to get to the leaves of the plants, so that 
they can be fully employed in manufacturing food, and 
at the same time getting rid of the weeds, so that the 
plants proper may have a greater amount of food sub- 
stances. 
Again, the washing of flower pots should be interest- 
ing when we remember that we are opening the pores 
of the pot so that air can penetrate to the roots of the 
plants, and so on. 
Should our seeds fail to grow, we must not immediately 
blame the seedsman for sending us old seed, but think 
what the previous autumn has been like, whether it has 
been w T arm and sunny, so as to enable the food to be 
stored up in the seed in its proper condition to ensure 
it keeping perfectly during the -winter. 
In fact, when we understand our plants, the whole 
aspect of our work changes; and if we are, or if we want 
to become, gardeners, we are able to give an intelligent 
explanation about any part of our work to our employers, 
who, in turn, will think more highly of us. 
