HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, 1912 
year, such as kohlrabi, they cut down to 
part of a row. Others they increased or 
decreased according to the experience of 
the previous season. The largest increase 
was made in onions, which had paid them 
better than anything else the season past 
and the local demand for which they had 
not been able to supply through Decem¬ 
ber, to say nothing of the balance of the 
winter. 
The poultry department, too, came in 
for its share of attention. With the ad¬ 
vent of the spring brood of chickens, of 
which they planned to have about 200, it 
was quite evident that their present quar¬ 
ters would be inadequate. So a warm spot 
on the south side of a sandy knoll near the 
barn was selected as the site of a real hen 
house, and to Helen and Robert was as¬ 
signed the task of making a thorough in¬ 
vestigation of the matter of poultry houses 
and yards and the drawing up of a plan 
for the one to be built. The company was 
to furnish the lumber, cement, wire and 
roofing paper, etc., necessary to build it. 
Also green stuff and some small grains 
were to be grown for the hens. Mantell 
and Raffles had nothing to do with the 
care of the birds, that being the special 
duty of Robert and Helen, though they 
sometimes got their mother to help them. 
The completing of all these plans took 
up most of the first week in January. In the 
opinion of most of their neighbors it would 
have been time wasted, or at least foolish¬ 
ly spent. But Mantell did not consider it 
so. They now knew definitely what they 
expected to do, where everything was 
going, what materials would have to be 
provided and at how much expense. So 
they were prepared to carry out their pro¬ 
gram in a businesslike way and as econom¬ 
ically as possible as far as labor was con¬ 
cerned—how many flats and small boxes 
and pots would be required in the green¬ 
house ; how many bean poles and tomato 
poles to cut, where they would be needed, 
and a score of other matters which would 
enable them to carry out their preliminary 
work during the remaining winter months. 
In the greenhouse spring work had al¬ 
ready begun. Raffles had gone over the 
stock of potted plants, repotting those that 
needed it, giving more water and more 
heat to start the new growth necessary for 
cuttings, and making the first sowings of 
several varieties of seeds, including a few 
flowers to be grown for spring sales and 
such vegetables as lettuce and beets for 
their coldframe crop. An extra sowing of 
spring cabbage, designed for plants for 
their own use, was also made. All the 
available space about the greenhouse, and 
even a bin in the cellar, had to be filled in 
the fall with soil, sand, leaf mold and such 
other soil ingredients as they required in 
the various operations of planting, trans¬ 
planting and potting. 
How different it seemed from the handi¬ 
cap of the spring before when they had 
had to build their house on frozen ground 
and thaw out soil in which to plant their 
seeds, rushing everything to the limit to be 
anywhere near on time! 
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Inventors have made possible communica¬ 
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connecting seven million people together, has 
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is used twenty-five million times a day. 
Captains of war and industry might, at great 
expense, establish their own exclusive tele¬ 
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Every 'Bell telephone is the Center of the System 
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In writing to advertisers please mention House and Garden. 
