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GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS




PRACTICAL ARTS FOR LITTLE GIRLS

A Series Uniform with this Volume

_Each book, illustrated, 75 cents net_


    COOKERY FOR LITTLE GIRLS
    SEWING FOR LITTLE GIRLS
    WORK AND PLAY FOR LITTLE GIRLS
    HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS
    GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

[Illustration: PUZZLE PICTURE,--FIND THE LITTLE GIRL]




GARDENING FOR LITTLE GIRLS

BY

OLIVE HYDE FOSTER

    AUTHOR OF
    "COOKERY FOR LITTLE GIRLS"
    "SEWING FOR LITTLE GIRLS"
    "HOUSEKEEPING FOR LITTLE GIRLS"

[Illustration]

    NEW YORK
    DUFFIELD & COMPANY
    1917




    Copyright, 1916 by
    HOUSE AND GARDEN

    Copyright, 1916, by
    HOUSEWIVES MAGAZINE

    Copyright, 1917, by
    ST. NICHOLAS
    The Century Co.

    Copyright, 1917, by
    COUNTRYSIDE MAGAZINE
    The Independent Co.

    Copyright, 1917, by
    OLIVE HYDE FOSTER




    _DEDICATED TO
    Junior and Allan,
    Two of the dearest children that ever showed
    love for the soil._




Preface


Children take naturally to gardening, and few occupations count so much
for their development,--mental, moral and physical.

Where children's garden clubs and community gardens have been tried, the
little folks have shown an aptitude surprising to their elders, and
under exactly the same natural, climatic conditions, the children have
often obtained astonishingly greater results. Moreover, in the poor
districts many a family table, previously unattractive and lacking in
nourishment, has been made attractive as well as nutritious, with their
fresh green vegetables and flowers.

Ideas of industry and thrift, too, are at the same time inculcated
without words, and habits formed that affect their character for life. A
well-known New York City Public School superintendent once said to me
that she had a flower bed every year in the children's gardens, where a
troublesome boy could always be controlled by giving to him the honor of
its care and keeping.

The love of nature, whether inborn or acquired, is one of the greatest
sources of pleasure, and any scientific knowledge connected with it of
inestimable satisfaction. Carlyle's lament was, "Would that some one had
taught me in childhood the names of the stars and the grasses."

It is with the hope of helping both mothers and children that this
little book has been most lovingly prepared.




CONTENTS


  CHAPTER                                                        PAGE
     I FIRST STEPS TOWARD A GARDEN                                  1
    II PLANNING AND PLANTING THE FLOWER BEDS                        9
   III FLOWERS THAT MUST BE RENEWED EVERY YEAR (ANNUALS)           19
    IV FLOWERS THAT LIVE THROUGH TWO YEARS                         30
     V FLOWERS THAT COME UP EVERY YEAR BY THEMSELVES (PERENNIALS)  37
    VI FLOWERS THAT SPRING FROM A STOREHOUSE (BULBS AND TUBERS)    48
   VII THAT QUEEN--THE ROSE                                        58
  VIII VINES, TENDER AND HARDY                                     71
    IX SHRUBS WE LOVE TO SEE                                       78
     X VEGETABLE GROWING FOR THE HOME TABLE                        82
    XI YOUR GARDEN'S FRIENDS AND FOES                              94
   XII A MORNING-GLORY PLAYHOUSE                                  102
  XIII THE WORK OF A CHILDREN