The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming.   By: Ellen Eddy Shaw

GARDENING AND FARMING

BY ELLEN EDDY SHAW

1911

COPYRIGHT, 1911

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE REAL BOYS OF THIS REAL CLUB AND TO THE GIRLS WHO ARE JUST AS GOOD AS BOYS

CONTENTS

PART I THE GARDEN CLUB

CHAPTER

I. The Garden Club

II. The Boys' Garden Difficulties

III. The Girls' Secret

IV. Garden Experiments Performed Indoors

V. The Work Shop End of the Garden

VI. What the Girls Made Winter Evenings

VII. Improving the School Grounds

VIII. Myron's Strawberry Bed

IX. Jack's All Round Garden

X. Albert and Jay's Drainage Problem

XI. George's Cabbage Troubles

XII. Peter, Potatoes and Profit

XIII. Philip's Backyard

XIV. The Corn Contest

XV. The Girls' Secret Work

XVI. More About the Girls' Work

XVII. The Girls' Winter Work

XVIII. The Grand Wind Up Girls vs. Boys

PART II. THE CHIEF'S GARDEN TALKS

CHAPTER

I. The Soil

II. Plant Food

III. Seeds

IV. The Plant Itself

V. Increasing Plants

VI. Garden Operations

VII. Common Weeds

VIII. Garden Pests

IX. Vegetable Culture

X. Flower Culture

XI. The Wild Flower Garden

XII. Landscape Gardening

XIII. How Boys and Girls Can Make Money from Their Gardens

ILLUSTRATIONS

Dee's Garden Was a "Lovesome Thing" Frontispiece

The Way The Chief Taught His Boys to Handle Tools

Jay's Tile Drain Converted a Swamp into a Garden

Philip's Backyard Made Beautiful by Annuals and Quick growing Vines

The Bulb Story

Constant Cultivation of the Soil Saved George's Cabbages

Jack's Rake Handle as a Measuring Stick

Albert Sowing Large Seeds Singly

Elizabeth Sowing Small Seed from the Package

Myron Transplanting His Long rooted Strawberry Plants

Katharine Transplanting Her Flowers by a Method of Lifting

PART I THE GARDEN CLUB

I

THE GARDEN CLUB

The door opened. A gust of wind and rain literally swept five boys, wet and breathless, into the room. The man at the big oak table in front of a huge open fire looked up, smiled, and said, "Off with your duds, boys! Bar the door securely, Jay, for it's a wild night. Throw a fresh log on the fire, Albert. And all line up."

For a few moments the big cheerful room seemed full of wriggling, twisting boys as great coats were pulled off and hung up carefully on pegs at the far end of the room. It was a rule here at The Chief's home that things should always be shipshape. Then the "line up" came. This was a little ceremony the boys always went through, having dropped into it quite of their own accord. They formed a line in front of the open fire with backs to it and faces toward the man. Then they solemnly saluted in military style. At this The Chief arose, saluted, and by a wave of the hand assigned each boy to his place at the table.

This little group of boys had formed itself naturally into a club. It met with The Chief every Saturday night. He was really no chief, this big, boy loving man who had come to spend a while in this little country village, to rest and to write. The boys had named him The Chief because, as Albert said, "He could lead any tribe and tame any savage." At this Albert always laughed for he himself had been called a savage so many times he almost believed he was one.

The boys dropped into their places. Jay, or the "Little Chief" as the boys called him, sat opposite the Big Chief at the end of the table and right in front of the fire. He was slim and tall and light of foot. He could run faster, throw farther, and play better than any other boy in the village. He always led, he never bullied, he played fair, so the other boys always followed.