ttle."

"No, you must wait a while about your corn. But Mother's carrots are ready
to pull, and she has more than we will need over Winter. You may sell some
of those, Hal."

"Oh, won't it be fun--having a real store!" cried the little boy. "Come
on, Mab, we'll get ready! I'm going to pull the carrots."

"And I'll pull the beans!" cried Mab. "Will you get the tomatoes, Daddy?"

"Yes, but you had better let me show you a little bit about getting the
things ready for your market store. The nicer your vegetables look, and
the more tastefully you set them out, the more quickly will people stop to
look at them and buy them. Wise gardeners and store-keepers know this and
it is a good thing to learn."

So Daddy Blake first showed Mab how to pick her string beans, taking off
only those of full size, leaving the small to grow larger, when there
would be more to eat in each pod. The beans were kept up off the ground
with strings running to sticks at the of each row.

"If the beans touch the ground they not only get dirty," Mr. Blake, "but
they often are covered with brown, rusty spots and they soon rot. Persons
like to buy nice, clean beans, free from dirt. So have yours that way,
Mab."

Mab put the beans site picked into clean strawberry boxes, and set them in
the shade out of the sun until it was time to open the store on the lawn
near the street.

Hal's father showed how to pull from the brown earth the yellow carrots
from Mother Blake's part of the garden. Only carrots of good size were
pulled, the small ones being left to grow larger. The carrots were tied in
bunches of six each, and the bright yellow, pointed bottoms, with the
green tops, made a pretty picture as they were laid in a pile in the
shade.

"Now I'll pick some tomatoes and your garden store will be ready for
customers," said Daddy Blake.

His vines were laden with ripe, red tomatoes and these were carefully
picked and placed in strawberry boxes also, a few being set aside for
lunch, as was done with Mab's beans and Mother Blake's carrots.

A little later Hal and Mab took their places behind a broad wooden
counter, placed on two boxes out in front of their house. On the board
were set the boxes of red tomatoes, those of the green and yellow string
beans and the pile of yellow carrots.

"Now you are all ready for your customers," said Daddy Blake, as he helped
the children put the last touches to their vegetable store.

"Oh, I wonder if we'll sell