You may bring me in a little dirt and I'll let it
dry out near the fire, for it is rather damp and cold yet in the garden."

The next day Hal and Mab brought in some dirt from the yard. It was wet
and sticky but when it had been spread out on a paper under the stove it
soon dried. That night Daddy Blake filled a big wooden box with the dirt,
which he worked with a trowel until it was made fine and smooth.

"The first thing to learn in making a garden," the children's father said,
"is to have your dirt made very fine, and to be sure that it is the right
kind for what you are going to raise. Beans will grow in almost any kind
of soil, but tomatoes and other vegetables must have soil which is called
richer--that is it has more fertilizer in it--something which is food to
the seeds and plants as bread, butter, meat and potatoes are food for us."

"Do plants eat?" asked Hal.

"Of course they do, just as I told you the trees did. Plants eat through
their roots in the earth. They drink water that way, too, and through
their leaves. And they breathe in the air and sunlight the same way.
Plants, as well as boys and girls, need warm sun, enough water and good
soil to make them grow."

"But why don't you plant the tomato seeds right in the garden?" asked Hal.

"Because it is a little too early. The weather is not warm enough and the
ground is too damp. So I plant the seeds in the house and soon there will
be many little tomato plants in this box, which, you children must see to
it, must be kept in the sunny window, and not out in the cool air. When
the plants are large enough we will take them from the box and put them in
the garden in nice long rows. This is called transplanting, which means
planting a second time, and is done with many garden things such as
lettuce, cabbage and celery."

"But you didn't tell us what makes the seeds grow," said Mab, as she
watched her father carefully smooth the soil in the box and then scatter
in the tomato seeds, afterward covering them up with a piece of window
glass.

"I'll tell you as best I can, though no one really knows what is in the
seed to make it grow. Only Mother Nature knows that. But at least we have
a start with our garden," said Daddy Blake, "and to-morrow I'll tell you,
as well as I can, why a seed grows. It is time to go to bed now."

As Hal and Mab started up stairs, thinking what a wonderful thing it was
to have a garden, there came a ring at the front door.

"My!