the water. Some one gave him two water
hyacinths.

In the middle of the yard a round bed was made. To do this take a cord
and tie a stake at either end. The cord should be whatever length you
have decided shall be the radius of the circle. The radius of a circle,
you remember, is the distance from the centre to the circumference.

Now drive one of the stakes into the ground at the exact centre. Grasp
in your hand the other stake and swing a circle with it. The stake will
scratch a well-defined line so that you have the outline of the circle,
the boundary of the bed.

Jay spaded down to about six inches all along the outlines of bed. After
that the bed itself was spaded. Philip insisted on outlining it with
brick which had been given him. Some children use whitewashed stones,
some use shells. Either plan gives a spotty effect. The idea fails of
being artistic. A neat cutting of the turf and a slight heaping up of a
round bed toward the centre gives after all a far more pleasing effect.
Try to keep as near to Nature's own plan as you can. Shells belong on
the seashore or in a collection; keep stones for road making, wall
building, cement work and curbs; bricks are for foundations and
buildings. Rarely use things for what they were not intended. It is
better usually to border a bed with low-growing flowers. Ageratum,
candytuft and dwarf nasturtiums are good for the purpose.

Along a walk to an old outhouse they planted asters on one side and four
o'clocks on the other. Asters, as all boys and girls know, are better if
started inside early. Then they may be transplanted to the outside. In
his way one gets a bit ahead of the season.

But Philip was obliged to plant seed for both. So he planted it in a
drill as one plants lettuce. Later the little seedlings were thinned out
to stand six inches apart. This thinning was done when the plants were
four inches high. Four o'clocks need lots of room as they grow bushy.

Plants in narrow strips are quite likely to drop over their limits. To
keep these in bounds Philip later built a fence. For this he used stakes
driven into the ground at intervals of every four feet. To these he
nailed strips of railing. Sometimes cords are used instead of railings.

An old fence was all about the yard and an old unused outbuilding in the
rear. These were both unsightly in appearance, so they had to be hidden.
Vines were used for this purpose.

About six inches from the fence a furrow was mad