The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-07-25

potatoes required dry ground, and the
season had been wet. He was waiting
for warmer, drier weather.
Minna became desirous Of making a
garden of her own, and the man pre-
pared small bit Of ground for her.
She desired to raise just such vege-
tables as she preferred to eat, and her
favOrite was asparagus, which requires
several seasons to develop. However.
the farmer, whom by this time she had
come to call Joe, made an asparagus
bed for her and procured the roots.
One morning she went out to the gar
den and saw these roots lying by the
bed intended for them. They looked to
She supposed she should plant them,
putting them In SO that the snakes
should grow up in the air. When she
was finishing her work Joe came
along and, looking down at her plants.
began to laugh.
whats the matter?" asked Minna
anxiously.
you've planted them roots upper
most" was the reply.
This was Minna's first effort at
planting and, since asparagus does not
grow in the earth like potatoes, Joe
righted them for her. After that she
relied more on her preceptor and made
no other such serious mistake.
warm rain she looked out through her
window and saw, or thought she saw,
faint line Of pale green where she
had put in her radish seed. Hurriedly
finishing dressing. she went down
stairs and ran out to her garden. True
enough, there were the little green
points peeping from the surface.
This was Minna's first sight of some
thing coming from seed that she had
planted with her own hand, and she
was delighted. Looking up, she saw
Joe coming, with the garden tools on
his shoulder, and, running toward him
clapping her hands, she cried out as
though announcing some happy event:
MY TdulSueS nave COulc up.
"And there are your string beans. =
said Joe pointing.
Minna went to her bean bed and sa W
a queer looking something pushing
aside the earth above it.
why, it's like a chicken trying to
get out Of its she'll" she exclaimed.
What we produce ourselves, or, rath-
er, what we put nature In way to
produce, gives us very pleasurable
sensation. When Minna went out to
her garden early one morning and with
great care pulled up half a dozen
bright red radishes she was more de-
lighted than If she had received leg
| acy. Taking them into the house, she
put them into water In little cut
glass dish and gave one at breakfast
, to each member of the family No NOR.
. sci prepared by an experienced cook
/ ever pleased her palate as did that
, radisl.
Minna was used to seeing Joe work
! ing in his garden and often noticed him
wedding. Her own little tract did not
seem to need wedding At this she
wondered.
why is it, joe" she asked him
that no weeds grow in my beds2''
'"They do" said Joe. Weeds grow
wherever there Is ground for them t(
grow on. | think that some fairy god
mother comes in the night and take.
them all out Of your beds"
This was the first thing he said t
his pupil that sounded different from
what might be expected of a rustic
Minna looked at him inQuiringly, bu
he stopped to use his trowel and sh,
did not see his face.
From this time Joe began to CIV,
Minna bits OF information about agri
culture that surprised her. They sound
ed rather as coming from a college pro
fessor than a simple countryman. On,
day when he was telling her how
plants breathe through their leaves, ab
sorbing oxygen and giving out carbon
she looked at him astonished and ask
ed him where he had learned that
Joe turned away, putting his foot ol
his spade to hide the fact that he ha,
forgotten himself, letting out some
thing that he had not intended to di
vulge
But Minna, having had peep o
what was stored up In Joes brain, wa
not to be denied further view. Sh
told him that she would like to hea
more of that sort of thing" as sh
expressed it, and Joe began the III
folding of processes of nature, maxim
1t all perfectly plain and often illus
trating what he told her by the plant
themselves. During the spring an
early summer Minna was listening
, fairy tales of science" and, thong
she was not aware OF 1t, was becomin
interested in the story teller as we
as his tales.
When the crop was ready to be gatl
! cred. one morning Minna, looking o,
from her room. saw a gentleman in
tweed suit and straw hat In the ga