During Nell's second year living in the cottage, she asked the Constable 
if she might have a bit of garden space of her own, and after an early phase of 
profound shock and misgivings, the Constable eventually pulled up a few 
flagstones, exposing a small plot, and caused one of the Dovetail artisans to 
manufacture some copper window boxes and attach them to the cottage walls. In 
the plot, Nell planted some carrots, thinking about her friend Peter who had 
vanished so long ago, and in the window boxes she planted some geraniums. The 
Primer taught her how to do it and also reminded her to dig up a carrot sprout 
every few days and examine it so that she could learn how they grew. Nell 
learned that if she held the Primer above the carrot and stared at a certain 
page, it would turn into a magic illustration that would grow larger and larger 
until she could see the tiny little fibers that grew out of the roots, and the 
one-celled organisms clinging to the fibers, and the mitochondria inside them. 
The same trick worked on anything, and she spent many days examining flies' 
eyes, bread mold, and blood cells that she got out of her own body by pricking 
her finger. She could also go up on hilltops during cold clear
nights and use the Primer to see the rings of Saturn and the moons of 
Jupiter.