way while you are at work on the walls; but seeds, if any are to be planted in the vine-beds, should, as I said, be planted as soon as the beds are ready, if it is not too early in the season. Plant either seeds or plants two inches apart, along all the long bed, near the inner edge, and lengthwise of each of the four small beds near the edges toward the main building. Or it may be better to plant them in two rows, four inches apart (see Fig. 20), so as to give more room to each one. In transplanting, do not expect absolute accuracy in the positions of the plants; the main thing is Now, if you have some morning-glory vines to put in the delicate plants safely. If one turns ready, transplant them into the vine-beds. out to be five inches from the last, try to put the There are three ways in which you can raise next one 3 inches from it, so as to make the right your vines : number of vines for the wall. A crookedness of Ist-To plant them some time beforehand in a line in the outer row of plants will show more than box in the house, for transplanting. any other unevenness, but nothing of this sort matters much compared with setting them out safely. 2d-To plant them as early as possible out-ofdoors for transplanting. 3d-To plant them in their permanent places in the vine-beds. The first would be the best way for all the vines, if you could raise so many in the house, but you will need about three hundred and sixty. Raise as many as you can in this way. The third way would be next best, if your vine-beds are ready at early corn-planting time. The second will probably be your main dependence. Proceed as follows: Dig up a soft, rich patch of ground, and plant your seeds in rows (for ease in transplanting) three or four inches apart, the seeds being about an inch apart in the rows, and an inch deep in the ground. (You can put them closer if your patch is small, but do not if you can help it.) You may find it best to use all three methods; but whatever you do, raise a good many by the second, to supply deficiencies and accidents as the season goes on. Do not transplant vines into the vine-beds till the string-work is entirely done. They are much better off where they are, and would be dreadfully in your Fig. 23. Whatever you plant, be they seeds or vines, water when planted and also late every afternoon, unless it rains, especially for the first week or two. If you have no watering-pot take a tin can and punch a number of holes in the bottom of it with a small nail, and pour on the water through this till the plants grow strong enough to stand rougher treatment; or pay the tinman ten R cents for a watering-pot nozzle to fit on the spout of some old leaky coffee-pot. Leaking will not matter much, but if the holes are too large, stop them up with pieces of string pulled through, or with lumps of warm wax pressed on inside. Our house had elaborate plans for a window: a pane of glass figured with white paint; but a large G you find them growing (see Fig. 22). Vines resist being twined in a direction different from their natural one, so decidedly as even to untwine themselves and start afresh. Aim to twine them smoothly up the sides of the doors, and to cover the walls with them, leaving the window uncovered and neatly shaped out in the midst of the green leaves. If one part of the wall seems to be getting thicker than another, train one or two of its vines smoothly across into the thin place, and sometimes even backward and forward over it, if it is very thin and no vines are coming up from below to cover it. When you first change the position of a vine, the leaves may look upside down and crooked, but they will come right very soon. If a spray or a leaf continues withered for two or three days, for any other cause than lack of watering, cut it off; it only does harm. You will need a great many seeds. Remember that there are white, purple, crimson, and pink morning-glories, and try to choose your colors. If half at least are white, the house will look brighter. Don't trouble yourselves to keep the plants of different colors separate for transplanting, but mix the seeds, in about the proportion you fancy. Chance patches all of one color here and there on the walls will do no harm. I have made these directions precise, knowing that thus your difficulties may be lessened; but of course a hundred irregularities might occur, and many certainly will, unless you are too old and wise to need a play-house; but the fun will be all the same, and only very sharp eyes can see the defects, under the vines. The seats in our house were logs, except a borrowed chair or two on occasions. A rustic table We like, even now, to recall the delight of our house of string; and we enjoyed every minute of its building. The grown people surely should favor such an enterprise as this, and be willing to help it along and give the needed explanations now and then, for it is no mean summer school for practical mathematics and engineering, with many other useful lessons thrown in. A grave old gentleman, who was visiting the family, in wandering round the grounds early one morning, came across our completed structure, before the vines had grown much, standing fresh and white in the dew, like a great fantastic cobweb. He went into such raptures over the "Fairy Palace" that we were covered with confusion and blushes, while he made the whole tableful go out on a pilgrimage to see it. JACK-IN-THE-PULPIT. SING a song of April, sing This is the way matters seem to Maria J. Hammond of Baltimore,- who wrote the lines for you, my chicks,- and I do believe she knows. Somehow, the moment folks begin to feel and write poetry, they get behind the almanac and into the heart of things. A POLITE MULE. DEAR JACK: Once, when I was sent to the ice-. house to get some ice, I saw two mules that belonged to a man who also was getting ice. These mules were hitched to the fence near a low appletree, and the mule that was nearest the tree put his head through the fence and managed to get an apple into his mouth. But he did not eat it right up, as many boys and girls would,-no! he held that apple in his teeth and drew his head back again through the fence, and then actually let the other mule take a bite of the fruit! I saw this myself, and it was real nice to see the satisfied air of the generous mule as he ate the rest of his apple. Your little friend, FRANK D. P. A CANNIBAL DAISY-BUG. ORANGE, Jan. 20, 1885. DEAR JACK: You ask in the January number if any one has seen a cannibal ant. I have seen a cannibal daisy-bug in the act of eating his companion. I took two of the tiny bugs (about the size of the point of a pin) that are found in great numbers on the common field-daisy, and put them under my microscope. In doing so, I accidentally killed one, and presently I saw the living one begin to eat the dead one. He seemed to suck the juices from the body, because the parts became transparent; and he would shake it as a dog shakes a rat. I should like to belong to the Agassiz Association, but there is no Chapter near me, I think. Your constant reader, FRED. K. W. Why not start a Chapter yourself, Master Fred.? FIFTEEN OWNERS WANTED. (An offer from Deacon Green.) My good friend, Mr. Dan Beard, bids me show you these fifteen feet, so to speak. He drew every one of them; and now who can name the animals to which they belong? One of them, the dear Little School-ma'am says, cannot be called a footbut I hold that it belongs to an animal, all the same. And now Deacon Green sends you this message: He says that the boy or girl who sends him the best set of answers in point of correctness, neatness, brevity, yet naming the owners of these fifteen feet, hoofs, and what-not, shall have a prize! The prize is to be ST. NICHOLAS sent for one year, with Deacon Green's compliments, either to that clever boy or girl or to any friend that clever he or she may name. Also, he will send, as second and third prizes, a box of PROTEAN CARDS (OR BOX OF FIFTY GAMES) for the second best, and the STRATFORD GAME OF CHARACTERS AND QUOTATIONS for the third best list. Don't write letters this time. Send, each, a neat list addressed to Silas Green, care of The Century Co., 33 East 17th St., New York; and let your list be in this fashion (though of course I shall not name them correctly): Number 1, Horse, 66 66 2, Camel, 3, Rat, |
