Daddy Takes Us to the Garden Part 3

Daddy Blake thought for a moment. Then he said:

"Well, I suppose if YOU won the prize you would like it to be a nice doll."

"Oh, I'd just love it!" cried Mab with sparkling eyes.

"And Hal would want a pair of skates or maybe a sled, for I think his old one is broken," went on Daddy Blake.

"It is," answered Hal.

"So, as only one of us can win the prize, and as we would all want something different," spoke the children's father, "I think I'll make the prize a ten dollar gold piece, and whoever wins it can buy what they like with it."

"Oh, that's great!" exclaimed Hal.

"Ten dollars!" added Mab. "Why I could buy a lot of dolls for that!"

"I hope you wouldn't spend ALL that money for dolls," said Aunt Lolly.

"No, save some for candy!" laughed Uncle Pennywait. "I'll give you a penny extra as my prize."

"We'll talk about spending the money when the prize is won," said Daddy Blake. "Here it is," and he took from his pocket a bright, shining ten dollar gold piece. Hal and Mab looked at it.

"But everyone must work hard in the garden to win it," said Mr. Blake.

"And, mind you! I may get my own prize, for I am going to work in the garden, too. We will each choose some one vegetable, and whoever raises the finest and best crop will get the prize."

"What made you think of this game for us?" asked Hal.

"Well, everyone is making gardens this year," said Daddy Blake. "You know we are at war, and in war time it is harder to get plenty of food than when we are at peace."

"Why?" asked Hal.

"Because so many men have to go to be soldiers," his father answered. "The farmers and gardeners--thousands of them--have been called away to fight the enemy, so that we, who never before helped to grow things from the earth, must begin now if we are to have enough to eat and to feed our soldiers.

"That is why I am going to have a garden--larger than we ever had before.

That is why many others who never had gardens before are going to have one this year. All over vacant lots and play-fields, and even some beautiful green, gra.s.sy lawns, are being turned into gardens. They will take the places of many gardens that have been turned into battle fields. We must raise more vegetables and fruits and we must save what we raise."

"Why do we want to save it?" asked Hal, "Can't we eat it?"

"We will eat all we need," his father, "But you know that gardens and farms can only be planted, and fruits vegetables can only grow when the weather is warm. Nothing grows in the cold Winter. So we raise all we can in Summer and save what we need to eat when snow is on the ground."

"How are we going to make our garden?" asked Mab.

"And what am I going to plant?" asked Hal.

"Well, we'll begin at the very beginning," answered Daddy Blake. "The first part of any garden is getting the soil ready. That is the dirt, in which we plant the seeds, must be dug up and made soft and mellow so the seeds will grow."

"What makes seeds grow?" asked Mab.

"And why can't we plant 'em anywhere?" Hal wanted to know.

Daddy Blake laughed.

"You're going to have a lot of questions to answer about this garden game," said Uncle Pennywait. "You'll be kept busy."

"Yes, I guess so," agreed Daddy Blake. "Well I'll answer all the questions I can, for I want Hal and Mab to know how hard it is to make even one bean or radish grow from a seed. Then, when they find out that it is not easy to have good vegetables, when the bugs, worms and weeds are fighting against them, they will not waste. For waste is wicked not only in war time but always."

"Oh, Daddy!" cried Mab. "Do the worms and bugs and weeds fight the things in the garden?"

"Indeed they do," answered her father. "It is just like war all the while between the things we want to grow and the things we don't want."

"Oh, if the garden game is like war I'm going to have fun playing it!"

exclaimed Hal, while Roly-Poly chased his tail around the table. I don't mean that the little poodle dog's tail came off and that he raced around trying to get hold of it again. No indeed! His tail just stayed on him, but he whirled around and around trying to get hold of it in his mouth, and he was having a good time doing it.

"There is one of the enemies you'll have to fight if you make a garden,"

said Daddy Blake with a smile.

"Who?" asked Hal.

"Your dog, Roly-Poly. Dogs, when they get in a newly planted garden, often dig up the seeds, just as chickens do. So from the start you'll have to keep Roly-Poly away."

"And chickens, too," said Mab. "They've got chickens next door."

"Yes, but they are kept shut up in their yard, with a wire fence around it," said Daddy Blake. "However you must keep watch. Now suppose we start and pick out what crops we want to raise for the prize of the ten dollar gold piece. I have different kinds of seeds here--corn, beans, tomatoes, radishes and others."

"I want to raise beans!" cried Mab. "Then I can have as many bean-bags as I want."

"We mustn't waste too many beans just for playing games, since beans make a good meal, especially for soldiers," said Daddy Blake. "And much of the food raised on farms and gardens will have to go to feed our soldiers. So we'll give Mab the first choice and let her raise beans. What will you choose, Hal?"

"Corn, I guess," Hal said. "I like pop corn."

"Well, we won't raise much pop corn," laughed his father. "While that is good to eat it is not good for making corn bread, and that is the kind we may have to eat if we can't raise enough wheat to make all the white bread we want."

"Why can't we raise wheat?" asked Hal.

"Well, we could grow a little, for it would grow in our garden as well as in any other soil or dirt," explained Daddy Blake. "But to raise a lot of wheat, or other grains, a big field is needed--a regular farm--and we haven't that."

"Will you take us to a farm some day?" asked Mab.

"Yes, after you learn how to make a garden," his father told him. "So you think you want to try corn; eh?" and he laid a package of that seed in front of the little boy.

"If Mab raises beans and Hal grows corn we'll have succotash at any rate,"

said Mother Blake. "And succotash is good to can and keep all Winter."

"Well, we may have enough to eat, after all, from our garden," said Aunt Lolly. "I think I'll raise pumpkins for my share of the new game."

"Then we can have Jack-o-lanterns!" laughed Hal. "That will be fun!"

"Now look here!" exclaimed; Daddy Blake. "I want you children to have some fun in your gardens, but is isn't ALL fun. There is going to be hard work, too, if anyone wins this prize," and he held up the ten dollar gold piece.

"You may have one pumpkin for a Hallowe'en lantern, maybe, but pumpkin pies are what Aunt Lolly is thinking of, I guess."