Daddy Takes Us to the Garden Part 8

"But if you poison the beans won't they poison us when we eat them?" Hal wanted to know.

"The rain will wash off all the poison the beetles do not eat," answered his father. "Besides there are no beans on Mab's plants yet. By the time the bean pods come I hope we shall have driven the beetles away."

Mr. Blake mixed some poison called a.r.s.enic in a can of water and sprinkled it on Mab's bean plants. In a few days the beetles had died, or they went away, not liking the taste of the poisoned leaves, and Mab's beans were allowed to grow in peace. That war was over. But other bugs and worms came in the Blake garden, and Daddy Blake, Uncle Pennywait and Aunt Lolly, as well as the children and their mother, were kept busy. The cut worms got in among the cabbages, and many a nice plant was gnawed off close to the ground, dropping over and wilting away until it died. The cut worms came up out of the ground and ate the tiny cabbage stalks close to the earth.

"We shall have to put collars on the cabbage plants," said Daddy Blake, as he looked at some which were killed.

"Put collars on cabbages--how?" asked Mab.

"I'll show you," said her father.

He took some tough paper and made a sort of hollow tube around the stalk of each cabbage plant, tying the paper with string. One end was shoved down in the ground, the other being close up around the lowest cabbage leaves, until it did look as though the plant had on a high, stiff collar.

"The worms can't bite through the paper--or at least they hardly ever do," said Daddy Blake, "and after a while the cabbage stalk will get so strong that the worms can not do it any damage."

By this time many things were growing in the Blake garden. The tomato plants had been set out, and for the first day or so had been kept covered with pieces of paper so the strong sun would not wilt them. They had been used to living in the house, where they started to grow, and transplanting made them tender. But soon they took root in their new soil and began to grow very fast.

Hal and Mab hoed and raked their gardens. When it did not rain they watered their corn and beans, and they were anxious for the time to come when they could really eat some of the things they had grown. Daddy Blake said Mab's beans might be ready to pick green, so they could be boiled, in about six weeks, but Hal's corn would not be ready for ten weeks. Then the ears would be filled out enough so they could be boiled and eaten with salt and b.u.t.ter. Corn grows more slowly than beans.

"When will we have anything to eat from our garden?" asked Mother Blake one day, when the Summer sun had been beaming down on the green things for a week.

"Well, we'll see," said her husband. "Come with me, Hal and Mab. I'll take you to the garden and we'll see what we can find."

"My beans aren't ready yet," said Mab.

"And there are only little, teeny ears of corn on the stalks in my garden," Hal said.

"We'll see," said Daddy Blake.

He led the children to a plot of earth he himself had planted. Hal and Mab saw some dark green leaves in long rows.

"Pull up some of them," directed Daddy Blake.

Hal did so. On the end of the leaves, growing down in the ground, was something round and red.

"It's a little beet!" cried Mab, clapping her hands in delight.

"No, they're radishes!" exclaimed Hal. "Aren't they, Daddy?"

"Yes, those are red early radishes. Here are some white ones over here for you to pull, Mab. They are called icicles."

Mab gave a cry of delight as she pulled up some long, white radishes. They did look a little like icicles.

"Radishes grow very quickly," said Daddy Blake. "They are ready to eat in about five weeks after the seeds are planted--sooner even that the quickest beans. But of course radishes do not keep over winter. They must be eaten soon after they are pulled, and they make a good relish with bread and b.u.t.ter. We'll have some for dinner."

And the Blakes did. It was the first thing they had from their new garden, and Hal and Mab, who were allowed to eat a few, thought the radishes very good.

Just as the children were getting up from the table one morning, to go out and hoe a little among the corn and beans before going to school, they heard a barking, whining, growling noise out in the yard, and the voice of Sammie Porter could be heard crying:

"Oh, stop! Stop! Go on away! You're bad! Oh, come take him away! Oh! Oh!"

"Something has happened!" cried Daddy Blake, jumping up from his chair. "I hope Sammie isn't hurt!"

CHAPTER V

THE POTATOES' EYES

Hal and Mab ran after their father as he hurried out into the yard. They could hear Sammie crying more loudly now, and above his voice sounded a growling and barking noise.

One part of the fence, between the Blake yard and that where Mr. Porter had made his garden, was low, so that the two children could look over.

They saw Sammie standing near the fence, greatly frightened, and looking at a tangle of morning glory vines in which something was wiggling around and making a great fuss.

"Oh, what is it?" asked Hal.

"It's a--it's a lion!" cried the frightened Sammie. "A great--great big lion, all fuzzy like!"

"Oh, it couldn't be a lion, Sammie," said Mr. Blake. "Tell me what it is that scared you."

"'Tis a lion," said Sammie again. "He ran after me an' I ran an' he ran in the bushes an' he's there now. He barked at me!"

"Ho! If he barked it's a DOG," cried Hal. "Where is he, Sammie?"

"In there," and Sammie pointed to the tangle of morning glory vines. Just then Mab saw something that made her call out:

"Why it is a dog. It's OUR dog--Roly-Poly!"

"Are you sure?" asked her father. "Roly is over at Mr. Thompson's house you know," for the little poodle had been sent away while the garden was being made. Mr. Thompson had planted nothing, having too small a yard.

"I don't care!" exclaimed Mab. "I DID see Roly. He's in the bushes there--under the morning glories."

"Well, if it's your dog Roly I would not be so frightened of HIM," said Sammie. "Only I thinked he was a LION."

"Here, Roly! Roly-Poly, come on out!" cried Hal, and out came a very queer-looking dog indeed. It was Roly, but how he had changed. He was all stuck over with leaves, gra.s.s and bits of bark from the trees. He certainly did "fuzzy," as Sammie had said, and not at all like the nice, clean poodle he had been.

"Oh, whatever is the matter with him?" cried Mab.

"He's got a lot of leaves stuck on him," added Hal. "Come here, Roly, and I'll pull 'em off for you."

Roly came running over to Hal, but when the little boy tried to get the leaves, gra.s.s and bits of bark off his pet he found out what was the matter.

"Roly's all stuck up in fly paper!" cried Hal. "Look!"

"In fly paper?" asked Mr. Blake. "Are you sure?"