om the top. Hal's corn did not have to be planted quite so deep, and he
dropped five kernels in a circle about as large around as a tea-saucer.
This circle would, a little later, be hoed into one big hill of corn.

"How long before my beans will grow?" asked Mab.

"And my corn?" Hal wanted to know.

"Well, beans begin to grow almost as soon as they are in the ground,"
answered her father, "but you can't see them until about a week. Then the
little leaves appear. Hal's corn will take longer, maybe ten days, before
any green shows. You must be patient."

Hal and Mab tried to be, but each day they went out in the garden and
looked at where they had planted their beans and corn in the garden rows.

"I don't believe they're EVER going to grow," said Mab at last. "Maybe
some worms came and took my seeds. I'm going to dig some up and look."

"Don't," begged Hal.

But Mab did. With a stick she poked in the earth until she saw something
that made her call:

"Oh, Hal! Look. My beans are all swelled up like a sponge."

Hal looked, Mab had dug up one bean. It had swelled and split apart, and
inside the two halves of the bean something green showed.

"Oh, Mab! Cover it up, quick!" he cried. "The beans are growing--they're
sprouting! Cover it up, quick!"

And Mab did. Now she was sure her beans were growing.

Two mornings afterward she went out into her part of the garden before
starting for school. She saw something very queer.

"Oh, Daddy! Hal!" cried the little girl "My beans were planted wrong!
They're growing upside down! The beans are all pushed upside down out of
the ground. Oh, my garden is spoiled!"

CHAPTER IV

THE FIRST RADISH

Daddy Blake came hurrying out of the house as Mab called. Hal, who was
anxiously looking to see if any of his corn had come up, ran over to his
sister.

"What is the matter?" asked Mr. Blake. "Did Roly-Poly come home and
scratch in your garden?"

"No. But look at my beans!" wailed Mab. "They're all upside down."

It did seem so. Along the rows she had so carefully planted in her garden
could be seen some light green stems, some of them curved like the letter
U upside down. And sticking out of the brown earth were the beans, split
open in two halves.

"Who did it?" asked Mab, tears in her eyes.

Daddy Blake looked and laughed.

"Did you do it?" his little girl wanted to know. "Did you upside down my
beans, Daddy Blake?"

"No, Mother Nature did that for you, Mab."