er, than if you
wait and only hoe when the weeds are big.

"Gardens should be made to look nice, as well as be made free from weeds
just because it is a good thing for the plants," went on Daddy Blake. "A
good gardener takes pride in his garden. He wants to see every weed cut
down. Besides, hoeing around your corn and beans makes the dirt nice and
finely pulverized--like the pulverized sugar with which Mother makes icing
for the cakes. And the finer the dirt is around the roots of a plant the
more moisture it will hold and the better it will be for whatever is
growing, as I have told you before."

"Well, we'll hoe a little bit," said Hal.

He and his sister got their hoes and soon they were so interested in
cutting down the weeds in between the rows that they forgot about going
off to play. Hal noticed that the ears of corn on his stalks were getting
larger inside the green husk that kept the soft and tender kernels from
being broken, as might have happened if they were out in the air, as
tomatoes grow.

And so the gardens grew, just as did that of "Mistress Mary, quite
contrary," about whom you may read in Mother Goose, or some book like
that. Sometimes it rained and again it was quite dry, with a hot sun
beating down out of the blue sky.

"If we don't get rain pretty soon we shall have to water the gardens,"
said Daddy Blake one night after about a week of very dry weather. Around
the roots of the many plants the earth was caked and hard, so that very
little air could get down to nourish the growing things.

"What do people do who have gardens where it doesn't rain as often as it
does here, Daddy?" asked Mab.

"Well in very dry countries, such as some parts of ours near the places
called deserts," said Mr. Blake, "men build large dams, and hold the water
back in big ponds or lakes so it will last from one rainy season to
another. The water is let run from the lake through little ditches, or
pipes, so that the thirsty plants may drink. This is called the irrigation
method, for to irrigate means to wet, soak or moisten with water. Each
farmer or gardener is allowed to buy as much water as he needs, opening
little gates at the ends of the main ditches or sluices, and letting the
water run over his dry ground, in which he has dug furrows to lead the
water where he most needs it.

"And sometimes, when there is too little water to use much of it this way,
the gardeners do what they call intensive cultivation. Those