are big
words, but they mean that the man just hoes his ground every day around
his plants, instead of perhaps once a week.

"You know there is moisture in the air, and at night dew falls. This wets
the ground a little, and by digging and turning over the earth around the
roots of his plants, the gardener makes it very fine so it holds the
moisture longer. In this way a little bit of rain, or dew, lasts a long
time. Come out now, and I'll show you something you perhaps have not
noticed."

Daddy took Hal and Mab to the garden, and with a hoe he pointed to a place
around Hal's corn stalks where the dry ground was hard, and baked by the
sun.

A few strokes of the hoe and Daddy Blake had turned up some of the
underlying earth. Hal and Mab saw that it was darker in color than that on
top, and when they put their hands down in it the earth felt moist.

"What makes it?" asked Mab.

"Because the underneath part of the ground held the moisture in it. The
top part was baked dry and the moisture had all gone away--evaporated in
the sun, if you want to use big words, just as water dries in your hands
after you wash them, even if you do not soak it up with a towel."

"Does a towel soak up water?" asked Mab. "I thought it just wiped it off
our hands."

"No, the towel is like a sponge," said Daddy Blake. "The fuzzier the towel
the more like a sponge it is. Each little bit of linen or cotton, is
really a tiny hollow tube--a capillary tube it is called--and these tubes
suck up the water on your hands as the same fuzzy capillary tubes in a
piece of blotting paper suck up the ink. A towel is a sponge or a blotter.
And the earth is a sort of sponge when it comes to sucking up the rain and
dew. It also holds the water near the plant, when the ground is finely
pulverized, so the tomato vine, the corn stalk or the bean bush can drink
when it gets thirsty."

"My! There's a lot to know about a garden; isn't there?" said Mab with a
sigh.

"Yes, there is," agreed Hal. "I don't s'pose we'll ever know it all."

"No," said his father, "you will not. There will always be something
better to learn, not only for you but for everyone. But learn all you can,
and learn, first of all, that plants must have sunshine, air and water to
make them grow. Now we'll water the garden."

There were no signs of rain, and though the ground was a little moist in
some parts of the garden Daddy Blake thought all the growing things would
be better for a wet