Around the house Prue had planted a border of nasturtiums on one side, and a border of marigolds on the other, and they were all coming up and looked as if they would grow into strong, fine plants. Davy had planted some hills of castor beans in the garden, because the Chief Gardener had said that they were good for the three Ms--moles, malaria, and mosquitoes. He was also attending very faithfully to a row of strawberries which the Chief Gardener had told him he might have for his own. The little boy was quite skillful with a hoe, and could take care of his vegetables almost as well as the Chief Gardener, so the Chief Gardener thought. "You must not hoe your beans when the dew is on them, Davy," he said one morning. "The vines are tender and it causes them to rust or blight, but you may hoe most of the other things, and you may hoe around most of your vegetables as often as you want to. Loosening up the soil about young plants makes them grow. It gives the roots a chance to spread, and lets sun and air into the soil. You must be a little more careful with flowers, Prue, for they are usually more tender, and it is better to dig with an old knife or a small, weeding rake. You must thin out your plants, too. Keep pulling from between, as they grow larger, so that they stand farther and farther apart. Where plants grow too thickly they are small, and the flowers and vegetables poor. People sometimes try to raise more on a small piece of ground by having more plants on it, but it does not pay, for the plants do not produce as much as if there were only half as many on the same soil. Give everything plenty of room and air, and they will grow and thrive like children who have a good playground and plenty of wholesome food." "Papa," said Prue, "you were talking the other day of the different kinds of one thing: what makes them?--the different kinds of roses, I mean, and pansies, and--" "And peaches and apples," interrupted Davy, "I want to know that, too." The Chief Gardener did not answer just at first. Then he said, "I am afraid that is a pretty big subject for little people. There are a good many ways of producing species of flowers, and some of them are not easy to understand. But I can tell you, perhaps, about the fruits now, and we will try to understand about some of the flowers another time.