[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic text is surrounded by _underscores_.] THE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF GARDENING UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME By MISS CONWAY and SIR MARTIN CONWAY THE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF ART By ELIZABETH W. GRIERSON THE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF CELTIC STORIES By ELIZABETH W. GRIERSON CHILDREN’S TALES FROM SCOTTISH BALLADS By ELIZABETH W. GRIERSON THE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF EDINBURGH By ELIZABETH W. GRIERSON CHILDREN’S TALES OF ENGLISH MINSTERS By G. E. MITTON THE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF LONDON By G. E. MITTON THE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF STARS By G. E. MITTON THE BOOK OF THE RAILWAY A. AND C. BLACK · SOHO SQUARE · LONDON, W. AGENTS =America= THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64 & 66 Fifth Avenue, NEW YORK =Australasia= OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 205 Flinders Lane, MELBOURNE =Canada= THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD. 27 Richmond Street West, TORONTO =India= MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD. Macmillan Building, BOMBAY 309 Bow Bazaar Street, CALCUTTA [Illustration: A HERBACEOUS BORDER.] THE CHILDREN’S BOOK OF GARDENING BY MRS. ALFRED SIDGWICK AND MRS. PAYNTER WITH TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR FROM DRAWINGS BY MRS. CAYLEY-ROBINSON LONDON ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK 1909 ‘It is the Spirit of Paradise That prompts such work, a Spirit strong, That gives to all the self-same bent Where life is wise and innocent.’ WORDSWORTH. DEDICATED TO BETTY, BARBARA, AND CYRIL PREFACE THIS book was suggested by the questions of a boy of twelve who lived in Germany and sent for an English book that would teach him the elements of gardening. One of the authors asked the editor of a well-known gardening journal to recommend her a suitable book, and found that he knew of none written from a child’s point of view, and supplying the instruction a child could understand and use. Yet in these days, when so many children have a garden, such a book must be needed. The aim in this one has been to tell the juvenile reader how to make his garden grow, and the authors have not allowed themselves to wander in the pleasant byways of description, reflection, or amusement. They wished to help the budding gardener rather than to entertain the child, and they have tried to keep within the limits of what a child can do.