"You just said the soil was light and fine," said Uncle Robert. "Don't you know you have to thank the worms for keeping it so?" "Are you sure, uncle?" asked Susie. "I thought the worms ate the plants." "The earthworms never eat the plants," said Uncle Robert. "They eat the soil, and so keep it worked over. It is the cutworm that eats the plants." Just then Donald came over from the vegetable garden. "Why, you've only just begun," he said. "We're all through. Don't those tomato plants look nice?" "Well," said Susie, "you didn't draw your garden. That took a long time, didn't it, uncle? You rake those beds for me, Don, while I put the seeds in." "I'd just as soon," said Donald, taking the rake. "What goes here?" "Mignonette," said Susie. "When any one wants to know about my garden now, they can look at the drawing." Uncle Robert smiled. "What makes you think you'll have mignonette there?" he asked, as Susie marked a little furrow with a stick in the soft, warm soil. "Why, these are mignonette seeds," she replied. "I gathered them myself. Don't you think they'll grow, uncle?" "Certainly I do," replied Uncle Robert. "It would be a pretty dead seed," said Donald, "that wouldn't grow in this soil." "Are seeds alive?" asked Uncle Robert, smiling. "Why, I--I don't know," said Donald, looking puzzled. "I never thought about it. I just said that. They don't look like it, that's a fact, but they surely wouldn't grow if they were dead, would they?" "Do all seeds grow in the same way?" asked Uncle Robert. "I never thought about it," said Donald. "Neither did I," said Susie. "I just know if I plant mignonette, mignonette will grow; and if I plant sweet peas, sweet peas will grow. That's all I ever thought about it." "Would you like to know?" asked Uncle Robert. "Oh, yes," said Susie. "How can we?" asked Donald. "The seeds are in the ground, and we can't see them." "If Susie is willing to dig up one of her sweet peas," said Uncle Robert, "perhaps it will tell us what it has been doing since she planted it last week." "Oh, yes," said Susie. "See if you can find one, Don. I put lots in." Down on their knees went Susie and Donald, and began digging in the soil. "Here is one," said Donald, "just ready to come up, and another close to it. The tip of it must have been through. See, it is green." "Wouldn't it be green in the ground?" asked Susie, looking closely at the tiny plant. "Why, no," said Donald. "Things are never green when they're covered up. It's light that makes things green. Don't you know how yellow the grass gets if a board lies on it, and what yellow stalks the potatoes have when they sprout in the cellar? It must be the light that makes them green." "Oh, yes," said Susie. "But see how big that pea is! It's about twice as big as it was when I planted it." [Illustration: Sprouting pea.]