"Well, we'll begin at the very beginning," answered Daddy Blake. "The first part of any garden is getting the soil ready. That is the dirt, in which we plant the seeds, must be dug up and made soft and mellow so the seeds will grow."
"What makes seeds grow?" asked Mab.
"And why can't we plant 'em anywhere?" Hal wanted to know.
Daddy Blake laughed.
"You're going to have a lot of questions to answer about this garden game," said Uncle Pennywait. "You'll be kept busy."
"Yes, I guess so," agreed Daddy Blake. "Well I'll answer all the questions I can, for I want Hal and Mab to know how hard it is to make even one bean or radish grow from a seed. Then, when they find out that it is not easy to have good vegetables, when the bugs, worms and weeds are fighting against them, they will not waste. For waste is wicked not only in war time but always."
"Oh, Daddy!" cried Mab. "Do the worms and bugs and weeds fight the things in the garden?"
"Indeed they do," answered her father. "It is just like war all the while between the things we want to grow and the things we don't want."
"Oh, if the garden game is like war I'm going to have fun playing it!" exclaimed Hal, while Roly-Poly chased his tail around the table. I don't mean that the little poodle dog's tail came off and that he raced around trying to get hold of it again. No indeed! His tail just stayed on him, but he whirled around and around trying to get hold of it in his mouth, and he was having a good time doing it.
"There is one of the enemies you'll have to fight if you make a garden," said Daddy Blake with a smile.