"How long will it take them to grow?" asked Davy.
"That is not easy to say. When everything is just right, some seeds start very soon. I have known radishes to pop up within three days, when the weather was warm and damp. Corn will sprout in about a week, in warm weather. Sweet-pease take a good deal longer, though we can hurry them a little by soaking them in warm water before we plant them. But we will talk about all that later. First, let's see about the pots and earth, and the seeds."
III MANY SEEDS ARE GIVEN WINGS
"I'm going to use the hoe," said Davy, reaching for the long handle.
"I'll have the rake for my garden," said Prue.
The Chief Gardener smiled.
"I don't think we'll need either for this gardening. A small weeder or an old kitchen-knife will be about the largest tool you can use."
Then he picked out some pots, set them side by side on a table, and measured them to see how long a row they made. Then he changed them and measured again.
"There," he said, "those will just fit one window. Now, another set for the other window and we are ready for the soil."
"Where will you get dirt? Everything is frozen hard," said Davy.
The Chief Gardener took up a spading-fork from among the tools.
"We'll get our hats and coats, first," he said, "then we'll see what we can find."
Outside it was really very cold, but the children, with their thick wraps, did not mind. They raced in the snow across the empty little garden, and followed the Chief Gardener to a small mound in one corner. Here he pushed away the snow, and with the fork lifted up a layer of frozen-looking weeds; then another layer, not quite so frozen and not quite so weedy; then still another layer that did not seem at all frozen, but was just a mass of damp leaves and bits of grass. And under this layer it must have been quite warm, for steam began to rise white in the cold air.
"Oh, see!" said Prue. "What makes the smoke?"
"That's steam," said Davy, wisely; "but what makes it warm?"
"Fever," said the Chief Gardener, "just as you had, Davy, that night you
ate too much layer-cake. You said you were burning up, but it was only nature trying to burn up the extra food. That is what nature is doing here trying to burn up and turn to earth the pile of weeds and grass I threw here last summer for compost. Next spring the fire will be out, and leave only a heap of rich soil for the garden."
Beneath the last layer there was warm, dark earth. The Chief Gardener filled the basket he had brought, and they hurried back to the basement to fill the pots.
"Not too full we must leave room at the top for digging and watering, without spilling dirt and water on the floor. Then the plants will help fill up by and by, too, and I think we would better put in a little of this compost at the bottom. When the roots run down they will be glad to find some fresh, rich food. Don't pack the earth too tightly, Davy; just jar the pot a little to settle it, and it should be fine and quite dry. Perhaps we'd better dry it a little," the Chief Gardener added, as he saw by the children's hands that some of the earth was rather damp and sticky.
So he brought out a flat box, emptied all the pots into it, and set the box on top of the furnace.
"While it's drying, we'll go upstairs and pick out the seeds," he said.
"Oh, see my beans! How pretty they are!" cried Davy, as the Chief Gardener pointed out the purple-mottled seeds of the scarlet runners.
Prue looked a little envious. She was fond of pretty things.
"But my pease are better-looking than those crinkly things of yours," she said; "mine are most like little beads; and see my nasturtium seed! They look good to eat, like little peanuts."
It was Davy's turn now to be envious. Anything that looked like peanuts must be very good to eat.
"People often pickle nasturtium pods," said the Chief Gardener. "They are fine and peppery. So Prue will really have something to eat in her garden, while Davy will have beautiful flowers on his scarlet runners."
"See my morning-glory seed, like quarters of a little black apple, and how tiny my pansy seeds are!" cried Prue, holding out the papers.
Davy was looking at the little round, brown kernels that the Chief Gardener had said were radish seeds, and the light little flakes that were to grow into lettuce.
"What makes seeds so different?" he asked soberly.
"Ah, Davy, that is a hard question," answered the Chief Gardener. "A great many very great people have tried to answer it."
He opened a little paper and held it out for them to see.
"What funny little feather-tops!" said Prue.
"Like little darts," said Davy. "What are they?"
"Marigold seeds. They are very light, and the little tufts or wings are to carry them through the air, so they will be scattered and sown by the wind. Many seeds are given wings of different kinds. Maple seeds have a real pair of wings. Others have a tuft of down on them, so light that they are carried for miles. But many seeds are hard to explain. Plants very nearly alike grow from seeds that are not at all alike, while plants as different as can be grow from seeds that can hardly be told apart, even under the magnifying-glass."