"
"Oh, you mean a scare-crow!" cried Hal.
"Yes," said Mab. "Could I make a scare-crow for my beans, Daddy?"
"I hardly think you'll need it, Mab," her father said with a laugh. "Beans
are not eaten by crows. But you will have to begin to hoe away the weeds
soon, and work around your rows of bean plants. Nothing makes garden
things grow better than keeping the weeds away from them, and keeping the
soil nicely pulverized and damp."
"What do the weeds do to the beans?" asked Mab.
"Well, the weeds grow faster than the beans, and if the weeds are too near
they would keep off the sunlight. Weeds also eat out of the soil the food
that the beans need, so if you let weeds grow in your garden your bean
plants would starve. It is just the same as if some big giant sat beside
you at the table and took from your plate nearly everything Mother put on
for you to eat.
"So, in order that you might grow well and strong, we would have to take
the giant away. It's the same with weeds. They are the bad giants that eat
the good things in the soil which our plants need. I'll get you and Hal
each a little hoe to use in your garden.
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