Aunt Lolly and Uncle Pennywait, as well as Daddy Blake, had planted their
parts of the garden, and the land around the Blake house looked smooth and
brown, with, here and there, a little green showing.

"I know what I'm going to do with that ten dollar gold piece prize when I
win it," said Uncle Pennywait.

"What are you going to do?" asked his wife.

"I'm going to buy ice cream," said Uncle Pennywait. "I never yet had all
the ice cream I wanted. But I will when I get that ten dollars."

"Ten dollars is an awful lot of ice cream!" said Mab, sighing.

"He's only joking," laughed Aunt Lolly. "You children mustn't let him win
the prize. Keep busy in your gardens, and get it yourselves."

Hal and Mab did, hoeing away each afternoon when school was out. Daddy
Blake showed them how to cut off the weeds that grew in between the rows
of corn and beans. The earth was chopped up fine, for the children were
told that earth which is made fine holds water, or moisture, longer than
when it is in big chunks.

"And plants need to drink water from the soil, as well as through their
leaves when it rains," said Daddy Blake. "A plant can no more get along
without water to drink than you children can."

"Oh Daddy!" cried Mab, running in the house from her garden one day. "A
lot of my bean leaves have holes in them. Has Hal been shooting his pop