DIVISION OF HORTICULTURE 535 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



after the work of levelling is finished. Plants will seldom grow in the raw sub-soil. 

 The top soil being the richer in plant food should always be kept at the surface. In 

 filling up holes, be careful to see that the soil is well packed into them, or subsequently 

 settling takes place and an uneven lawn is the result. 



BEST GRADES FOR THE LAWN. 



The best grade for a town lawn is to have it slope slightly away from the house 

 and towards the street. This prevents surface water from remaining on it after heavy 

 showers and also gives the appearance of greater size to the lot. The levelling should 

 be done as perfectly as possible before the seed is sown. Hand rakes are the best toob 

 to accomplish this, and all stones, except those which are very small, should be ruked 

 off. 



Wlien the soil is not of the very best quality, good large applif aticns of farju- 

 yard manure, in a well-rotted condition, should be made just previous to the final pre- 

 paration. Unless the manure is exceedingly well rotted, it may be best to apply it 

 several months previously. One of the best of the commercial fertilizers is fine steamed 

 bone meal. A " complete fertilizer," consisting of potash salts, superphosphates, and 

 a little nitrate of soda, also gives satisfactory results. Such fertilizers may be applied 

 at the rate of from 250 to 500 pounds per acre, or about one ounce to a square yard of 

 lawn. Commercial fertilizers should not be applied during dry weather. Two or three 

 applications during the course of the season, applied at the above rate, will generally 

 give better results than a much larger quantity applied all at once. 



HOW AND WHEN TO SOW THE SEED. 



The seed should be sown when there is no wind, because the seed, being very 

 light, is difficult to distribute evenly in windy weather. To ensure even distribu- 

 tion, it is best to mark ofl' the lawn into strips about 6 feet wide, and sow fairly 

 lightly. Then mark it off again at right angles to the first strips, and sow a second 

 time. 



Seed is best sown during one of the three following seasons : First, as early in 

 the spring as possible, that is, as soon as the ground is dry enough to work. If the 

 ground has been prepared the previous autumn, so that all that remains to be done 

 in the spring is to srw it to seed, the spring is perhaps the most satisfactory time 

 to sow. The second season is during the latter part of August or early in Septem- 

 ber. Should delays hinder the early spring sowing, it is generally better to put off 

 sowing till this season. The reasons for this are that during the months of June 

 and July, the seed fails to germinate, or if it germinates, the long hours of sun- 

 light and the dry atmosphere kills off the tiny plants, whereas by September, by the 

 aid of dew and rain, the seed germinates quickly and survives the heat of the sun far 

 better. The third season is as late in the autumn as possible — just before the ground 

 freezes up. The object of sowing the seed at this season is to gain time in the 

 spring. The seed will lie in the ground without harm during the winter, and will 

 germinate very early in the spring. It must not be sown too early in the autumn, 

 otherwise it may germinate and the young plants being quite tender at the start of 

 their life, most of them will be killed off by frost. After the seed has been sown, 

 the soil should be carefully and not too heavily raked and, with most types of soil, a 

 final rolling will prove beneficial. 



KINDS AND QUANTITY OF SEED. 



From the vicinity of i^jTew York northward, the best lawn grass mixture is one 

 consisting of Kentucky Blue grass, and a small quantity of White Dutch clover. 

 In some cases Red Top is mixed with the Blue grass. Seed firms selling special lawn 

 grass mixtures, generally add to these grasses some such quick germinating grass as 



Ottawa. 



