HOW I BEAT DANDELIONS AND CRAB GRASS 111 



I had also had the experience that is common in Lincoln of having 

 ip.y lawn largely composed of crab grass when the fall came. Crab 

 grass as everybody knows is what some people call "water grass" 

 and it comes on in increasing amounts toward the latter part of the 

 season. It is an annual and so early in the season where it hatl 

 occupied place the year before, the lawn is bare. This was the con- 

 dition of my lawn. Now after several years of experimenting I have 

 uo dandelions and I have no crab grass. My lawn has a heavy soi 

 cf good blue grass, and last summer in spite of the intense heat and 

 prolonged drouth my blue grass did not die out at any place. I may 

 say that I watered my lawn as much as I could but this was very little 

 because of the restrictions placed upon us by the city water depart- 

 ment. I had to water my flower beds and fern beds and there was 

 leally very little time left for watering the lawn proper, and yet at 

 the end of the season I had a good blue grass sod which had not been 

 effected at all by the heat and drouth. 



Now it may be well to stop a moment to inquire as to the matter 

 of blue grass. In the first place, it has very tenacious but shallow 

 running roots. In the second place, it has a number of under ground 

 stems that creep through the ground a little distance below the 

 surface. In the third place, as every X)ne knows, it is not a grass 

 which is particularly suited to endure prolonged drouth. Another 

 peculiarity of blue grass is that it has a stem only at the time of 

 flowering. Its leaves grow from near the root and may be called 

 root leaves and these may grow all summer long. Another peculiarity 

 of blue grass is that it is very tender at the crown, that is the point 

 where the leaves emerge from near the ground. And lastly under this 

 list of peculiarities is the fact that when blue grass is cut near to the 

 crown, or, as is sometimes done, at the crown, the plant languishes. 

 The hot sun strikes upon the tender crown cells and many times they 

 rre killed. 



Knowing these facts with regard to the blue grass I came to 

 the conclusion several years ago that it would be much better not 

 to cut blue grass close to the ground as is commonly done, in order 

 i;ot to expose the crown. For the first season, which was three and 

 a half years ago, I cut the grass certainly not more than twice during 

 the season and then I cut very high. This allowed the blue ?;ras3 

 to grow continually and to cover the ground with a good growth of 

 leaves. This also avoided the damage that comes from cutting down 

 close to the crown. At the end of the first season I found that most 

 of the dandelion plants were spindling and poorly developed. I fol- 

 lowed the same plan a second season, cutting once about the tim.e 

 that the blue grass sent up its flowering stalks but even then cutting 

 very high. Then later in the season I cut once more but very high 

 again. I have continued this practice for several years and I now 



