Ornamental. -11)9 



suspect that it is a kind of lethargy instead — a mere blankness that can 

 grow upon one. I find myself, for example, going incessantly to see cer- 

 tain pans of my own hybridized seedlings, and staring aimlessly at them 

 till I get quite empty-headed. Xow, I am too busy a man to be able to 

 afford that." 



In answer to the question, How can the Farmer or Fruit-Grower 

 keep a large Lawn in Condition with the least outlay of Time and 

 Money? — L. B. Pierce would first divest the lawn of stone piles, rose 

 bushes and suckering shrubs; also of misplaced flower beds. Group such 

 shrubs as may be desirable upon the outskirts of the lawn and place wild- 

 flower borders and those designed to hold flowers, other than bedding- 

 plants, away from the house and walks. Limit the flower beds in size, 

 placing geraniums and coleus close to the dwelling, as these can be kept 

 neatly with a little trouble, while the others will not require close atten- 

 tion and had better be on the outskirts. If the lawn is quite large and 

 needs additional ornament, use cannas and Japanese grasses, which re- 

 quire very little care. 



If the lawn requires smoothing up, draw rich soil from plowed fields 

 in late autumn and fill depressions, making all smooth in the early spring. 

 Grass will grow through two inches of filling, and if more is needed, do 

 it in succeeding autumns. This advice is especially applicable to old 

 dooryards with large trees, where plowing and reseeding is difficult or next 

 to impossible. It takes a good deal of soil sometimes, but, if done when 

 other work is not pressing, costs comparatively little. Having got the 

 lawn smooth and free from obstructions in large open areas, get a good 

 lawn-mower and a can of lubricating oil. It will next be in order to 

 liypnotize or bulldose some member of the family until he or she had 

 rather mow lawn than eat dinner. If the hired man smokes, a free use of 

 stogies and ^'two-fers" will bribe him into extra hours with the lawn-, 

 mower, and sometimes seven cents' worth of cigars will produce more 

 than a dollar's worth of labor. As each heart knows its own bitterness, 

 so each family will in time settle upon the individual who shall become 

 a lawn-mower slave, and happy it is if the slave has so much enthusiasm 

 as to be unmindful of the bondage. — Before Ohio State Society, Country 

 Gentleman. 



