Miscellaneous. 229 



the lawn. If the soil is in good condition, fairly good results can be se- 

 cured by scarifying the surface deeply with a sharp rake. On larger lawns 

 such places may be gone over with a spading harrow. It is a good plan to 

 accompany all such sowing with a liberal top-dressing of well-rotted 

 barnyard manure, or with the nitrogenous fertilizers already mentioned. 



A LAWN FULL OF WEEDS. 



The best way to get rid of weeds is to crowd them out with grass. A 

 first-rate lawn will overcome all intruders, except dandelion and plantain. 

 This means, of course, when the fundamental conditions discussed above 

 are complied with. The frequent use of a good lawn mower is one of the 

 best means of discouraging weeds. The application of lime or land plas- 

 ter to soils which have a tendency to be acid encourages the growth of 

 grass. In certain cases, however, when everything has been done aright, 

 some weeds will persist, especially plantain and dandelion. The only 

 thing to be done in such cases is to pull them out by hand. This work is 

 expensive, though it sometimes proves much cheaper than was expected. 

 At any rate, a good lawn is worth the price, and there is no other way. — ■ 

 The Garden Magazine. 



CHESTNUT TREES ON THE FARM. 



I noticed in a recent issue an article on grafting hickories and chest- 

 nuts, writes the correspondent of Country Gentleman. I well remember 

 when a boy at the old home in Franklin county, Mass., our chestnut or- 

 chard. My father had saved the sprouts that came up after clearing a- 

 twenty-acre lot, and carefully cared for them. This was over seventy- 

 five years ago. They stood out open like an apple orchard. They did 

 not run up like those in a forest, but like the apple tree, branched out from 

 the body from six to ten feet from the ground, and made a very handsome 

 head. This lot was the sheep pasture, and high land. These trees made 

 a fine growth, and were beautiful. They were mainly on the ridge or high- 

 est part of the lot, and this was the sleeping place for the sheep ; conse- 

 quently the ground was rich and the trees vigorous. The nuts from those 

 trees were large and plump — three and four in a burr; some trees pro- 

 duced more bushels than many of the apple trees. This was the pocket- 

 money crop of us boys. Chestnuts then sold for about $1.25 a bushel, 

 sometimes higher, and with a flush crop sometimes, $1. It was a 

 liberal allowance, and we were much interested in caring for the trees, and 



