486 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Xow, I wish to disabuse the minds of people who think this is the only way to' 

 maintain a good turf. It is not even the best of many ways. It is not at all 

 necessary that one sacrifice the beauty of the green turf, or that one endure the 

 vile odor of fermenting manure in order to keep up the fertility of the lawn. 

 Plain ground bone, and Mr. Wilde says it may be quite coarsely ground, scat- 

 tered over the surface at the" rate of five pounds to the square rod, will disap- 

 pear so as not to be observed, and makes an excellent manure. I have used 

 ordinary wood ashes with excellent results. A compost made of the droppings 

 of the poultry house mixed with road dust or sifted coal ashes, pulverized and 

 sown broadcast, does not in the least disfigure the lawn and produces immedi- 

 ate and excellent results. Mrs. Winans of Benton Harbor says that tobacco 

 stems broken up finely and sown upon the lawn will produce a very dark green 

 verdure. Use any of these plans rather than spoil the appearance of the grass 

 half the year, that it may be beautiful the remainder. The sacrifice" is entirely 

 uncalled for.— S. Q. Lent. 



A New Lawn. — Please do not waste money in having that fine piece of 

 ground sodded by the square yard, for if you do, the ••professional" will 

 hunt up an old pasture, or a roadside, or some piece of rough ground that 

 is "in common," and bring to your yard all the vile weeds in the country. 

 Don't be deluded by the idea that you will get a smooth surface sooner in 

 this way than any other. That is a snare set for you by a man who wants a 

 job. First of all, get your surface just as you want it. Look at it from all 

 sides. You are making an improvement to last a lifetime. Then see that 

 the ground is fitted as you would fit it for an onion bed when you were ar- 

 ranging to grow a larger crop than any of your neighbors. Sow your grass- 

 seed either early in autumn, or early in spring. Don't sow any oats, wheat, or 

 rye along with it for protection. The grass will pump every bit of moisture 

 that is in the ground, and there should none of it be wasted in any other 

 crop. Sow equal parts of Kentucky blue grass and red top. Sow at the 

 rate of sixty pounds to the acre. This is very thick, but you want a nice 

 sod as quickly as you can get it. This will secure what you are after. This 

 can all be done at one-tenth the cost of sodding, and you are sure of your 

 results. A land mower and a roller will do the rest, with willing hands to 

 push them. — S. Q. Lent. 



Lawns by Inoculation. — A writer in Floral Cabinet tells how to do 

 it: 



After the ground is prepared as it. should be for sowing the seed or for 

 sodding, find the number of yards to be covered; then provide one-sixteenth 

 as many yards of sod, cut in pieces three inches square and place them a foot 

 apart all over the ground. If in rows both ways, so much the better. Pound 

 each one into the ground with the back of the spade. In a short time each 

 piece will send up a bunch of green spears, and, later in the season, they will 

 all run together. Every gardener knows how soon grass will encroach on a 

 path or a flower-bed. If the pieces are in rows the spaces between may be 

 kept clear of weeds with a wheel -hoe, or the whole may be cut with a lawn- 

 mower. 



