MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES. 407 



REPAIRING OLD LAWNS. 



It is not much work to cut sods, and you can cover a good-sized 

 piece of ground in a day. I grind a garden spade until sharp, and with 

 this cut strips as wide as the blade and two inches thick, rolling it up 

 as it is cut. When the rolls get of convenient size for handling they 

 are wheeled to the place where they are to be used, unrolled like a 

 strip of carpet, laid down and firmly tramped. If this is done in early 

 spring no further attention is necessary ; but if the weather is warm, 

 and especially if it is dry, it is much better to water copiously as soon 

 as a load is laid. Where the depressions in a lawn are only a few inches 

 deep they may be filled with mold; the grass will grow through and be 

 all the thriftier for it. 



TO MAKE A NEW LAWN, 



Work should be begun in the autumn by grading and leveling the plot 

 and applying a heavy coat of fertilizer to be dissolved and incorporated 

 with the soil during winter. In the spring sow a mixture of grasses at 

 the rate of two bushels to the acre. Every seed dealer makes a mix- 

 ture of this kind, and it is best to buy it thus as the mixture is properly 

 made. Do not be in too much of a hurry to use a mower. Use a 

 scythe the first year, as a lawn mower cuts too closely and exposes the 

 roots to the hot sun. — Miller Purvis in Prairie Farmer. 



THE WEEDS AND THE FLOWEES. 



I wish I had a garden all my own 



Of rare, sweet flowers, and where the vine has grown 



To cheer the passer-by. and bless me too, 



With occupation, and with health's bright hue. 



No land have 1 but this small patch of weeds, 



A door-yard, such as every housewife needs; 



A garden, such as I would fain enjoy, 



Is mine in dreams alone, not for employ. 



Reflecting thus, I snatched a weed, in haste, 

 And said, O why this strip of ground be waste? 

 I'll set out from a box, now full of roots, 

 The red Petunia, then new little shoots 

 Will spreading grow, and here at my back door, 

 I'll have a dozen blossoms, if no more. 



