1895. 



GARDENING. 



119 



A GROUP OF CACTI AT SCHENLEY PARK. PITTSBURG. PA. 



on? What kind of grass seed shouljJ I sow 

 and how much and when? Should the 

 surface be raked or rolled or both before 

 or after sowing? S. C. M. 



Morris ville, Pa. 



If the land needs draining have it tile- 

 drained at once. If there are any old tree 

 stumps in it or rocks near the surface 

 have them dug out and removed and in 

 filling up the holes have them packed 

 solid from the bottom up as well as at 

 top, filling them up level. If there are any 

 other hollows in the lawn have the sod 

 skinned off of them, fork them over and 

 tread them firmly, and fill up level and 

 firm with loam from elsewhere. It there 

 are any bumps on the lawn skin the sod 

 off of them, dig off the bump, laying it 

 aside, then dig out and remove enough of 

 the subsoil to bring the patch to a little 

 less than level after the top soil has been 

 replaced, and cart a little fresh loam on 

 to the surface, treading all quite firm. 

 Now go over the lawn and pull out every 

 big perennial weed you may see in it, 

 these may consist of mulleins, docks, 

 bunches of wild onions, and the like, of 

 course as dandelions, plantains and many 

 other weeds don't show themselves much 

 before spring there is no need bothering 

 them now, simply take what you can see 

 and get a good hold of If you cannot 

 pull them up easily pry them'up with a 

 digging fork, then pull them out and 

 tamp the groimd down firmlv with your 

 foot. 



Now your ground is level and smooth 

 and preparing for the grass is what con- 

 cerns you. Just as soon as the weather 

 is open and the ground is free from frost 

 and dry enough to work get a light iron- 

 toothed harrow and run it lengthwise 

 and crosswise over the face of all the 

 lawn, this will scratch among the grass, 

 root out som- tussocks, tear among 

 creeping weeds as veronica, moxise ear 

 duckweed, yarrow and sorrel, and un- 



fasten the dead grass. If one harrowing 

 doesn't scratch it enough harrow it again. 

 Now take wooden-toothed rakes and rake 

 off all the loose surface stuff as old grass, 

 roots, sticks, stones, and the like torn up 

 by the harrow into little heaps or ridges 

 and cart it off as you go along. If j-our 

 land was good and sweet and rich on the 

 surface it would now be ready for the 

 grass seed, but as you say grass on it is 

 poor, it evidently needs recuperating and 

 strengthening. Prepare a big heap of 

 compost, say one-half or one-third in 

 bulk of loam from any cultivated field, 

 and the other half or two-thirds of rotted 

 manure; mix this well together and cart 

 it out on to the lawn, giving a heavy 

 dressing — one to two inches thick all 

 over— and spread it at once. But don't 

 sow the seed till there is a spell of open 

 weather late in March or the first of 

 April. There is no need for rolling the 

 ground now, the rains and snows of win- 

 ter will compact it enough and leave it in 

 better condition for sowing than if it 

 were rolled. The topdressing won't hurt 

 the grass that is there now, instead it will 

 beof greatbenefittoit,andit willcome up 

 in spring with renewed vigor, but as it 

 won't be thick enough or even enough 

 and there will be bare patches on the 

 lawn, is why you need to sow fresh grass 

 seed all over it to get it equally green and 

 in even sod. 



When the time comes for sowing the 

 seed drag over it to break the surface 

 crust, run a link or brush harrow overthe 

 ground and rake off and cart away all 

 the rough stuff, as the strawy part of the 

 manure, then sov! the seed broadcast 

 over the lawn, and either harrow or rake 

 it in and roll the whole lawn firmly. 



For grass seed use 2 bu-ihels Kentucky 

 blue grass, 2 bushels red top. 1 bushel rye 

 grass and 6 pounds white clover, mix all 

 together and sow at the rate of two to 

 three bushels— according to the bareness 

 of the ground or poverty of the grass 



now on it, the poorer thegrassnow there 

 the more seedyouwillneed— per acre. The 

 rye grass is for quick effect only and 

 should not be used so thick as to hurt the 

 other two finer grasses. Some people don't 

 like clover in a lawn but it is a capital 

 thing for dry weather and stiff or clayey 

 ground. In mi.xing the grass seed if you 

 sift a lot of ordinarily moist mellow loam 

 and mix this with it, it prevents the 

 clover seed from falling to the bottom of 

 the heap, and holds it equally distributed 

 among the grass seed, also you can sow 

 the seed with perfect ease even if there is 

 a little wind stirring, and it will fall 

 evenly where distributed without being 

 wafted before the wind as it would be if 

 perfectly dry and free from earth. 



BLUE-FLOWERED ftyDRflNOEftS. 



Novice, Chicago, writes: "In the sum- 

 mer of 1892 I bought in Boston two tubs 

 of beautiful purple hydrangeas. Each 

 successive season since the blue color of 

 the flowers has faded. This year they 

 were of a light purplish pink color. Can 

 the color be restored, and if so kindly in- 

 form me how? They have been dressed 

 with iron filings. Where can purple 

 hydrangeas be bought?" 



How to obtainand retain the bluecolor 

 in the blossoms of hydrangeas is beyond 

 our knowledge, and how to prevent the 

 blossoms that are not blue from assuming 

 the blue tint is as much of a secret from 

 us. This seems heretic on our part in 

 view of the numberless articles we have 

 noted in books and papers telling us 

 exactly how to get this blue color if we 

 want it, or get rid of it if we don't want 

 it. But we can not help that. Many 

 years' experiment, study and observation 

 have refuted our theories and upset our 

 conclusions time and again, and to-day 

 in this case we are floundering in the sea 

 of "don't knowhow." The blue orpurple 

 unt being a fixed color but the effect of 



