Vnl IV S2.00aYear. 



vol. IV. 24 Numbers. 



CHICAGO, NOVEMBER I, 1895. Tocents No. 76 



RESIDENCE OF MR. F. P. LIVINGSTON. PITTSBURG. PA. 



Landscape Gardening. 



flow I PLANTED MY PLACE. 



To one wlio has broad acres to lay out 

 and plant it must indeed be a delishtful 

 task, knowino; that each tree and plant 

 will have ample room to grow and fully 

 develop. The favorite flowers may grow 

 in sun or shade, each plant at hotEC in its 

 native element, and in (juantities to de- 

 light a lover of the beautiful. Xo tree nor 

 shrub need crowd that velvet stretch of 

 lawn, so necessary to feast the eye with 

 pleasing contrast. 



To those who desire to grow many 

 vaiieties of flowers, and who have but a 

 small portion of terra finna— say fifty by 

 one hundred and twenty feet — it becomes 

 a puzzling question how to proceed with- 

 out having the ground look like a polka- 

 dot pattern, and indeed, when the area 



of a good sized house and porch is taken 

 out, there seems but little room left for 

 lawn or flowers. 



For example, we have a corner lot fiftj' 

 by one hundred and twenty feet, as shown 

 in the diagram. Mostly all suburban 

 property has comparatively good soil, 

 having been used for truck gardens and 

 then serving as pasture fields. We com- 

 mence operations for building in the 

 spring by plowing over the entire surface 

 of the lot, and with a two-horse team 

 scooping the soil, including sod. to the 

 street and alley. Excavate cellar for 

 house and spread the earth thus obtained 

 evenly over the lot. In the late fall (when 

 the house is completed) fill in lot with the 

 soil previously removed and add enough 

 soil — obtained from the surface of some 

 old pasture field— to raise the lot two feet 

 above the sidewalk and alley, sloping it 

 away from the house. 



Spade in a thick coating of well rotted 

 cow manure (it should not heat wlicn 



piled up), leaving the ground rough but 

 close to finished grade. Commence the 

 following spring as soon as the ground 

 can be worked by carefully spading over 

 the entire lot, breaking up all lumps and 

 rotted sod. Now prepare some fine soil 

 of same material as the lot filling, and 

 level the lot to proper grade. Roll it 

 down and sow thickly with the finest 

 selected grass seed, but use no clover. 

 Now with a sharp tooth rake scratch 

 over the surface and roll as;ain. Sod the 

 curved terrace portion where it joins the 

 sidewalk, a strip about eighteen inches 

 wide will be sufiicient to prevent washing 

 ou . Keep ihe ground from caking by 

 frequent spraying with a rose nozzle. 

 When the grass is high enough to use 

 lawn mower cut it once a week during 

 the summer. 



Plantains, dandelions and crab grass 

 must be pulled up by hand; or if allowed 

 to get too large take a thin bladed knife 

 with a chisel point and cut under thesod. 



