484 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



wealth of Massachusetts and .president of the Boston 

 Gardeners' and Florists' Club. 



Mr. O. A. Hunwick is now superintendent to Mr. M. I. 

 Borg, of Hillcrest Farm, Stamford, Conn. He was for- 

 merly of Convers Manor. 



Mr. James Brown, head gardener to F. L. Ames, North 

 Easton, Mass., left that position on April 9 for Smith 

 College Botanical Gardens, Northampton, Mass., where 

 he will fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Ed- 

 ward J. Canning, who goes into the nursery and land- 

 scape business. Mr. Brown's successor is William Grant. 



Mr. P. Johnsen, formerly of Orange, N. J., has ac- 

 cepted the position as gardener to Mrs. S. W. King, at 

 Dallas, Texas. It is a new estate, which will require con- 

 siderable stock, and Mr. Johnsen writes that he will be 

 glad to receive the catalogues of some of the southern 

 niH'servmen and seed firms. 



Mr. Michael Collins, for many years gardener to Mr. 

 W. H. Earle at Norwalk, Conn., is now in charge of the 

 Osborne Memorial Home grounds, Harrison, N. Y. 



Mr. J. Charles Klose, formerly superintendent to Mr. 

 Gordon Douglas, at Morristown, has accepted a position 



as superintendent on the Franklin Murphy estate at 

 Mendham, N. J. 



Another gardener who came a long distance to visit the 

 International Flower Show was Mr. James C. Shields, 

 of Monticello, 111. He came to attend the meeting of the 

 N. A. G.. Mr. A. J. Smith, of Lake Geneva, Wis., had 

 also intended to come East, but was prevented from mak- 

 ing the trip through illness. We are glad to report that 

 he is much improved again. 



Mr. Paul Dinkelacher, formerly of Garrison, N. Y., is 

 now on Mr. Sigmund Stern's estate, at Cold Spring-on- 

 Hudson, N. Y., having assumed his duties there last 

 month. 



It is reported that several changes have occurred at 

 Branford Farms, Groton, Conn. Mr. E. Robinson has 

 been appointed foreman in charge of the houses, and this 

 estate will again be represented at the shows this coming 

 fall Mr. J. Wooff succeeds Mr. Robinson at Wallhall. 

 Riverside, Conn. 



Another place on which extensive improvements are 

 contemplated is the Pulitzer estate, at Manhasset, N. Y. 

 Mr. Morell Smith, the superintendent, reports that much 

 work is to be done this coming season. The plans include 

 the erection of greenhouses. 



American Lawn Making 



By George C. Watson 



We all admire the English lawns, with their deep 

 green, smooth, velvety surface all through the year, but 

 most of us fail to realize that this wonderful result is 

 largely a matter of the moist, equable climate of the 

 country in which they grow. Of course, our British 

 cousins in the seed trade have come to know the best 

 kinds of grasses suited for their country's conditions. 

 How could they help it? But when it comes to our far 

 different American climate, our hot, dry Summers and 

 severe Winters, what do they know of these ? And so a 

 B,ritish formula for an American lawn is worse than 

 foolish — it is ridiculous ! American seedsmen know all 

 about the ingredients of the English mixtures. There 

 is no cloud of mystery about them. Every one of these 

 ingredients has been tried out in America for genera- 

 tions. Some are good ; some are not so good ; and some 

 are out of the question altogether. Especially is this so 

 when it comes to the proportions of each. The British 

 formulas contain most of the worst sorts for the Amer- 

 ican climate. 



The making of a good lawn starts long before the sow- 

 ing of the lawn grass seed. I appreciate the importance 

 of good lawn grass seed, but I appreciate still more the 

 foundation of a foot deep of good soil : and when I say 

 a foot deep of good soil I don't mean the kind you dig 

 out o fthe cellar, 10 or 20 feet below the surface. I mean 

 the surface soil, which is the only soil that's got any fer- 

 tility. This surface soil matter is the first thing that must 

 be understood. Those who have been brought up on the 

 farm know all about it, and think, naturally enough, that 

 everybody else ought to know, but they don't. Klost of 

 us who have not been brought up on the farm, I have 

 found by an experience of thirty-five years behind the 

 seed counter, think that soil is just .soil, and one soil is 

 just as good as another in which to grow grass or any- 

 thing else! No, the top soil is the only kind. It may 



have taken a million years to accumulate on the surface, 

 and yet you let your house-builder bury it under the ex- 

 cavations from your cellar, and then wonder why grass 

 seed doesn't thrive. The writer would prefer not to 

 dwell on the point; it seems so infantile. Yet on that 

 one point most of the failures fundamentally hinge. Few 

 amateurs realize that grass needs just as good soil as 

 celery or cabbage. Alany of them seem to think grass 

 will grow on rocks. 



So then, it will be understood that, when we say a foot 

 deep of good soil, it means top soil from some old farm 

 land, and not cellar diggings. 



Furthermore, after you have your foot of good top soil, 

 add five pounds of bone meal or ten pounds of sheep ma- 

 nure to each space 10 by 10 feet. The reason for using 

 bone meal or sheep manure rather than the ordinary 

 barnyard manure is that the latter is apt to be full of 

 weed seeds. 



.\nd speaking of weeds brings us to another point : All 

 soils will bring forth more or less surface weeds the first 

 year. George Troup, superintendent of the park system 

 of the city of Buffalo, gave it as his opinion that all 

 ground intended for a lawn should be "fallowed" one 

 Summer before sowing the grass seed. By that he meant 

 that, after plowing, harrowing, raking and smoothing, 

 the land should be left idle. If this is done, in a couple 

 of weeks up will come a crop of surface weeds. Hoe 

 them. By and by, another crop. Hoe them, also. Late 

 in the Summer there will be another, but very thin this 

 time. Hoe them out, too. And then your ground will be 

 ready for the lawn grass seed, and there will be no kick 

 about the weeds supposed to have come in the grass seed 

 that was sown. 



But the average man or woman can't wait that long. 

 They want to have a green lawn in a month, weeds or no 

 weeds. And we are with them. But don't blame the 



