700 



GARDENERS' CHROMCLE 



Making a Lawn 



FLORUM AMATOR 



The Soil 



THE best soil for a lawn is a rich, deep, well drained, 

 clay, or sandy loam ; the former is preferable since 

 it retains the fertilizers, and withstands the drouths 

 better. 



A good lawn cannot be established where the under- 

 drainage is so poor that the water gathers, and stands on 

 its surface and if such a condition exists, the land must 

 be under-drained by the use of tiles or in some other way. 



Where there are only two or three inches of surface 

 soil, and beneath it only clear sand and gravel, a good 

 lawn cannot be made, no matter how much fertilizer is 

 applied. It will be necessary in such a case to remove 

 the sand and gravel to the depth of a foot or more, and 

 replace it with a rich clay or sandy loam. 

 Prep.xring the Soil 



The soil should be made fine and mellow with plow or 

 spade to the depth of a foot or more ; the deeper the soil 

 is worked and fertilized the longer the lawn will last, and 

 the better it will withstand the flrouths of Summer and 

 cold of Winter. 



Fertilizers 



Stable manures of all kinds, pulverized sheep, cow and 

 horse manures, bone meal, wood ashes, and commercial 

 grass fertilizers may all be used. These should be in- 

 corporated and mixed with the soil to the full depth to 

 which it is worked not merely applied to the surface. It 

 is better when fresh, coarse, stable, or barnyard manure 

 is to be used to spread these on the ground and plow or 

 spade them in during the Autumn, and to complete the 

 work of making the lawn and to sow the seeds in earlv 

 Spring, but when well rotted stable manures, pulverized 

 sheep and other pulverized animal manures, bone meal, 

 wood ashes, and commercial grass fertilizers are used, the 

 entire work of preparation and seed sowing may be done 

 in earlv Spring or earlv Autumn. When stable manures 

 are not easily obtained, the other manures and fertilizers 

 previously mentioned may be depended upon both for 

 making a new, and top fertilizing an old lawn, and many 

 prefer them, for they are free from weed seeds, which are 

 always present in coarse, unfermented staljle and barn- 

 yard manures, which should not be used in the surface 

 soil of a new or on an old lawn. When stable manures 

 are used, they may be applied at the rate of 10 to 15 loads 

 per acre. Of sheep manure. 2 to 4 tons, of bone meal, 

 one ton, of ashes, one ton, of commercial grass fertilizer, 

 one ton, may be used per acre, and bone meal and ashes 

 may be used together in the weight above mentioned- 

 Commercial grass fertilizers, which contain all the ele- 

 ments necessary for growing grass, when used, are gen- 

 erally applied to the surface of both new and old lawns 

 to stimulate a (|uick growth, where stable manures have 

 been plowed in. 



Preparing the Si'uf.\ce for the Seeds 



After the lawn has been graded, and its surface made 

 even by raking, it should be well rolled with a roller of 

 considerable weight. Hollows will appear which must 

 be filled with fine, rich soil, and the lawn re-raked, and 

 re-rolled. Should a rain storm come during this period 

 of the work, it will show by the puddles of water which 

 will collect in the depressions in the lawn, better than any- 

 thing else where hollows are. It is not well to hurry the 

 sowing of the seeds ; give time for all the hollows to 

 appear. What is of ec|ual importance, if the sowing of 



the seeds is not hastened, one or more of the crops of 

 weeds which always come from seeds which are in the 

 surface soil, and stable manures, and are not present to 

 any extent in the grass seeds which you buy, as is often 

 erroneously thought, will appear and can be destroyed. 



If any shrubs or trees are going to be planted on the 

 lawn, this should be done before the grass seeds are sown ; 

 otherwise it will be necessary to delay doing this till the 

 grass has made a strong sod, for a newly made lawn 

 should not be dug up here and there for any purpose. 

 What Kind of Grass Seeds to Sow 



Only those grasses which make a spreading growth, 

 that is, spread by undergrown stems, are suitable for a 

 lawn. Your seedsman will have mixtures of grass seeds 

 suitable for every location, and if you will describe to 

 him the location of your lawn, and the nature of its soil, 

 he will help you make a selection of seeds. Aluch of the 

 success in makin.g a lawn depends upon a proper selection 

 of seeds. Your seedsman, if he is given the area, or the 

 measurements of the plot to be seeded, will also tell vou 

 how much seed you will require for seeding this. 

 When and How to Sow 



Grass seeds can be sown at any time from April to 

 September inclusive when there is sufficient moisture in 

 the soil, but the best periods are in April and May and 

 September. Spring sowing is preferable because less 

 seeds are necessary then, and weed seed do not germinate 

 as freely as in the Summer months. When grass seeds 

 are sown in the Summer, it is well to sow a few oats with 

 the grass seeds, since the oat plants will shade the tender 

 grass from the burning sun. Autumn sowing should be 

 done early, otherw^ise the grass roots will not become well 

 enough established, and will be thrown out of the soil 

 and destroyed by the frosts of Winter. 



The quantity of seeds necessary for sowing depends in 

 a measure upon the weed seeds in the soil ; the greater the 

 probable number of weed seeds, the more grass seeds 

 will be required. It is highly advisable to always use a 

 liberal quantity of grass seeds, since some will fail to 

 germinate, and some will be destroyed by weeds. 



.^fter the ground has been brought into perfect condi- 

 tion by repeated rakings. rollings and re-rollings, divide 

 the seeds into two lots : mark off the plot into strips 4 

 to 5 feet wide lengthwise of the plot ; sow one half the 

 seeds, a strip at a time, and rake in the seeds ; then mark 

 off the plot into crosswise strips and sow the other half 

 of the seeds in the same manner and rake them in. moving 

 the soil out of place in raking as little as possible. Use 

 in raking either a steel rake with long teeth set about 

 two mches apart or a common wooden hay rake, which 

 answers the purpose very well. In Spring and Autumn 

 roll with a heav\- roller, but during the heat and dry 

 winds of Summer omit rolling and leave the surface soil 

 loose to conserve the moisture. After the lawn is well 

 established, cut the grass weekly with the lavv'n mower, 

 and leave the clippings on the lawn. A spread of thor- 

 oughly rotted stable manure on the lawn in late .\utumn 

 or, if this is omitted, of equal parts of bone meal and 

 wood ashes or of commercial grass fertilizer, each Spring, 

 will help keep the lawn in satisfactory condition. 



The diminutive chains of habit are seldom heavy 

 encush to be felt, till they are too strong to be broken.— 

 Saiiiiiii JoJiusoH. 



