TWELFTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X 



429 



A Good Windbreak Contributes Both Comfort and Beautj'. 



LAWN MAKING. 



The first requisite in securing a good lawn is a rich black loam. 

 It frequently happens that in excavating for the basement the clay soil 

 is disposed of by spreading it over the front yard, thus leaving a very 

 unsatisfactory soil for the lawn. Where this is done the top soil should 

 first be taken off to a depth of 5 or 6 inches and replaced after the 

 clay has been deposited. Similarly in back-filling around the foundation, 

 debris of all kinds is dumped in. This is apt to cause trouble later in 

 settling and also makes a very unsatisfactory soil with which to es- 

 tablish either grass or shrubs. 



Grade the lawn first and then thoroughly pulverize the soil for seed- 

 ing. In Iowa the best time to seed is early in the spring, though in 

 many seasons a very good stand can be secured by sowing the seed about 

 the middle of August or just preceding the fall rains. Fall seeding, 

 however, is more or less uncertain on account of the lack of moisture 

 supply. In the case of fall seeding, it is advisable to mulch the lawn 

 the first winter with strawy manure as soon as the ground is frozen 

 hard enough to bear up a team. This should be raked off in the spring 

 when the growth begins. The best turf is that formed by Kentucky 

 bluegrass. The Canada bluegrass is sometimes used but this is not as 

 good. Sow the seed rather thickly; say at the rate of four bushels per 

 acre. Exercise care to get an even distributon of the seed in sowng 

 and it is often advisable to re-seed at right angles to the first sowing 

 in order to secure this. 



For the purpose of securing immediate effect the plan is often fol- 

 lowed of mixing with the blue grass the English or Italian rye-grass. 

 This greens up at once and makes a very good temporary turf. Since 

 it is only temporary in character, it gradually dies out, leaving the 

 blue grass in possession. In using the English ryegrass the proportion 



