/SpS. 



• ' * GARDENING. 



201 



After having thus prepared our founda- 

 tion, the surface should be made smooth 

 and even by raking, and thoroughly firmed 

 with a heavy roller. We would do this 

 in September or October, if for fall sow- 

 ing, or March or April if for spring 

 sowing. 



We are now ready for the seed. We 

 would sow at the rate of about eighty 

 pounds, or four bushels per acre. As all 

 the grasses suitable for lawns are of light 

 weight, there needs be, from the nature of 

 them, much chaff, which it is impossible 

 to clean out, hence the necessity for so 

 heavy seeding. After sowing, which will 

 have to be done by hand, we would rake 

 lightly and again roll, to bring the soil 

 into close contact with the seed. A lawn 

 prepared in this manner should produce 

 a fair turf in seventy to ninety days and 

 last for years. Some people, after seeding 

 down a piece of lawn expect to see a 

 green mat or turf in two or three weeks. 

 In this they are unreasonable, as the bet- 

 ter grasses are slow to produceeffect,and 

 when a turf is quickly made, it is at the 

 expense of quality and permanence. 



Do not allow anyone to wheedle you 

 into sowing oats or any other coarse 

 rank growing annual with your grass 

 seed with the idea that it will shade it 

 and thus assist it, for a weak growing 

 plant by the side of a strong, rank grower 

 is sure to be starved to death. All the fer- 

 tility and moisture needs to beconserved 

 for the feeding of our young plants that 

 are intended to remain on the lawn. 



In all new lawns we will find annual 

 seeds natural to the soil that are sure to 

 spring up before the young grass plants 

 have had a chance to establish themselves, 

 and the inexperienced are apt to conclude 

 that the obnoxious and troublesome 

 weeds have been in the seed sown. All soils 

 have a great or less amount of this kind 

 of seeds in it and when the soil has been 

 broken up and exposed to sunshine and 

 moisture they are induced to germinate 

 and thrive in their new and well pulver- 

 ized seed-bed. Frequent cutting and roll- 

 ing will do much toward holding these in 

 check and if the lawn is judiciously han- 

 dled and watched the first year, there 

 will be but little trouble afterward from 

 this class of weeds. 



There is another class of interlopers, 

 however, which will appear regularly, 

 and they can only be stopped when pas- 

 ture fields, commons and waste lands 

 cease to exist and when everyone every- 

 where ceases to allow a weed to run to 

 seed. We have reference to dandelions, 

 plantain, crab grass, nimble will, etc., 

 etc., which are carried from place to place 

 by the wind, on our muddy feet, wagon 

 tires and in numerous other ways. For 

 these an eternal and everlasting war is to 

 be waged would we keep our lawns clean 

 and pure. 



Watering or sprinkling the lawn is 

 another question of vital importance. In 

 the care of a lawn much depends on the 

 watering in keeping it in good condition. 

 We should not water as a rule more than 

 once a week, but let that once be a thor- 

 ough wetting down. The custom of 

 watering every day we believe is the 

 death of more "lawns than any one thing 

 practiced. It tends to keep the roots 

 near the surface in place of allowingthem 

 to strike deep into the soil. The plants 

 are from this reason easily affected by 

 the hot suns, and as a result rapidly 

 burn out, and as is often the case a lawn 

 thus treated, neglected for a day or two 

 the sod can be rolled up like a sheepskin 

 and the beauty forever lost. We can 

 make moisture and control it, but we 

 cannot make or control the temperature. 



While a lawn watered less frequently, but 

 thoroughly, allows its roots to go deep for 

 its moisture and is in this manner fortified 

 against drouth and sudden changes. 



Cutting should not be done oftener 

 than once a week and would prefer it once 

 in ten days and then not too close, allow- 

 ing tjie grass to remain on the lawn and 

 work its way to the roots of the plant, 

 there forming a mulch for the support 

 and protection of the plants. Especially 

 would we recommend this method toward 

 the latter end of the season. Very close 

 clipping, if the weather is very hot, 

 exposes the plants and in time uses up 

 their vitality. 



As to varieties, we would make our 

 native grasses the foundation, such as 

 Kentucky blue grass and red top, mixing 

 such other grasses as experience has 

 proven to suit certain conditions, posi- 

 tions, and uses for which the lawn may be 

 intended. For the inexperienced, we 

 would recommend that they go to some 

 reliable and responsible dealer who has 

 had experience and state the conditions 

 fairly, and be governed largely by their 

 advice, and our word for it, you will not 

 make many mistakes. We would prepare 

 a mixture for lawn tennis courts, croquet 

 grounds, etc., differently than if for a 

 moist, shaded situation, etc., etc. But 

 at all times select such grasses as will not 

 show a spotted, bunchy condition. 



The renovating of old lawns is a moot 

 question, and one which has frequently 

 perplexed many of us — it is too good to 

 tear up and make over and too bad to let 

 it go. For such we would recommend as 

 a source of immediate relief that the lawn 

 be most thoroughly raked with a good 

 steel toothed rake cutting as deeply as 

 possible, and then give a sprinkling of 

 nitrate of soda at the rate of 300 or 400 

 pounds per acre and bone dust at about 

 same rate. Sow liberally while the 

 ground is still fresh with good fresh seed 

 and follow with a roller, or in the absence 

 of a roller, wet down well, and in most 

 cases we can get fair results. 



For those who wish to cover the 

 ground quickly, we know of nothing that 

 will give results so quickly as white 

 clover. 



For those whose lawns are filled with 

 soil from the cellar and like sources of 

 supply, we predict a hard struggle for a 

 lawn, which can only be overcome by a 

 thorough overhauling, which in the end 

 will be found the cheapest. 



Many failures occur in sowing lawn 

 seed from many causes, and a few' of them 

 are sowing out of season, poor and 

 unsuitable soil, lack of proper prepara- 

 tion, not seed enough, and very frequently 

 an improper choice of variety and propor- 

 tions of mixture. 



In preparing a lawn for winter, we fre- 

 quently see them covered with barnyard 

 manure. It is unsightly, unwholesome, 

 unnecessary and unnatural, and the 

 effect desired defeated and overbalanced 

 by the amount of weed seed left on the 

 lawn to haunt and torment you all next 

 season. 



Follow nature, which is always safe, 

 and allow the grass to remain on the" 

 lawn at the roots of the plants for pro- 

 tection, and if more fertility is needed, 

 supply it in the form of a dressing of bone 

 dust and keep the lawn pure and green. 



HENRY ECKFORD. 



Hillsdale-Lenawee Horticultural 

 Society, Mich.— "Good Roads and Free 

 Mail Delivery," was the chief topic for 

 discussion at the last meeting of this 

 society, which was led by Eli Herrington. 

 Songs and recitations by different mem- 

 bers brought the meeting to a close. 



WORKERS IN HORTICULTURE. V. 



Many of our readers are doubtless 

 familiar with the name of the great sweet 

 pea specialist, Mr. Henry Eckford, whose 

 portrait appears above. He has been a 

 prominent figure in horticulture for a 

 period extending over many years, and it 

 is to his untiring zeal that we are under 

 obligations for most of the grand new 

 types and colors of the modern sweet pea. 

 Although a man of great achievements in 

 his chosen field, Mr. Eckford, personally, 

 is among the most unpretentitious of 

 mortals, for the great labor of his life has 

 been one of love rather than gain. 

 Formerly a gardener on an English 

 private estate, he many years ago took 

 up the work of developing certain lines of 

 garden plants, and his success has been 

 most conspicuous with sweet and culi- 

 nary peas. Mr. Eckford is now well 

 advanced in years and still resides in the 

 midst of his favorites at Wem, Shropshire, 

 enjoying the exercise of that patience, 

 skill and attention which their improve- 

 ment demands. 



Fruits and Vegetables. 



fl SELECTION OP FBflRS. 



Among large fruits the pear finds more 

 room accorded it in the gardens of 

 amateurs than any other. It has much 

 to recommend it. In many city gardens 

 where space is circumscribed, the pear 

 just fits the situation. It is not a spread- 

 ing tree, its growth tending more to an 

 upright form, and for this reason alone it 

 can be given a place which could not be 

 accorded the apple. Its early bearing and 

 the certainty of an annual crop is very 

 much in its favor. 



The soil in many gardens is often very 

 rich causing the pear to grow so vigor- 

 ously that fruiting does not take place 

 for years. A little root pruning will 

 generally throw the tree into bearing, 

 and this may be practiced by those who 

 are impatient. Another plan, and one 

 to be preferred, I think, is to summer 

 prune it. This consists of cutting back 

 some of the young shoots of the season 

 to within a few eyes of their base. This 

 causes the formation of flower buds on 



