10 



HAND-BOOK OF PRACTICAL 



acre is, that if a good firm lawn is expected the first year, it is 

 always unsafe to use less than four bushels, and that the 

 addition of one or two bushels more well pays in the thick nest 

 of grass readily grown and the lessening of labor in extracting 

 weeds that, where no grass is, will surely grow. A top dressing 

 of bone meal, ten bushels to the acre, with two bushels of salt 

 and one-half bushel of gypsum (plaster), will also always be 

 found a profitable expenditure. 



Grass Lawns. — When newly made must not be so closely 

 mown as old turf, but mowing must be performed with 

 regularity, or it is impossible to obtain a uniform velvety green 

 surface. To mow close a well-established turf is to encourage 

 the fine grasses and kill out the coarse kinds. Salt and plaster 

 are good manures. Use at the rate of one bushel of plaster and 

 three bushels of salt to the acre, and sow just before a rain. To 

 have a good lawn, it should be freely mown, and no matter how 

 closely, early in the season ; but as soon as the hot season comes 

 on, the mowing should be less frequent and less close ; while 

 during August, care should be had to rolling it often and early 

 in the morning, while the dew is on and the mowing high, or 

 just so that no seed be formed. As soon as the fall rains 

 commence, then the lawn may be closely mown again ; but near 

 the close of the season it should be left to form a growth for a 

 winter coat of protection to the crowns of the roots. These 

 remarks will be found in practice just as applicable where 

 command of water for sprinkling is had as where it is not. The 

 result, however, will not as soon develop. 



Keep the Surface of the Ground Loose. — We have many years 

 watched the varied results of the cultivator who keeps frequently 

 stirring the surface of his soil, and the one who hoes or cultivates 

 only when the weeds compel him to the work ; and as we have 

 watched and recorded our notes, the result has always been in 

 favor of the constant stirring of the surface soil. We do not 

 advocate deep tillage during the growing season, but we would 

 have the ground deeply and thoroughly stirred early in the 

 season, whether it were an old or new plantation. Once, how- 

 ever, that vigorous growth of top and root has commenced, all 



