Grading. 



69 



As the roughest grading is done before the drives and 

 walks are finished, a kind of supplementary grading is 

 often needed before the lawns can be sodded and sown. It 

 is desirable to have all lawns smooth and finished, and the 

 surface soil must be well broken up : in small places, by 

 means of rake and shovel ; in larger fields, by means of 

 harrowing and rolling. If the surface soil can be worked 

 thoroughly and enriched with dressings of manure and fill- 

 ings of good loam at the time the grading is done, the extra 

 work of digging and plowing is not necessary. But as it 

 is only in certain places that the surface of the ground has 



FI3. 35. — DRAINS OF ROUND TILES AND STONE DRAINS. 



been altered, the whole ground should be thoroughly 

 spaded or plowed, and worked in the most approved man- 

 ner to make the soil open and porous. If the subsoil con- 

 sists of heavy clay, and the surface soil is rather light, or 

 vice versa, subsoilinc for shrubberies and choice trees will 

 be well repaid, by a more luxurious and rapid growth than 

 could be expected without such work. 



In close connection with grading comes the draining of 

 the ground. It is not always necessary except where laud 

 is stiff and low. The best drains for a lawn or garden are 



