THE CANADIAN WORTICtLTtRTST. 



201 



dry weather the foliage lessens evapo^ 

 ration, thus reducing the quantity of 

 water nee.led to keep mildew in check, 

 as this injurious parasite in a great 

 measure owes its presence to insuffi- 

 cient root moisture. — Tlie Garden. 



HINTS ON LAWN MAKING. 

 In making a lawn now, as at any 

 other season, it is well to recollect that 

 the work la to be done for many years, 

 and that in no part of the grounds will 

 thorough preparation, deep tilling of 

 the soil, and abundant fertillizing, pay 

 better than here. In a lawn of consid- 

 erable extent, it is a mistake to suppose 

 that it is necessaary to reduce the sur- 

 face to a dead level. For small grass 

 jilots, on small }»laces, this may be de- 

 sirable, but a large lawn appears to 

 much better advantage if the surface is 

 gently undulating. Various mixtures 

 of seed are offered by the seedsmen. 

 Some of these seem to be well con- 

 sidered, but anything more unsuited to 

 our climate than the " French Lawn 

 Grass " can not be imagined. Probably 

 ]iot a third of the kinds of grass it is 

 said to contain will survive in our cli- 

 mate. The best lawns we ever had 

 were sown with "Kentucky Blue-grass" 

 and " Rhode Island Bent " (a variety 

 of Red-top), in both cases a small 

 amount of " White Clover" was added. 

 For strong soils the former, for light 

 and sandy ones the latter will no doubt 

 give satisfaction. In buying grass 

 seed for a lawn, look well to its quality. 

 Some seed of " Kentucky Blue-gra.ss " 

 (the same as "June Grass") sells for 

 twice the price of others, and is worth 

 four times as much. Chaff does not 

 always cover seed, and the samples 

 should be carefully inspected. The ad- 

 vice to use from three to eight bushels 

 of seed to the acre is founded upon the 

 UDcertain quality of the seed. Pro- 

 bably four bushels of fairly good seed 

 NV'oukl be ample. .The seed should be 



divided into two or four equal portions, 

 and the sowing made, after thoroughly 

 preparing the soil, in different direc- 

 tions. The seed may be brushed in, 

 but at this season a good rolling will 

 give a sufficient covering. Where the 

 lawn borders on roads or paths, or on 

 shrubbery or other plantations, it will 

 be best to lay a margin of turf six 

 inches or more in width. For small 

 areas, the laying of sods is advisable, 

 and this may be done now as well as in 

 spring. In most localities, a common, 

 or the 7*oad'sides, will usually afford a 

 fine, close turf. The soil in this case 

 should be as thoroughly prepared as for 

 seeding, and the turf well beaten down 

 to bring its roots in close contact with 

 the soil. If necessary to cover steep 

 banks, sods must be used. These may 

 be held in place by the use of pins ; 

 plasterer's lath split is best. These will 

 decay by the time the sod becomes well 

 established. — Aiuei'ican Agriculturist. 



A GOOD PLUM CROP. 

 I used carbolic acid and soapsuds on 

 my plum trees last spring, with perfect 

 success. The curculio invariably takes 

 the plum. Here trees are loaded with 

 fruit, but fall to the ground before they 

 ripen. I used one large s[)oonful of 

 crude carbolic acid to one wooden buck- 

 etful of soapsuds, stirring it thoroughly 

 and then dashing it up through the tree 

 with a tin cup. I did this early in the 

 morning, twice a week, commencing as 

 soon as the blossoms begin to fall, and 

 continued until the fruit was about 

 half grown. They were of ihe Lom- 

 bard variety. The trees were loaded 

 with fruit. The first that ripened were 

 somewhat imperfect and wormy. I 

 also picked from two trees one wooden 

 bucketful that was entirely rotten, after 

 which they ripened nicely ; were entire- 

 ly free from worms or otlier blemish. 

 I picked six wooden bucketfuls of fruit 

 from those two tree.s, and they were deli- 



