The Canadian Horticulturist. 179 



MAKING A LAWN 



•^^^^ S the lawn is intended to be an important and peimanent feature of 

 ^^grW, the home grounds it is worth a thorough preparation. A hurried, 

 ' \^ makeshift method of planting will always be attended with disappoint- 



ing results. All drains or other provision for carrying off surplus 

 soil-water should be placed, and the soil thoroughly dug or plowed, 

 according to the size of the plot, and well leveled and fined. If the 

 soil is poor in quality, stable manure may be applied at the rate of 

 twenty tons to the acre, and plowed or otherwise thoroughly worked in, but if 

 the ground is in proper condition to grow a fair crop of potatoes, manure should 

 be omitted, as it tends to induce a rank and tender growth of the grass, too soft 

 to endure drouth, and besides is liable to contain many injurious weed seeds. 

 Half a ton of bone dust may be added instead of manure and harrowed in before 

 the seed is sown. The seed is best sown on a very still day, early in spring or 

 about the^iatter part of August, and lightly raked in ; the whole surface should 

 then be thoroughly rolled, or, if the area be small, beaten smooth with the back 

 of a spade. In the preparation of the lawn it is important that a surface at least 

 six inches deep should be uniform all over the whole, except on steep slopes 

 facing the south and west, where the soil should be much better and deeper in 

 order to prevent burning out in dry summers. 



Seed should be sown at the rate oifive bushels per acre, or one quart to each 

 300 square feet, if a good, quick and permanent turf is needed. When up three 

 or four inches it should be cut and the mowings increased frequently. The 

 oftener it is cut within reasonable limits the softer and finer the grass will be. 

 Mowing alone will not keep it without occasional rollings. Compression of the 

 soil, such as is given by the roller or by the trampling of cattle, is very beneficial 

 to the roots of fine-growing grasses. Rolling should be done in the spring before 

 the ground becomes dry or at any time after heavy rains, providing the soil is 

 firm enough to bear a horse. 



The best soil for a lawn is a rather stiff clay loam ; sandy soils require more 

 attention and frequent reseeding. The fertility of the soil is best kept up by an 

 annual top-dressing of any good chemical fertilizer, at the rate of 300 to 500 lbs. 

 to the acre, applied just before a rain, preferably in the early spring. An appli- 

 cation of about 200 lbs. of finely-ground bone, and 10 to 15 bushels of wood 

 ashes per acre yearly, in separate applications, will also maintain the grasses in 

 sufficient health and vigor. Stable manures are disagreeable and should be used 

 as little as possible. 



To grass a bank or terrace. — For each square rod, take a pound of lawn 



grass seed and mix it thoroughly with six cubic feet of good, dry, garden loam 



Place in a tub, and add liquid manure, diluted with about two-thirds of water, 



so as to bring the whole to the consistency of mortar. The slope must be made 



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