Making a Lav^n 



J. H. Grisdale, Director of Experimental Farms, Ottawa, Ont. 



"The lawn 

 [Which, after sweeping broadly round 



the house, 

 fWent trickling through the shrubberies 



in a stream 

 'Of tender turf, and wore and lost itself 

 [Among the Acacias." 



Mrs. Browning here paints such a pic- 



[ture as all love to dwell upon. Who 



among us has not some pleasing memory 



of just such a grass set scene. Such 



surroundings bespeak the peace, the 



fCalm, the restfulness so welcome to the 



[weary soul, so kind to the tired eye. Not 



lone of us but admires a well kept lawn, 



[and better still, not a man or woman 



among us but may have one at small 



outlay of time and money. 



THE soil' 



The best grass growing land is a good 

 loam. Any well drained, well prepared 

 area of any other sort of soil may, how- 

 ever, be so handled as to ensure a pleas- 

 ing result. Where building operations 

 have recently been going on such resi- 

 dues as bricks, stone chippings, etc., 

 should be buried at least six inches below 

 the surface. The surface should be 

 graded with a slight fall away from 

 buildings and any depressions or hollows 

 should be filled in, even something higher 

 than the surrounding land to allow for 

 settling. Manure should then be ap- 

 plied, about one pound per square foot 

 of lawn surface. After scattering the 

 manure evenly over the surface, the 

 whole area should be well ploughed or 

 spaded. If time presses or labor is too 

 expensive, ploughing or spading may be 

 done only the once, and that to a mod- 

 erate depth. If it is desired to ensure 

 the very best results possible the land 

 should be ploughed, burying the man- 

 ure to a moderate depth (four or five 

 inches) then later, after harrowing and 

 rolling several times, or when in a good 

 state of tilth ploughed again about half 

 an inch deeper than before. Harrowing 

 and rolling will be again in order and 

 any new unevenness due to settling 

 should now be corrected. After harrow- 

 ing, levelling and rolling till in good 

 shape it should be left untouched for a 

 week or ten days. 



8BBDINQ 

 After the surface has lain fallow for 

 ten days or so, it should be again levelled 

 and well harrowed. If not very firm 

 underfoot it will be advisable to roll 

 with a heavy roller once or twice before 

 seeding. The seed should be divided in- 

 to two equal portions and the first part 

 scattered as evenly as possible over the 

 whole lawn, walking from east to west 

 while sowing, liach and every square 

 foot of the whole lawn having received 

 its fair share of the first half of the seed, 

 the sower should then proceed to sow 



the second half of the seed as evenly as 

 possible over the lawn walking from 

 north to south during the process and 

 again being careful to give every square 

 foot of land its fair share of this, the 

 second part or other half of the seed, 

 as well as a fair proportion of the first 

 part. Carelessness in seed scattering is 

 responsible for many patchy looking 

 lawns and is in fact the cause of not a 

 few failures. The seed once sown, the 

 whole surface should be lightly and even- 

 ly raked or harrowed. On most soils a 

 rake will give better results than a har- 

 row. The main point is to cover the 

 seed, although at the same time, one 

 must guard against too deeply burying 

 it. After raking or lightly harrowing 

 the land should be rolled again, unless 

 very damp, in which case the rolling 

 operation should be postponed till a later 

 date. 



Many lawn grass mixtures are to 

 be had at seed stores. Not infrequently 

 these ready prepared mixtures contain a 

 rather to large proportion of weed seeds, 

 It is important to buy grass seed free 

 from weed seeds, since if preparation has 

 been made as above outlined, the chances 

 are very strongly in favor of a lawn free 

 from weeds other than such as spring 

 from seeds sown by wind or mixed with 

 grass seed. 



Taken all in all probably the best 

 grass to sow is Canadian Blue Grass, or 

 failing this, Kentucky Blue Grass. 

 Pains should be taken to secure a good 



sample of this grass and it should then 

 l>e sown liberally at the rate of about 

 fifty pounds an acre, or one pound to the 

 hundred square yards. 



After the seed is sown the lawn should 

 be well rolled, care being taken to pack 

 as evenly as possible and retain a smooth 

 surface. No rolling should be done, how- 

 ever, if the surface is at all damp when 

 the seeding is performed. It would be 

 much better to postpone the rolling for 

 a day or two, or if the soil continues 

 moist it might be advisable to postpone 

 the rolling for two or three weeks . 



After the grass is well up should a 

 drought occur or a heavy rain come and 

 the surface later become very dry, it 

 would be found advantageous to roll 

 again, using a light roller. This will 

 break the surface crust, create a mulch, 

 and so encourage growth and ensure a 

 better stand- 

 Care should be taken not to use a lawn 

 mower upon the young grass, since this 

 machine is almost certain to pull out by 

 the roots rather than clip it at this stage 

 of growth. If weeds spring up or the 

 grass becomes unsightly, the whole area 

 should be carefully gone over with a 

 sharp scythe rather than with the lawn 

 mower. 



The process of getting a lawn by sow- 

 ing is of course rather slow. The seed- 

 ing down method may be very often im- 

 proved upon, at least so far as speed is 

 concerned, by sod laying. For laying 

 sod, practically the same preparation 



An Inezpantivc Beauty Spot Where the Bird* Delight to Stay. Lily Pond in the Garden 



of Mri. McNair, Hamilton, Ont. 



125 



