THE NOKTH DAKOTA FARMSTEAD 51 



satisfactory and most popular of these plants are the Peonies, Iris, 

 Columbines, Hollyhocks, Bleeding Hearts, Anemones, Violets, Phlox 

 and Larkspurs. Peonies should be growing on every farmstead as 

 they are unsurpassable for magnificent June flowers. 



USE OF ROSES 



Few of the cultivated roses are hardy in North Dakota. The most 

 rugged of the domestic forms are the Hybrid Perpetuals and the 

 Rugosa roses. The latter are tall bushy forms adapted mostly to be 

 used as shrubs. The others need considerable protection over winter. 

 This is best secured by covering them with about a foot of manure. 

 Most roses should not be planted close to the house as most of them 

 are very unsightly when not in bloom. 



MAKING THE LAWN 



A good lawn is a prime requisite for a well planted farmstead. 

 When starting a lawn on a new place the surface should be smoothly 

 graded into long, easy flowing, natural lines with a slope away from 

 the buildings. All building debris around new buildings should be 

 removed, for if covered over it will interfere with the moisture supply. 

 The seeding can be done any time of the year, but probably most 

 satisfactory results will be secured by grading the lawn in the fall, 

 and after allowing it to settle over winter, smooth out the irregulari- 

 ties in the surface and sow the seed early in the spring. The best lawn 

 soil is one that naturally retains an abundant supply of moisture all 

 through the season. The soil should be plowed to a depth of seven 

 or eight inches if this is possible. A disk harrow and plank or log 

 drag are the best implements for smoothing over the surface. In all 

 grading be sure to have several inches of good rich soil on the top for 

 a seed bed. 



WHAT TO SOW FOR LAWNS 



Kentucky Blue Grass and Red Top are the most largely used and 

 most satisfactory lawn grasses. White clover is often used and comes 

 on rapidly for the first year. This is later crowded out as the other 

 grasses form a turf. For a lawn the seed is sown much more thickly 

 than in the field. For an acre of ground one could use to advantage 

 25 pounds of each Blue grass and Red Top and about 6 to 8 pounds of 

 White Clover. 



Brome is the best grass to use when a lawn is to be started under 

 more adverse conditions. It will do better than any other grass in 

 sections with a normally small rainfall where there is no opportunity 

 for artificial watering and where lawns of other grasses could not be 

 established. After securing a good stand of Brome Grass on a lawn, 

 it is then frequently possible to start Blue Grass in the lawn by sowing 

 the seed thinly in the other grass in early spring. It is generally 

 cheapest in the end to buy selected rescreened grass seed. Sow the 



