THE LAWN. 13 



grass seed properly requires some experience to acquire. 

 The great difficulty is to sow it evenly. Like mowing and 

 other farming operations, it takes trouble to learn how to 

 sow grass seed properly. You must get up early in the 

 morning before the wind has risen. You must consider the 

 direction from which the wind blows and do a good many 

 things that can hardly be set down intelligently on paper. 



When the seed is sown the next thing is to rake with a 

 fine-toothed iron rake the entire lawn over thoroughly. 

 Some people content themselves with a harrow for such 

 work, but it does imperfect work at best. After the raking 

 a heavy iron roller should be used at once over every part 

 where the seed is sown. This sets the seed in the grouud 

 firmly and helps wonderfully to secure an even mat of 

 grass, especially if a drought sets in soon after the sowing. 

 It is a good plan also to continue this rolling once or twice 

 after the grass has started and before it is fit to mow. 



The first cutting with the mowing machine should come 

 as soon as the grass is high enough for the knives of the 

 machine to fairly take hold. Frequent mowing during the 

 early development of the lawn tends to thicken and 

 strengthen the growth of lawn grass and thus keep down 

 objectionable wild grasses and weeds. 



Having reached this point, however, in the construction 

 of a lawn, most people are liable to consider that nothing 

 more than an occasional mowing is needed. And just here 

 a great mistake is made, and the establishment of a reason- 

 ably perfect lawn retarded, or, in most cases, absolutely 

 prevented. Perhaps I may startle some one when I state 

 that to keep up a good lawn, in many places, requires as 



