298 PARKS 



Rolling. As soon as possible after the top-dressing is spread, the area 

 planted should be rolled lightly with a common lawn roller. This is the 

 same operation as that following grass seeding. 



Watering. Immediately after rolling, the area should be well watered. 

 The whole success of the planting depends upon the watering the grass 

 receives during the first two or three weeks after planting. A fine spray 

 from a rose nozzle held in the hand by one man, with another to carry 

 the slack of the hose, should be used. Mechanical watering devices are 

 not satisfactory and should not be used. 



Care after planting. The surface should be kept continuously moist 

 for two or three weeks. Care should be taken that the watering is so done 

 that the stolons are not washed out of the ground nor allowed to dry out, nor 

 to become too soggy. In dry weather they should be watered twice a day for 

 the first two or three weeks, and once a day thereafter until fully established. 



As soon as the grass is one inch or so high, it may be mowed and the 

 clippings allowed to remain for the first few times. If they are lightly top- 

 dressed, each live node will take root and help to thicken the stand of 

 grass. Keep the grass cut down to a close turf from the start and never 

 permit it to grow long. Top-dressing should be done with a well-prepared 

 soil which may be the equivalent of a greenhouse compost (not mushroom 

 soil). Just enough dressing should be used so that it keeps the surface 

 firm and true and all sinks into the turf. One cubic yard of top-dressing 

 to each 4,000 square feet once a month is sufficient. In late winter or early 

 spring before top-dressing and after the frost is out of the ground the whole 

 area should be lightly rolled. Constant and thorough hand weeding should 

 be attended to the first year after planting. 



CONSTRUCTION OF TURF AREAS FOR LAWN SPORTS 

 IN THE SOUTHERN STATES L 



Southern conditions. The extreme heat and the long dry spells during 

 the summer months throughout the southern states make it inadvisable 

 to establish a turf similar to the turf of the northern lawns, composed 

 mostly of Kentucky blue grass, redtop, clovers and bents. These grasses, 

 when used for a lawn turf, will completely burn out during the summer 

 months unless an abnormal amount of labor is employed to protect them 

 by excessive waterings. While in the northern section of the country, 

 lawns in general are developed on a good loam soil, the soil conditions of 

 the south are likely to be those of a yellow or gray sand. The topsoil sand, 

 so called, often possesses a considerable quantity of food matter, but the 

 ease with which water leaches from it and the exposure during the heat of 



1 Albert D. Taylor in Landscape Architecture. 



