300 PARKS 



the swamps, should be selected with great care. All so-called muck land 

 in swamps is not adapted for use on lawns. It is often the case that swamp 

 muck put on a high, dry, and sandy soil will, under the sun's rays, quickly 

 dry out and become powdery. It is best to obtain, if possible, a muck or 

 black soil which can be obtained from the edges of the hammock lands. 

 This type of muck does not dry out. Good muck, taken from the upper 

 layers of swamp areas, ought to be mixed with lime at the rate of five tons 

 of lime to twenty tons of muck, and the entire mixture ought to remain 

 for two or three months before it is applied to the lawn area. 



Planting season. The season for planting the grass seed on lawns varies 

 with the kind of lawn which is desired, and also with the season of the year 

 when the lawn is to be used. Especially in the far southern states, some 

 lawns may be desired throughout the entire year, while another group of 

 lawns may be required to be at their best during the winter months. Lawns 

 composed of Bermuda grass and St. Augustine grass can be planted at any 

 time of the year from November until the early part of July. It is not 

 advisable to plant Bermuda grass or St. Augustine grass during the hot 

 summer months, for the same reasons that it is not advisable to seed lawns 

 in the north after the spring rains are over and at a time when the dry 

 summer months are just beginning. The average length of time required 

 for grasses of this type to become established and to make a turf ranges 

 during a normal season from three to four months. 



Seeding season. Lawns composed of Italian rye may be seeded at any 

 time of the year from the first of November to the first of March. The 

 time required for Italian rye to establish itself and to produce a green lawn 

 area averages from three to five weeks. An excellent way in which to obtain 

 a green lawn during the winter months is to top-dress a Bermuda grass 

 lawn, which is at least three months old, with Italian rye at the rate of 

 one pound for every hundred square feet. In the middle and southern por- 

 tions of Florida this is perhaps the most satisfactory method of making a 

 good turf which will be more or less firm and which will be green through 

 the winter months. Italian rye will run out as soon as the weather begins to 

 get warmer during the middle or latter part of March, and can be reseeded 

 on the foundation of Bermuda grass, in the same manner, during the 

 succeeding fall. 



Lawns composed of the northern mixtures of grass seed, of which the 

 Ross Florida mixture is typical, may be seeded at any time during the 

 cooler months between November and March. These lawns may be main- 

 tained in the same manner that any northern lawn is maintained if an 

 excessive amount of care in watering is devoted to them during the hot 

 summer months. This type of lawn is prepared and seeded in a manner 



