DECORATIVE PLANTING 201 



Care of the lawn. The care of a well-established lawn con- 

 sists in cutting, fertilizing, watering, and rolling it. It should 

 be cut frequently, and if this is done, the clippings may be 

 left to form a mulch for the grass roots and to prevent the 

 seeds of weeds from becoming established. Cutting the lawn 

 is most easily done in the morning, since at this time the cells 

 of the grass are distended with water and therefore more 

 brittle. The lawn should be watered only when in need of it, 

 and then it should be thoroughly soaked. An occasional heavy 

 watering is much to be preferred to the daily sprinkling that is 

 often given it. The latter causes the surface to bake, and 

 makes the grass more shallow-rooted and more easily burned 

 up in summer. Commercial fertilizers are best for the lawn ; 

 the winter dressing of stable manure so often applied is not 

 only unsightly and unsanitary, but it may introduce many 

 noxious weeds from seeds mixed with the manure. Late in 

 the season the grass may be allowed to grow longer and form 

 a cover for the roots during winter. In early spring the lawn 

 should be carefully raked and then rolled with a heavy roller, 

 to settle back into place any grass roots that may have been 

 lifted by the frost. 



The border. The shrubs and flowering plants that so often 

 find a place on the lawn are better located on its borders. Here 

 they add a distinct note to the ornamentation of the grounds. 

 Shrubs and flower beds scattered over the lawn give it a spotty 

 appearance, out of all harmony with the rest of the picture. 

 Nor should flowering plants designed for cutting be allowed 

 anywhere on the lawn or in the borders. They are best re- 

 stricted to some part of the garden where the loss of their 

 blossoms will not be so much noticed. The flowering plants 

 in the borders should be allowed to finish their season of 

 bloom undisturbed. In planting the border it should be 

 remembered that Nature always works in curves, and if an 

 appearance of naturalness is to be produced, straight lines 



