llfc CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS 



Destroy them by raking or let all that will perish in the dry heat, cut 

 out the survivors with a hoe and sprinkle again lightly to start some 

 more seeds and get rid of them. A month or so spent in this way, if 

 you started in August or September, will help greatly to get a clean 

 start of the plant you desire. But if all this preparation seems tire- 

 some, you can proceed to seed the lawn, if the soil is deeply wet by 

 rain or sprinkling, and kill more weeds afterwards. The point is to 

 get moisture enough below to keep the surface from drying too 

 quickly after you put in your seed; also to invite the seedling to root 

 deeply after starting. If, then, you are in the midst of fall showers, 

 it will be easier to get a stand of young grass and to escape crusting 

 of the surface by sprinkling. It should be clearly stated however that 

 though the early autumn moisture season, which is the time when 

 nature starts her seedlings, is best to kill what you desire to escape and 

 to start what you wish to keep, it is perfectly possible to start your 

 lawn at any time of the year except when the soil is too wet to work 

 and its fullness of cold water does not give good conditions for 

 germination. Those who know how to put in lawns will contract to 

 do it successfully for you any day of the year that the soil is in fair 

 condition, if they have water under pressure to substitute sprinkling 

 for rainfall. 



Seeding. After deep digging the preparation for seeding consists 

 in deep raking and you have to learn the knack of raking without 

 dragging the surface into humps and hollows. It is the function of 

 the hand which is nearest to the rake-head to do this while the other 

 hand is doing the pulling and pushing. Learn to carry the chief 

 weight of the rake on this lower hand and you can pulverize to the 

 depth of the tines without shifting the soil except as you desire. In 

 this and in other acts of seeding, tramping the surface should be 

 avoided by working through the center of the plot from light boards. 

 A six-inch fence board, as long as you can get it, is most convenient 

 in shifting. 



After having raked the width you can handily reach from the 

 board trundle the wheel barrow along the board and gather up the 

 trash you have raked out. Then scatter the seed also from the board, 

 for it is easier to get even distribution near by, rake again lightly to 

 cover the seed and go ashore for a wheel-barrow load of finely pulver- 

 ized old manure which should be dry for ease in pulverizing and in 

 thinly spreading over the surface. If this manure has been treated as 

 described in Chapter V. it carries no live weed seed and will make a 

 nice cover to shade the sprouting seed from the sun and to keep 

 the surface from compacting by heavy rain or frequent sprinkling 

 which will be necessary to start and bring along the grass in a dry 

 time. This way of putting in a lawn in strips, finishing as you go, is 



