124 CALIFORNIA GARDEN FLOWERS 



out of the soil before you put in the grass seed, then there will be no 

 having the family and the hired man out to pick weeds out of the lawn. 

 By careful attention it will soon become as soft as a carpet, and far more 

 handsome. He says further that the manure used should be scrapings 

 from the cow yard, not the horse stable, as this alone would burn. He 

 says the fine work is after the ground is made ready by the heavy manur- 

 ing, in keeping it continually wet and hoeing out all weeds. After the seed 

 is sown be very careful in watering not to wash it with heavy sprays, but 

 with light fine spray that will wet thoroughly but will not move the seed. 

 Do this till it is all up and growing, then wet morning, noon and night. In 

 three days the clover will be up, in five or six days the blue grass, and in 

 ten days you can use the lawn mower, and the more you use it the better 

 the lawn will be. The all-important thing is never to let the ground dry 

 after sowing the seed." Major Hall certainly had rapid grass seed. It 

 usually takes much longer than he mentions to get the mower on. 



Mulching for Lawns. Mr. Winsell enforces the desirability of a 

 surface-cover in this way: "After the seed is sown, it is generally raked 

 in. It is not advisable to cover lawn seed too much, especially the clover, 

 or it will not germinate if covered too deep. As the surface dries out 

 rapidly, especially in the middle of the day, even though carefully watered 

 in the morning or evening, it is almost impossible to start a lawn evenly 

 without the use of a mulch, which prevents this drying of the surface 

 through the day, and baking. The best mulch or covering is old stable 

 manure that has been piled up and heated for at least six months before 

 using. This heating not only makes the manure very fine, but also causes 

 all the weed seeds to germinate and burn up during the heating process. 

 Never use fresh manure for covering a new lawn. The result will be a 

 crop of weeds, barley and oats, and fresh cow manure will produce burr 

 clover and devil grass. An excellent covering for a lawn is the pulverized 

 sheep manure. This, to be in proper condition, should also have been piled 

 up and heated the same as the stable manure, in order that all weed seeds 

 may be killed." 



"Many gardeners are using shavings to take the place of manure in 

 mulching. When shavings are used they should always be the coarse 

 kind, and spread very thinly over the ground after the seed has been 

 put in. Never use sawdust. It is too fine and will prevent the lawn 

 from making a good stand. We have experimented with manure and 

 shavings mixed, after having been piled up and heated for some time, 

 and we find it to be a good mulch for a lawn, or even for flowers." 



The emphasis laid on avoiding fine stuff which mats the surface too 

 closely is important. It prevents growth from the seed. 



