Suburban Home Grounds. 61 



soil and shape have been secured the manure should be evenly 

 spread and spaded in 8 or 10 inches deep. Grasses have long 

 roots and will seek the manure which might seem to be buried 

 so deeply. 



The manure should be used at the rate of 15 to 20 cords to 

 the acre, depending on the quality of the soil and the kind of 

 manure. After the manure has been dug in, a good commercial 

 lawn fertilizer, at the rate of 500 or 600 pounds to the acre, 

 should be used to act as a stimulant to the grass seed. Then 

 the ground must be raked, all the hollows filled, humps smoothed 

 and rolled to an even surface. When the ground is smooth, 

 sow the seed at the rate of about 70 pounds to the acre, then 

 give a final raking or rolling. Nothing but the very best lawn 

 grass seed should be sowed. The kind known to the trade as 

 recleaned, fancy cleaned is the best. Buy seed only of honest, 

 reliable dealers. A good mixture for general purposes is to take 

 two parts Kentucky blue grass, two parts of Rhode Island Bent, 

 two parts Red Top, and one part white clover. Other mix- 

 tures of different proportions and kinds of seed can be made 

 to suit special conditions. 



Weeds will be a source of annoyance coming either from 

 the manure, poor seed, or the soil itself. A heavy sowing 

 of seed to form a thick mat will help to kill out the weeds. 

 When weeds appear they should be dug out of the lawn. The 

 best time to seed is just before a shower. Heavy rains are 

 liable to wash the seed away and make gullies in the lawn. 

 These scars should be repaired and reseeded immediately. 

 Any bare spots where the seed fails to come up should be re- 

 seeded after waiting a reasonable time, say, about two weeks 

 after seeding. Patience and perserverance is the price of a 

 good lawn. 



There is a difference of opinion as to the best season to seed 

 a lawn, some claiming that the spring is the better, others the 

 fall. If the seed is sown early in the spring good results will 

 be secured, but if sown late the summer droughts will burn 



