EXECUTION OF SOME OF THE LANDSCAPE FEATURES 81 



be sown very thick. Three to five bushels to the acre is the 

 ordinary appHcation of grass seed (page 79). 



Securing a firm sod. 



The lawn will ordinarily produce a heavy crop of weeds the 

 first year, especially if much stable manure has been used. 

 The weeds need not be pulled, unless such vicious intruders as 

 docks or other perennial plants gain a foothold; but the area 

 should be mown frequently with a lawn-mower. The annual 

 weeds die at the approach of cold, and they are kept down by 

 the use of the lawn-mower, while the grass is not injured. 



It rarely happens that every part of the lawn will have an 

 equal catch of grass. The bare or sparsely seeded places should 

 be sown again every fall and spring until the lawn is finally com- 

 plete. In fact, it requires constant attention to keep a lawn 

 in good sod, and it must be continuously in the process of mak- 

 ing. It is not every lawn area, or every part of the area, that is 

 adapted to grass; and it may require long study to find out why 

 it is not. Bare or poor places should be hetcheled up strongly 

 with an iron-toothed rake, perhaps fertilized again, and then 

 reseeded. It is unusual that a lawn does not need repairing 

 every year. Lawns of several acres which become thin and 

 mossy may be treated in essentially the same way by dragging 

 them with a spike-tooth harrow in early spring as soon as the 

 land is dry enough to hold a team. Chemical fertilizers and 

 grass seed are now sown liberally, and the area is perhaps 

 dragged again, although this is not always essential; and then 

 the roller is applied to bring the surface into a smooth condition. 

 To plow up these poor lawns is to renew all the battle with weeds, 

 and really to make no progress ; for, so long as the contour is 

 correct, the lawn may be repaired by these surface applications. 



The stronger the sward, the less the trouble with weeds ; yet 

 it is practically impossible to keep dandelions and some other 

 weeds out of lawns except by cutting them out with a knife 



