LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



LANDSCAPE GARDENING 1817 



that could be found by dint of skill and untiring 

 patience. The soil was that of an old garden, and natu- 

 rally good. It was tilled in the most thorough manner 

 and not fertilized at all, for fear new weeds be intro- 

 duced. Then, in this mellow and receptive medium, 

 were set cuttings or joints of the hardiest and most 

 luxuriant varieties of grasses which had been discovered 

 by months and even years of keen and intelligent 

 search in the old meadows of both the Old and the New 

 World from Austria to Australia. The result is an 

 elastic firmness, an endurance, depth and richness of 

 the turf which suggests to the tread the deep pile of 

 some Eastern carpet woven in a hand-loom. 



But all can not attain this standard on their lawns. 

 For those who do not look higher than the ordinary 

 standard and even this is none too often desired, or 

 even understood, by the general public the following 

 directions for lawn-making may be given: 



1. The lawn should be carefully graded, either con- 

 vex, level or concave, in such comparatively long, suave 

 and graceful lines as will accord with the peculiar con- 

 formation of the ground (Fig. 2106). 



2. Plow, harrow or spade, and fork the soil of the 

 lawn to a depth of 2 feet, if possible, and keep remov- 

 ing the stones and burning the gathered rubbish for 

 several weeks, or as long as you can persuade yourself 

 to do it, or pay anyone else to do it; with the full 

 assurance that no matter how much you dp, you will 

 not be likely to destroy all the weeds and win the very 

 best possible results. 



3. Enrich the soil by a covering of still richer mold. 

 Next to this in efficiency are bone-dust, lime, superphos- 

 phate, nitrate of soda, and nitrogenous manures like 

 ground flesh and bone mixed in proportions suited to 

 the special soil, which may vary materially in a dis- 

 tance of a few hundred yards. The usual proportions 

 are one ton to the acre of ordinary artificial fertilizers, 

 such as superphosphate of lime and bone-dust, or 

 fifteen to twenty-five of well-rotted stable - manure. 

 If artificial fertilizers are not available, then take cow- 

 manure, sheep-manure, or last of all, because it is the 

 most productive of weeds, ordinary stable-manure. 

 These natural manures are, after all, the best, save for 

 their weed-bearing qualities. They will need composting 

 with several times their bulk of good soil and even 

 spreading and harrowing or raking in throughout the 

 surface of the lawn. 



4. For turfing, the cleanest grass 

 seed that can be obtained at any 

 price will be found the best in the 

 end. The bulk of this seed should be 

 Kentucky blue-grass or June-grass 

 (Poa pratensis) mixed with red-top or 

 herd's-grass (Agrostis alba var. vul- 

 garis), or Agrostis canina, the Rhode 

 Island bent-grass. The advantage of 

 using several kinds of grass is that 

 the first-comers hold possession of the 

 ground against incursions of weeds 

 until the stronger but slower-growing 

 Kentucky blue-grass gets complete 

 roothold, when, in the struggle for life, 

 the earlier growths of grass, being 

 weaker, go to the wall and are crowded 

 out of existence. How fine this blue- 

 grass may become under favorable 



conditions it will be needless to point out to those who 

 have seen the grass meadows of Kentucky. 



5. On a calm day the seed should be sown evenly 

 over the lawn surface a task which can be well done 

 only by much skill and experience. The ground will 

 then need careful raking with a fine-toothed iron rake, 

 and rolling with an iron roller, the heavier the better. 

 In very dry weather or very windy weather it is hardly 

 wcrth while to sow grass seed. 



6. As soon as the grass has grown 3 or 4 inches, cut it 



first with a scythe and afterward with the lawn-mower, 

 in order to secure a good thick-set turf. Every spring, 

 and oftener if wet weather prevails, a compacting with 

 the iron roller will serve a good purpose. Fertilizing on 

 the top of the lawn in the winter is always in order, 

 provided the remainders of rubbish from the stable- 

 manure that may be used be removed early in spring 

 before the grass starts. 



7. The last and perhaps the most important care to 

 be given the lawn in the process of its establishment is 

 the weeding of the first summer. The next is the weed- 

 ing of the second summer and the third is the weed- 

 ing at any time it may need it, no matter how many 

 years may have elapsed since its construction. The 

 onion-patch and the flower-garden need no more weed- 

 ing than the lawn, if for no other reason than because 

 the use and beauty of either onion-patch or flower- 

 garden can never, combined, equal those of the home 

 lawn. In it, skill and patience and the love of beauty 

 find abundant reward. SAMUEL PARSONS. 



Lawns for the South. 



For many years handsome lawns in the South were a 

 rarity, and it was the impression, generally, that good 

 lawns were not possible in that region. Unfortunately, 

 many kinds of grasses not suited to certain sections of 

 the South were sown. Being unadapted to the soil and 

 climate, consequently failure followed. 



By careful and judicious selection of the hardier 

 varieties of grasses, and a proper and careful blending of 

 them, beautiful lawns are now possible in almost every 

 part of the South, but, to be successful, the soil must be 

 properly prepared and fertilized. Most of the southern 

 soils contain an excess of acidity, and, therefore, this 

 must be corrected by an application of lime. This 

 should be used at the rate of 1,000 to 3,000 pounds to 

 the acre, and should be evenly distributed over the 

 area to be treated. Soils lacking in humus should have 

 this deficiency supplied by the following treatment: 

 Cowpeas, soy-beans and velvet beans should be sown 

 in the spring, and crimson clover in the fall, and when 

 matured, cut and allowed to lie upon the ground for a 

 few days, then chopped up fine with a cutaway harrow, 

 and properly turned under, so that none of the stems 

 and roots remains on the surface. Apply a good high- 

 grade fertilizer, bone-meal, sterilized sheep-manure, 



2105. An open area of grass space. 



or a material containing a high percentage of phos- 

 phoric acid, nitrogen and potash. Apply at the rate of 

 500 to 800 pounds to the acre. This should be thor- 

 oughly incorporated with the soil. In the spring, 

 previous to preparing a lawn for fall seeding, thoroughly 

 rotted barnyard manure can be used. The only objec- 

 tion to barnyard manure is the risk of bringing foreign 

 weeds and grass seeds into the lawn. Before putting 

 in the seed, the ground must be very carefully graded 

 and raked smooth. Seeding should be done at the rate 



