284 BULLETIN 160. 



tiful garden in Fig. 34 has received practically no labor for three 

 years except that required to mow the grass. 



Making the sod. In mail}' cases the school yard is already 

 level or well graded and has a good sod, and it is not nec- 

 essary to plow it and re-seed it. It should be said that the sod 

 on old lawns can be renewed without plowing it up. In the 

 bare or thin places, scratch up the ground with an iron-toothed 

 rake, apply a little fertilizer, and sow more seed. Weedy lawns 

 are those in which the sod is poor. It may be necessary to pull 

 out the weeds ; but after they are out, the land should be quickly 

 covered with sod or they will come in again. Annual weeds, 

 as pigweeds, ragweed, can usually be crowded out by merely 

 securing a heavier sod. A little clover seed will often be a good 

 addition, for it supplies nitrogen and has an excellent mechanical 

 effect on the soil. 



The ideal time to prepare the land is in the fall, before the 

 heavy rains come. Then sow in the fall, and again in early 

 spring on a late snow. However, the work may be done in 

 spring, but the danger is that it will be put off so long that the 

 young grass will not become established before the dry hot 

 weather comes. 



The only outlay of money required for the entire improvement 

 is for grass seed. The best lawn grass for New York is June- 

 grass or blue-grass. Seedsmen know it as Poa pratensis. It 

 weighs but 14 pounds to the bushel. Not less than three bush- 

 els should be sown to the acre. We want many very small stems 

 of grass, not a few large ones : for we are making a lawn, not a 

 meadow. 



Do not sow grain with the grass seed. The June-grass grows 

 slowly at first, however, and therefore it is a good plan to sow 

 timothy with it, at the rate of two or three quarts to the acre. 

 The timothy comes up quickly and makes a green ; and the 

 June-grass will crowd it out in a year or two. If the land is hard 

 and inclined to be too dry, some kind of clover will greatly assist 

 the June-grass. Red clover is too large and coarse for the lawn. 

 Crimson clover is excellent, for it is an annual, and it does not 

 become unsightly in the lawn. White clover is perhaps best, 

 since it not only helps the grass but looks well in the sod. One 

 or two pounds of seed is generally sufficient for an acre. 



