42 



and nourish the grass. When spring opens, all the rough and strawy 

 portions should be removed; otherwise it will interfere with the action 

 of the mower. 



Bone-meal is one of the best applications that can be given to a lawn. 

 The practice of allowing the cuttings from the mowing machine to re- 

 main on the lawn is, upon the whole, very injurious. With newly- 

 formed lawns it is of some value for one or two cuttings; after that it 

 tends to injury. 



SPKING AND FALL PLANTING OF TKEES. 



The relative advantages of spring and fall planting have given rise 

 to many opinions, and it is not strange that a wide difference in opin- 

 ion should be held on the question, since so much of success or failure 

 depends upon the season, locality, and other attendant circumstances. 

 The influencing agents of vegetation are subject to such vast variety 

 of modifications, which can neither be foreseen nor prevented, that no 

 isolated observation, however truthfully noted, will suffice as a guide in 

 establishing definite rules; and it may be remarked that the many 

 seemingly conflicting opinions upon certain points of practice could, in 

 most instances, be reconciled if all attending facts and circumstances 

 were clearly produced, but these items are difficult to obtain. 



Perhaps the strongest argument in favor of fall planting is the par- 

 ticularly favorable peculiarities in the relative conditions of the soil and 

 the atmosphere at that season. Independent of this, it is theoretically 

 true that autumn is the best time for removing trees. A plant that has 

 occupied its position for several years can not be removed without cur- 

 tailing and injuring its roots more or less, but there are certain portions 

 of the year when the roots are of a minimum importance to the plant. 

 It is very evident that they are most essential when the tree is in full 

 foliage and vigorous growth, and during this period any reduction of 

 roots would be speedily perceptible; on the other hand, when the sea- 

 sonable growth is completed and the plant defoliated, the offices of the 

 roots are less important. From the above we learn that the best time 

 to transplant is between the fall of the leaves in autumn and the burst- 

 ing of the buds into growth in the spring or during what is termed the 

 dormant season. 



The " particularly favorable conditions of the soil and air" may now 

 be noted. During the month of October the soil averages 10 warmer 

 than the atmosphere. This forms a species of natural Lot bed into 

 which we place a newly removed tree, the formation of young roots is 

 encouraged, and before many weeks elapse the plant is well established 

 to withstand the vicissitudes of winter and make an earty and vigorous 

 start in the following spring. The low atmospheric temperature pre- 

 vents any growth in the branches, which is so far favorable under the 

 circumstances. 



In spring we find these physical conditions reversed ; the soil is then 



