walks where a straight one would be much better. Every curve should be a sensible one ; that 

 is, have a reason for its course ; therefore arrange your planting so as to make an apparent 

 necessity for every turn. The idea is shown in the little sketch accompanying, where the walks 

 curve to accommodate the trees. 



If the ground to be improved is only a small lot, it can be done best by the spade, and it is 



not well to endeavor to do it with the plow. In 

 that case, mark out the walks first. Do this by 

 setting up little sticks on the line you design for 

 the road, as shown in the engraving, changing 

 them until you get just the curve that seems graceful 

 'and pleasant to the eye. Put a row of sticks on 

 each side of the road, measuring carefully so as to 

 get the width uniform. Another plan for securing 

 the desired curve to walks is the use of a stout line. 

 Next, remove the earth from the walk to about the depth 

 The walks, of course, have somewhat 



LOCATING WALK WITH LINE. 



The idea is shown in the engraving. 



of eighteen inches, using it to fill up any low places. 



the appearance of ditches. The operator is now prepared to pulverize the soil with the spade. 



Have it done thoroughly, sending the spade well down, and completely inverting the soil, but 



leaving about six inches on each side of the walk undisturbed for the present, so as not to break 



the line of the road. All stones found in digging should be thrown into the roads, and often 



sufficient will be obtained to fill within six or eight inches of the surface ; if not, enough can be 



procured usually without much difficulty. The stone cutter's yards and the stone piles in the roads 



and fields generally furnish abundant material. When the walks are filled with this rough 



material to within six inches of the surface of the soil, the ground being raked off nice and 



smooth, dig the six inches left undug on the edges of the walks, being careful to keep the edges 



true and as originally staked out, and then set a turf about six inches wide for a border to the 



walk, as shown in the engraving, keeping the turf as 



low as the level of the adjoining soil, or a little 



lower, and to do this, remove two or three inches of , 



the soil where the turf is to set, according to its 



thickness. 



A good deal of this rough work can be done in 

 the autumn, so as to leave only the finishing up in 



the spring ; but if commenced in the spring, it should WALKS WITH TURF EDGING. 



be hurried up so as to get the grass sown as early as possible, for grass seed will not start well 

 unless it has the benefit of spring showers. Lawn Grass sown about the first of September, 

 so as to have the benefit of autumn rains, will usually make a fine growth before frost, and be in 

 excellent condition in the early spring, almost appearing like an old lawn by July. All being 

 done as previously advised, sow the grass seed on the well prepared surface, raking it in, and if 

 pretty dry, it is well to roll the soil after sowing. Sow Blue Grass, or a preparation of the most 

 desirable grasses for lawns, sold as Lawn Grass, at the rate of four bushels to the acre. In our 

 Lawn Grass we always put a little Sweet Vernal Grass, on account of its delightful fragrance. 

 If you use Blue Grass, get a little Venial and use with it, a pound or two to the acre. Most 



persons also like a pound of White Clover to the 

 i acre. If the grass is sown early in the spring and 

 [the weather is at all favorable, by the first of July 

 the lawn will look pretty green, and from the 

 middle to the last of July i$ill need cutting, and 

 after that must be cut as often as the little lawn 



SECTION OF WALK. 



mower can get a bite. These lawn mowers are a real blessing, for not one in ten thousand 

 can cut a lawn properly with a scythe, and therefore our lawns, before the introduction of 

 mowers, always looked wretched. 



It will be strange if a great army of weeds do not appear with the grass, but do not take it for 

 granted that these weeds came from the grass seed sown, because if you had not sown any grass 

 the weeds would have been just as abundant. The farmer who finds the weeds among his corn 



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