MAKING A LAWN 131 



An open sweep of lawn, no matter how large or how small the 

 grounds, is needed to go with the home itself. Plant the shrubs as 

 thickly as you want to along the outskirts of a lot, or at the front or 

 rear, but have an open stretch of lawn somewhere. It helps give 

 character to a place and supplies a proper setting for the planting 

 you do. A lawn doesn't want to be dotted with trees and shrubs; 

 it wants to be open. Get away from the big center bed of Geraniums 

 or Cannas in the main lawn; you can find other places for them if 

 you look around enough, but don't cut up a sweep of green turf. 

 The smaller the grounds, the more the lawn means and the less one 

 can afford to sacrifice it for other purposes. A shrubbery border, or 

 one with flowers means nothing unless a lawn leads up to it. 



How TO MAKE A NEW LAWN 



The florist located in the country where almost everyone of his 

 patrons has, at least a good-sized yard, will often be called upon 

 to take charge of making a lawn and should know how best to go 

 about and do it. Usually it is a paying proposition and leads to more 

 business, such as the planting of shrubs, perennials or other stock. 



In order to obtain a good lawn, you should start out with well- 

 drained and deeply worked over soil. These, to my mind, are the 

 most essential requirements. You can ultimately establish a good 

 turf on the stiffest clay, but it takes time, and this is true, to quite 

 an extent of almost any lawn on heavy or light soil. In most cases 

 where a lawn has run out, it is usually the owner's fault, for it takes 

 proper attention to keep a lawn in good order. 



I don't care how rough apiece of land may be or how stiff the 

 clay from the basement or cellar excavation of a new residence, with 

 a little work and by handling the soil at the right time, when it is 

 not too wet nor too dry, you can not only obtain a fairly smooth 

 surface, but also lay the foundations for a good lawn without going 

 to a lot of expense as in top dressing the whole area with top soil, 

 manure and sand. I do not mean to say that this would be wrong; 

 if the owner wishes to go to this expense, well and good. However, 

 you can get along nicely otherwise and still have success. 



The deeper you can work the surface over, the better for the 

 roots of the grass and the better will the soil retain moisture during 

 the hot Summer months. In heavy soil, after it has been plowed, 

 follow up with the disk or pulverizer and a polescraper or heavy 

 planks to do the leveling. If you want to make an extra good job, go 

 over it with the pulverizer again after leveling. Follow with a good 

 fertilizer consisting of blood and bone at the rate, say, of one and one- 

 half tons per acre. Work this in with rakes and after the surface is 

 all raked, sow the seed, either with a seeder or by hand. For ordinary 

 purposes, as good a mixture as you can want will contain equal 



