146 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



July, 1908 



Fertilizing a Lawn 



In the April issue of THE Canadian Hor- 

 ticulturist appeared a short article on, 

 "How to Have a Good Lawn." The writer 

 advised a "liberal sprinkling- of good com- 

 mercial fertilizer." Please tell me what is 

 a g-ood commercial fertilizer for a lawn. 

 The grass on my lawn is showing signs 

 of wearing out. It tends to become red in 

 spots and that early in the summer. How 

 much of said fertilizer should I require for 

 a lawn about eighty feet square? — T. H. R., 

 Grey Co., Ont. 



At intervals of two or three weeks, 

 during the early part of the season, top- 

 dress the lawn with nitrate of soda, at 

 the rate of one-half pound per square rod. 

 Two applications of this will be sufficient. 

 Later, give an application of bone meal, 

 two parts, superphosphate of lime, two 

 parts, muriate of potash, one part, and 

 apply at the rate of five pounds per 

 square rod. Before applying these fer- 

 tilizers, it is best to rake the surface of 

 the lawn. The full benefit of the fertilizers 

 is realized most when they are applied 

 just before a rain. 



The Common Toad 



Tennyson D. Jarvit, O.A.C., Guelph. 



Very few realize the immense good 

 done by the common toad in consuming 

 insects and other destructive arthropods. 

 He is a useful friend and his presence 

 should be encouraged in every garden. 

 In France, the gardeners are glad to buy 

 toads in order to have them as insect 

 destroyers. 



Most of the old superstitions regard- 

 ing the toad, such as the possession of 

 a jewel in its head, and that warts are 

 produced on one's hands from handling, 

 and so forth, have been pretty much 

 done away with. He has not a poison- 

 ed fang or gland in his mouth, but on 

 his neck may be found a wart-like mound 

 which secretes a very distasteful fluid to 

 defend him against dogs and other ene- 

 mies. The roughened excre.sences on 

 the surface of the toad are glands which 

 .secrete a fluid to moisten the skin. 



A few words as to the life-history of 

 the toad may not be out of place. In 

 the spring of the year they go to pools 

 and ponds for breeding and the air is fill- 

 ed at that time with the shrill purring 

 which is so characteristic of the early 

 spring. The eggs, unlike those of the 

 frogs, are laid in strings of gelatinous 

 matter wound about aquatic or submerg- 

 ed grass. These eggs hatch after a 

 while into tadpoles or "polliwogs" much 

 resembling the tadpoles of the frogs. 

 The.se so-called polliwogs, after a while, 

 lose their tails, acquiring first hind legs 

 and then fore legs while their tails are 

 disappearing. Losing their gills they 

 finally breathe entirely by means of lungs. 

 Then they, emerge from the water in 

 large numbers. They avoid the sun and 

 both old and young are seen at night- 



fall, or sometimes in large numbers after 

 a rain, at which latter time their extreme 

 abundance gives rise to the popular belief 

 that "it is raining toads." 



The number of insects consumed by 

 an adult toad is almost incredible. At 

 sunset he comes out from his resting 

 place and starts on his regular tour over 

 lawns and through gardens. He is al- 

 ways hungry and eats four meals a day 

 or rather his stomach must be filled and 

 emptied four times a day. He hunts 

 and eats almost incessantly, therefore, 

 in order to get as much as he' needs. 

 The tongue of the toad, with which he 

 catches his food, is well adapted to its 

 work. It has a sticky surface from 

 which escape of prey is impossible, and 

 it is fastened at the front instead of the 

 back. The latter fact makes it possi- 

 ble for the toad to throw the tongue 

 well out of the mouth. The toad eats 

 almost all kinds of living things that 

 are out at night. In a number of stom- 

 achs examined at Guelph the following 

 kinds of insects were present : ants, spi- 

 ders, crickets, mosquitoes, flies, moths, 

 beetles and sowbugs. 



A Home-made Rockery 



The photograpli was kindly f iirnislied by Mias M. K. 

 Bellurby, C'raigueth, Ont., who describes the rockery 

 as follows; "It is filled with trailing plants, such as 

 yellow myrtle, canary bird flower, verbena and Cal- 

 ifornia poppy and has a yucca in the centre, against a 

 back-ground of large double sun flowers. It is built up 

 of round stones to a height of about three feet and 

 filled with good garden soil. I give it an abundance 

 of water as the stones seem to draw the heat .and it, 

 dries out quickly. The large fiat stone in the front is 

 a petrified mud turtle which I found in an old creek 

 bed." 



Making a Lawn 



I have a small piece of ground near my 

 house that I want to make into a good lawn. 

 Most of the soil was taken from" the cellar 

 when building. Kindly tell me how I can 

 best handle the ground so as to produce 

 a gocd, permanent turf .— E. A. F., Kings 

 Co., N. S. 



The soi! from the cellar should not be 

 left on the surface. It should be taken 

 'away or used for filling undulations. The 

 best soil for a la\vn is a rich, retentive, 

 loam. A few loads of this spread even- 

 ly on the surface will produce much bet- 

 ter results than if you tried to make a 



lawn from the soil already at hand. Some 

 kind of fertilizer, such as bone meal, 

 wood ashes, and nitrate of soda, should 

 be worked in. Have the surface soil well 

 pulverized and level it smoothly. 



.Sow the seed when the soil is freshly 

 distributed. Use plenty of seed and sow 

 it evenly. It is best to sow one-half of 

 the amount one way, and to cross the 

 patch with the balance. After sowing, 

 rake and roll. 



Good lawn mixtures can be .secured 

 from any reliable .seedsmen. A home- 

 made mixture can be prepared from Ken- 

 tucky blue grass, red top and red clover 

 equal parts by weight. Use at the rat 

 of at least three bushels to the acre. Th6 

 amount required can easily be determin- 

 ed by getting the area of the plot in 

 square feet, and dividing same into the'' 

 number of square feet in an acre» which 

 is 43,560. ■ Divide the result into the ' 

 quantity required for an acre, and you 

 have' the amount necessary for the plot. 



nil 



Sweet Potatoes 



Walter T. Ross, Picton, Ont. 



In the spring of 1906, I sent to Mary- 

 land for some sweet potato sprouts. 

 They came by mail in fine condition, 

 well rooted, and healthy plants. I set 

 out about seventy-five plants, on May 

 24th, giving as many more to farmers 

 in different parts of the county, where 

 I knew the soil and conditions were fav- 

 orable to growing them. Mine proved^ 

 very satisfactory. I must have had 

 over a bushel, the largest one weighing'.'! 

 one pound. I put a dozen on the scales 

 and they weighed six and a half pounds. ' 

 The farmers were well satisfied with^ 

 their experience, which was successful.-. | 



In the spring of 1907, I .set out near-^ 

 ly 500 plants, but on account of th«? | 

 backward season and late frosts, t- 

 could not plant them until June loth/ 

 The season was much shorter, and there- 

 was less hot weather than the previous? 

 year. While thie vines grew vigorously, 

 the yield of potatoes was unsatisfac-^ I 

 tory. The largest I had was one-half; 

 pound; but very few attained a satisfacij 

 tory size. If. the season h„d been thre©:;] 

 weeks longer, as the previous one ir^ 

 1906, I see no reason why I should no^ 

 have had ten bushels, for which the deal- 

 ers here would have paid $2.00 a bushel.. 

 This proves that with an early spring, a 

 hot, dry summer, the yield will be sat- 

 isfactory ; otherwise the result will be a 

 failure. 



The plants should be set out in rows.^J 

 three feet apart, and fifteen inches aparrl 

 in the rows. The best fertilizer is oii4il 

 having a small amount of nitrogen, and I 

 a large amount of potash. I found the 

 Yellow Nansemond the most satisfac- 

 tory variety of the four or five different 

 varieties that I grew. 



