30 THE GARDEN 



slipping over the top of the grass. This procedure is disastrous to the- 

 machine, and little good to the grass. 



See to it, then, that the mower is put in thorough order, nuts well 

 tightened, the different bearings fully oiled, and, above all, the blades 

 properly set. This last is important. If the blades are set too low, they 

 will shear the grass off too close, or, worse yet, will cut into the very turf, 

 tearing up roots as well as earth. Again, do not have the blades too high, 

 else the grass will be left too long. It is a good plan to have your mower 

 fairly low set for the first part of the season, when the crop is strong and 

 thick, and high set later in the summer, when the grass is at its lowest 

 vitality. 



If there are lumps in the lawn, and a roller is not obtainable, these 

 lumps should be well soaked, and then pounded down as flat as possible. 

 This to save the mower. Nothing is more disastrous to any kind of machine 

 than to run it over uneven surfaces. The machine soon becomes twisted 

 and altogether undone. 



The first cutting should include careful and close attention to those 

 Darts where the machine cannot be run. The long grass shears will come 

 in handy in such places. Around rocks, the edges of beds, any permanent 

 fixtures such as vases or pedestals, garden furniture, old stumps, left for 

 ornament, all such places must be clipped close with the shears. This will 

 help your lawn present a neat and tidy appearance. It is a good plan to do 

 this clipping before the mower is used on the lawn. 



LAWN PATCHING 



Nothing short of constant attention will keep any patch of grass in 

 condition through long hot spells of dry weather. Constant cutting has a ten- 

 dency to turn the lawn a burnt color, because lacking sufficient moisture to 

 start the young shoots again, the dry, burnt roots are visible. 



When the lawn commences to look like this, stop the mower and turn 

 on the hose, without the nozzle. That means, let the hose lie on the 

 ground, and let the water run out of the tube and sink slowly into the 

 earth. You will find when first this is done that the top of the ground is so 

 hard and burnt up that the water will show a tendency to run off, spreading 

 over a wide surface; until the top has become softened, the water will not 

 sink in. Think then, how foolish it is to spend so much time trying to 

 water your little patch of lawn by using the sprinkler. It is little or no use. 

 The blades of grass take the moisture, hold it, and eventually the drops 

 simply evaporate. 



Once the lawn has got into a poor condition, nothing short of a good 

 solid soaking from a rainstorm will do any good. How frequently you will 

 notice that after a shower the lawns are very little benefited. That is 

 because the top of the earth is in the condition I spoke about above. The 

 water will NOT sink in. It cannot. 



But it is quite possible to have your grass green and thick through 

 the whole of the hot spell if the plan of letting the water run out of the 

 hose right on to the ground and sink in is followed. 



A spell of an hour or so early in the morning, before the sun has 

 heated the top of the earth, will do more good than the same time spent 

 in the evening, especially if the day has been hot. Then the earth is hot 

 for some distance down, and the water evaporates to a very great degree. 

 Therefore, a certain amount of the water coming out of your hose is 

 actually lost. 



Choose the morning hours, then, to mend your grass before sitting 

 down to your breakfast, turn on the hose, and let it run onto the grass 

 until you have finished. 



