THE GRASS QUESTION. 211 



cess; as much of the success of lawn-making depends 

 upon the preparation of the ground. The land must be 

 well plowed, or dug and harrowed, or raked, to secure 

 thorough pulverization, and after being reduced to a per- 

 fectly even surface, should be cleared of stumps, stones, 

 roots and other impediments. The soil, if not wet, should 

 then be made firm with a heavy roller, and top-dressed 

 with a good fertilizer, unless the land had received an 

 application of seven to eight tons of very short, well- 

 rotted stable manure before plowing. We will here 

 remark that stable manure is the best of all fertilizers, 

 but there being some difficulty in obtaining it, and objec- 

 tions to its use, on account of its offensive appearance 

 and smell, we recommend a good grade of concentrated 

 commercial fertilizer. Six to seven hundred pounds 

 to the acre of such mixture should be applied. The fer- 

 tilizer should be lightly harrowed in upon the seedbed, 

 as it will be lost to the } r oung plants if buried much 

 beneath the surface. After the harrowing, the ground 

 should be severely rolled, that the earth and seed may 

 be brought into close contact. The lawn grass mixture 

 should be sown at the rate of forty pounds to the acre, 

 and rolled down. Sowing in September and October 

 will be found most advantageous in latitudes south of 

 Philadelphia; in more northerly locations spring sowing 

 is most successfully practiced, the work being done in 

 April and May. 



Annual seeds, natural to the soil, are certain to 

 spring up before the young grass becomes established, 

 and an inexperienced person is likely to conclude that 

 the weeds spring from weed seed in the grass seed, but 

 all soils contain weed seeds, and, upon tillage, they are 

 certain to vegetate. The weeds, as they become large 

 enough, may be cut down or pulled up ; after the first 

 year their growth will cease. Frequent rolling is advan- 

 tageous in producing a good lawn, by solidifying the soil, 



