136 



THE FLORISTS' MANUAL. 



that add another tenth of old broken 

 up mortar or crushed charcoal. 



They are propagated by layering the 

 ends of strong shoots or from seed. 

 Young plants were once very expen- 

 sive. They are now obtainable at a 

 moderate cost. When raised from 

 * seed they vary both in size and color, 

 so fine < varieties are increased by 

 layers. 



Slugs will eat the tops of the young 

 asparagus-like shoots, but cotton bat- 

 ting will spp them. Tobacco smoks 

 will keep down fly and thrip, and syr- 

 inging, which the plant delights in 

 throughout the spring and summer, 

 will prevent red spider and mealy bug. 



There is only one species (Lapa- 

 garia rosea), but there is a pure white 

 form and from seedlings have been 

 produced intermediate colors. It is 

 not a florist's plant, but yet one that 

 any gardener should be proud to grow 

 well for its aristocratic beauty. 



LAWNS MAKING AND THEIR 

 CARE. 



A fine, well kept lawn is a source of 

 pleasure and pride to the owner, and 

 how unseemly it would be to see a 

 fifty thousand dollar mansion sur- 

 rounded by a weedy, ill kept lawn. I 

 have remarked some years ago, per- 

 haps only to myself, that the lawns of 

 the temperate and moist parts of Eu- 

 rope (such as Great Britain) were 

 made to walk on; ours are made to 

 look at. "Keep off the grass" is as- 

 suredly more frequently seen here than 

 there. "The Emerald Isle" gets its 

 poetic designation because the grass is 

 green the year 'round. Ours in sum- 

 mer, such as this of 1899, is brown in 

 color, and for months in winter an 

 "invisible green." So we prize our 

 lawns, spend -money on them, and pay 

 large water bills for the privilege of 

 frequently spoiling them, but withal 

 I must say that for trimness and neat- 

 ness and greenness in our cities our 

 lawns will compare most favorably 

 with those I saw in England fourteen 

 yeajrs ago. In fact, the latter were a 

 disappointment, and badly needed the 

 water cart or hose. 



Whether you use sod or seed to 

 make a lawn, the ground should be 

 dug or plowed a good eight or nine 

 inches deep; the deeper the roots can 

 go down in the soil, the less your grass 

 will dry out in summer. If you can- 

 not afford that amount of good top 

 soil you should at least have the soil 

 dug. that deep, and into it work a good 

 lot of well rotted manure. Break it 

 up with plow or spade, so that the 

 roots will go down into it. If for sod- 

 ding, you should have at least two 

 inches of good surface loam, so that 

 the roots will quickly take hold. 



In grading a piece of ground you 

 may have had depressions to fill up in 

 some spots several feet deep. In other 

 places you have had to take off the 

 surface, leaving that part very solid. 

 The filled up portion will be sure to 

 sink, so it should be got down to its 

 permanent grade either by ramming or 

 .by water. In small areas, such as 



where excavations have been made for 

 sewers, there is no rammer equal to 

 the hose. Flood it with water, if prac- 

 ticable, and that will take it down 

 solid. This is particularly true of clay. 

 Obtain the best and cleanest sod you 

 can, and here is a chance for you to 

 pull out the dandelion and plantain; 

 their roots are severed in cutting the 

 sod, and it takes little time to pull out 

 the tops with the short pieces of root. 

 It is seldom we get sod that is evenly 

 cut, but if the ground has been nicely 

 graded and the soil not too solid, you 

 can overcome that, and a good heavy 

 roller will flatten down small inequali- 

 ties. There is nothing more to do but 

 give the sod a good soaking of water. 

 In a few days pass the mowing ma- 

 chine over it and you have a lawn 

 pleasing to the eye, and if you are a 

 reasonable person your eye will not 

 see it as it is today, but will picture it 

 after a month's growth and several 

 cuttings, and your prophetic vision 

 will be looking on something like the 

 surface of a billiard table. 



Where there is any quantity of lawn 

 to make or renew, seeding is always 

 preferable to sodding. Not alone does 

 it make a better looking lawn, better 

 grass and better quality all round, but 

 it is far cheaper. The same care in 

 digging deep and manuring is essen- 

 tial, and the top two inches of surface 

 should be of good, friable soil, that the 

 delicate little plants may get a good 

 start. 



You can, when preparing for seed, 

 put on an absolutely perfect grade, 

 whether it be for a bowling green, 

 which is level, or a gradual fall to any 

 point, or a pleasing slope in any di- 

 rection. When I say you can, I mean 

 you can if you have an eye and know 

 how to handle the rake, and you are 

 not supposed to be leveling or grad- 

 ing if you can't. Some men have a 

 great gift at this kind of work and 

 some are created to play "Golf" 

 "Gaawf." 



In small, defined areas, when seed- 

 ing it is a good plan to lay a strip of 

 sod around the margin. Sometimes a 

 bed for flowers or shrubs is laid out 

 on the lawns. If a strip of sod, say a 

 foot wide, is laid around these at a 

 correct grade, they are a good guide 

 when leveling, or what may be called 

 "putting on the finishing touch" for 

 intervening spaces. 



I may have rather an elaborate way 

 of sowing grass seed, but it answers 

 well. When you have finished raking 

 and have the surface as nearly perfect 

 as your eye tells you, give the whole a 

 light rolling. You will see much plain- 

 er then any little inequalities than 

 when the ground was left rough by 

 the rake. Mend any imperfections and 

 roll those places again where you dis- 

 turb the soil. Then sow the seed on 

 the smooth surface. Next pass over 

 the surface with a rake, not raking as 

 if you had stones and rubbish to rake 

 or leveling to do, but let the teeth of 

 the rake pass backwards and forwards 

 lightly over the surface. This will 

 just work in the seeds, or enough of 



them, for if one in a hundred grows 

 you have enough. After that light 

 raking pass over again with a light 

 roller. 



Just one digression. How pleasant 

 it is to see a man with his back bent 

 (or your own) and handling the rake 

 as an expert, for expertness can be ex- 

 ercised with a rake as well as with a 

 bat, a ball, or a billiard cue. Don't 

 handle the rake like the interesting 

 school marm among the hay fields of 

 her country cousins during vacation. 

 Men that are expert with these simple 

 tools and keep sober are never out of 

 employment. 



Sodding is done as soon after frost 

 as the ground is dry till first of June, 

 and again in the fall if the weather is 

 not too dry to cut it. Seeding is also 

 done in early spring, but not safe to 

 do after end of May, as we frequently 

 get a dry spell, and unless you can 

 reach it with the hose it may be a 

 failure. The very best time of the 

 whole year to seed a lawn is from the 

 last of August to middle of September; 

 even a little earlier in August is all 

 right. We are almost sure to get some 

 showers the end of August, and if 

 within reach of the hose you are not 

 dependent on showers, and if sown 

 end of August or very early September 

 you have a lawn well established be- 

 fore winter sets in. 



In fall sowing, which is the best, 

 there is no need of sowing anything 

 with the grass seeds. Sometimes in 

 spring sowing a sprinkling of oats or 

 rye is sown, which germinates quickly, 

 and by its growth shades and protects 

 the little grass spears till they are up 

 a few inches. In a few weeks the oats 

 are mowed off with a scythe and the 

 grass takes care of itself. This, of 

 course, is quite unnecessary where 

 you sprinkle occasionally. Our climate 

 is uncertain no two seasons alike 

 but although 1 have seen many acres 

 sown for a lawn in August which was 

 a disappointment because there were 

 no rains, yet it is by far the surest and 

 best time to sow. 



There are many seedsmen, leading 

 firms, who give great attention to the 

 preparation of lawn grass seed, and 

 when ordering you should say whether 

 the soil is a clay loam or sandy, 

 whether it is boggy or moist, or high 

 and dry. Some grasses are more suit- 

 able for shade than others. Most of 

 the reputable firms charge a good 

 round sum for their "extra superfine 

 lawn grass mixture." Possibly it is 

 not the seed that costs so much as the 

 "extra superfine," for which you al- 

 ways have to pay high, whether it be 

 in a coat or cod liver oil. 



If I am asked to lay down a lawn, I 

 just buy a good clean sample of Red 

 Top (Agrostis vulgaris), and add a 

 few pounds of White Clover, which is 

 best sown separately, as the little 

 weighty seed will find its way to the 

 bottom of your bag or box and not be 

 distributed evenly with the grass. The 

 fine mixtures of the seedsman are all 

 right and a few dollars is of little con- 

 sequence in such an important and 



