loo THE SMALL COUNTRY PLACE 



this is done and the soil is not bunched up in raking 

 the seed in, it will be evenly sown. 



If the lawn is shaded with large trees and the ground 

 full of roots, a mixture of two parts June grass, two 

 parts Canada blue grass, one red, one sheep's fescue, one 

 meadow fescue, one perennial rye grass, and one part of 

 white clover will cover the surface better than the ordi- 

 nary mixture given above. 



Newly seeded lawns must not be cut with the lawn- 

 mower until the grass has formed a firm sod. An ordi- 

 nary grass scythe, sharp and well handled, should be 

 used the first two or three times the grass is cut, care- 

 fully raking off all clippings as soon as cut. 



After Care of the Lawn. 



With proper care a lawn on good soil should improve 

 with age. Each fall just before the ground freezes a 

 thin dressing of well-rotted stable manure should be 

 spread upon the surface and raked sufficiently to work 

 it down among the roots. Coarse strawy or green ma- 

 nure, often used, is not necessary; it is unsightly and 

 offensive both to those in the house and those passing. 

 Each spring before growth begins a light seeding of the 

 lawn grass mixture should be scattered over all thin or 

 bare places, and a little later, when growth has become 

 well started, an application of nitrate of soda at the rate 

 of 200 to 300 Ibs. per acre, or some good lawn dressing, 

 will be very useful. Another light sowing of seed and 

 fertilizer should be applied about the middle or last of 

 August, that they may be washed down to the grass roots 

 by the early fall rains. 



Weeds in the Lawn. 



Annual weeds like "finger grass," etc., are soon 

 choked out by the above method of seeding and feeding, 

 but biennial weeds like the dandelion, chiccory, chick- 



