6 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION 



ing plants for groups due attention should be paid to harmony in 

 size and color, otherwise too great contrasts may result. Many 

 otherwise beautiful places are spoiled by having the plants scatter- 

 ed indiscriminately over the lawn, in which case only the beauty 

 of individual plants is seen. If the plants are properly chosen and 

 placed, the whole landscape should form a picture, each plant con- 

 tributing something to the effect of the whole. 



Roads and walks should be located where there is the greatest 

 need for them. When it can be done conveniently they should be 

 built on graceful curves ; but if there is no definite reason for having 

 them in curves it is better to lay them out in straight lines. Some- 

 times it is possible to create an apparent necessity for curved roads 

 or walks by planting groups of trees or shrubs and bending the 

 roads around them. The road should not be wider than is necess- 

 ary to accommodate the traffic, and footpaths or walks should be 

 located where people will naturally travel and be just wide enough 

 to accommodate those who will use them. 



THE LAWN 



The lawn is one of the very essential features in the beautifying 

 of any home ground. The soil for lawns should be plowed deeply, 

 thoroughly manured, and carefully leveled and smoothed before 

 any planting is done. A mixture of thirty pounds of Kentucky 

 blue grass and ten pounds of white clover per acre makes a very 

 desirable lawn in Montana. The seed should be sown as early in 

 the spring as possible and covered to a depth of one-fourth and not 

 over one-half inch. If it is not possible to sow the seed very early 

 in the spring, good results can be obtained by planting later and 

 covering the lawn with straw to a depth of one-half inch, enough 

 to provide a shade and hold moisture until the grass seeds ger- 

 minate. 



Proper facilities for irrigation should be made before the lawn 

 is seeded down. Irrigation of some kind is necessary in Montana 

 in order to keep the grass green throughout the summer months. 

 To maintain a good turf it is necessary to irrigate three or four 

 limes during a season and to cut the grass about every ten days 

 or two weeks after the first of June. 



