FORMATION AND RENOVATION OF LAWNS. 119 



during the months of April and May, and will form a 

 good lawn by July or August if the preparation has been 

 good, or in from sixty to one hundred days from the time 

 of sowing. If sown in the hot months of June or July, 

 a sprinkling of oats should be sown at the same time, so 

 that the shade given by the oats will protect the young 

 grass from the sun. Lawns are very often sown during 

 the early fall months (September being the best) with 

 excellent results. 



In my extensive experience, I have found that the 

 formula for seed for lawn grass, which I call the " Cen- 

 tral Park Mixture," is in all respects the best. On some 

 soils Kentucky Blue Grass is used alone, but for a firm, 

 carpet-like lawn I consider the " Central Park Lawn 

 Mixture " preferable. For small plots, of course, dig- 

 ging, trenching, and raking must be done instead of 

 plowing, subsoiling, and harrowing, and the surface, 

 after sowing, should be patted down with the back of a 

 spade or rolled down with a roller. 



SODDING. 



In sloping banks it is often necessary to use sod, as 

 the rains wash the soil off before the grass seed has had 

 time to germinate. It is sometimes even necessary, in 

 sodding very steep banks, to use pins eight or ten inches 

 in length to pin the sods in place, to prevent them from 

 being washed down by excessive rains before the grass 

 roots have had time to fasten in the soil. In small yards 

 sodding is often done so as to get immediate results; but 

 in all such cases great care should be taken to see 

 that the sods used are of the proper quality, otherwise 

 it is much better to wait a few months for the lawn seed 

 to produce the lawn. 



