Gardening in Californi 



CHAPTER VI. 



LAWNS. 



IN preparing the part of the site which it has been decided 

 shall be laid out in Lawn, it is of great importance, and will 



prove to be true economy, to see that the preliminary work is 

 done with the utmost carefulness, for if proper care is taken at 

 this stage, there will not be the annoyance, the loss of time or 

 the expense of having to dig up the lawn and practically do the 

 work over again, which so often has been experienced by owners 

 of homes where the lawns were made by men who either were 

 careless or did not thoroughly understand what was necessary 

 to be done. 



As this preliminary work varies to a certain extent according 

 to the class of soil, it will be well in this chapter on Lawn-making 

 to refer to the four most usual classes of soil met with, namely, 

 clay, brown loam, black dobe and light sandy soil. 



When the soil is clay, it is necessary that it be trenched 

 at least two feet deep. If the work is done in the Summer 

 Season, the soil should be turned up and left in rough condition 

 as long as possible, say about six weeks, until it gets thor- 

 oughly dry and warmed by the sun. It then must be generously 

 manured, (the best for this purpose being light stable-manure 

 well-rotted), this manure to be spaded in one spade deep, care 

 being taken that the soil is thoroughly pulverized and broken 

 as the work goes along. It should then be shaped and graded and 

 raked smooth, rolled with a light roller and then raked again, 

 the lawn being now ready for the seed, but it is strongly advised 

 that, before the grass seed is sown, the first crop of weeds should 

 be allowed to germinate, and that then the ground be gone over 



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