LAWNS AND LAWN-MAKING 211 



TURF AND TURFING 



Where a good quality of turf can be secured it is 

 often advisable to use turf in covering small plats. It 

 should be cut in strips ten inches or more in width and 

 about two or three feet long. These should be laid on 

 a level bed of good soil, and carefully packed down 

 and the joints evenly matched. If, on drying, cracks 

 are formed between the sods, these must be filled with 

 pure earth. Seed may be sown in them if desired. 

 Freshly laid turf must be kept well watered while the 

 new roots are starting and a compact sward is being 

 formed. Turfing is not recommended, however, be- 

 cause of the great difficulty of securing turf of desir- 

 able grasses free from weeds and weed-seeds. 



MOWING 



Much of the beauty and health of a grass sward will 

 depend on frequent and regular mowing during the 

 growing months. Once a week will be often enough 

 to mow the average lawn, though when the grass is in 

 the period of most vigorous growth it may be necessary 

 to mow oftener. Mowing every three or four days will 

 not injure the grass in any way if a short, firm sward 

 is desired. Young grass may be allowed to reach a 

 hight of five inches before being mowed at all, and the 

 work should then be done with a scythe rather than a 

 lawn-mower. During hot weather the grass on a thin 

 sward should not be mown so closely as to permit the 

 drying out of the surface and inj ury to the grass roots. 

 Where the stand is thin it is well to allow the cut grass 

 to remain on the ground, especially in hot weather, 



