84 THE COMPLETE GARDEN 



must be furnished with some kind of support and care should be taken 

 to fasten loose ends. 



Usually vines are planted close to foundations. It must be re- 

 membered that most foundations are carefully provided with a line of 

 drainage on the outside of the wall in order to readily care for any 

 surface water that seeps into the soil and then later seeps through the 

 wall if not promptly carried away. For this reason, probably, vines 

 require more attention than most other plants in order to keep them 

 supplied with a quantity of water necessary to their normal develop- 

 ment. They should also be very frequently fertilized, preferably with 

 bone meal or well-rotted manure. Well-rotted cow manure is an ideal 



fertilizer for most vines. 



ix 



LAWNS FERTILIZING. The maintenance of lawns consists of 

 fertilizing, rolling, watering, and mowing in order to keep the turf in 

 such condition that few if any weeds will have an opportunity to flour- 

 ish. Fertilizing of a lawn is perhaps one of the most important 

 items of its maintenance, for the reason that few lawns are so well 

 prepared when first made that they do not begin to need additional 

 food material during the second or third year after making. It is 

 difficult to convince those who are developing lawns for the first time 

 that money expended in the proper preparation and fertilization of a 

 good depth of topsoil will do away with the subsequent annual expense 

 necessary to keep a lawn, not correctly prepared when originally made, 

 in the best condition. A good turf requires food in the form of ferti- 

 lizer, and this food supply must either be provided at the time the lawn 

 is made or it must be constantly applied from year to year afterward 

 (See Page 53). Much thought, labour, and money are wasted in putting 

 a mulch on lawns, only to come back later and cast it away again. 

 It may be wise to mulch a lawn in the fall, but there is more than an 

 even chance that if* the area is covered with fresh manure, weeds will be 

 introduced and this will more than offset any real value derived from 

 the mulch. The use of manure as a top-dressing for lawns should be 

 discouraged unless used in the form of a completely decomposed compost. 

 A thick coat of manure is apt to stifle the grass. Lawns should never 

 be mulched with manure during the' spring unless with thoroughly 

 rotted manure applied not later than early March. All mulching 

 or top-dressing should be done preferably in the fall so that the weed 

 seeds are killed to a great extent during the winter. It is practically 



