24 THE GARDEN BEAUTIFUL 



tion, the sowing and after care cannot be too care- 

 fully attended to ; it is a job worthy of a first-class 

 lawnmaker, and no one who can afford to hire help 

 should attempt his own lawnmaking. 



MAKING THE LAWN 



Close observation for a score of years has con- 

 vinced the writer that for California in general soil 

 prepared in March and sown early in April will 

 result in giving us the best of lawns, varying the 

 time according to season and prevailing tempera- 

 tures in your section. Autumn lawnmaking is usual- 

 ly attended with an equal degree of success, but in 

 cold sections the young grass is often caught "in 

 the milk" stage by severe frosts and sometimes 

 killed, though to offset such risk the season offers 

 the welcome rains, -for spring-sown lawns necessi- 

 tate careful artificial sprinkling. 



The first work should be a deep and thorough stir- 

 ring of the soil, without which no crop will grow, 

 whether it be grass or trees. When stirring the 

 soil mix in a liberal amount of well-rotted stable 

 manure (four inches is not too much) and do not 

 be content with merely turning it under where it 

 will lie in chunks for years to come. The full value 

 of fertilizers comes only from thorough incorpora- 

 tion with the soil. Gardeners too often turn under 

 raw bone meal and leave it, a handful in a place. 

 Used in this way it does not all become available 

 to plant life for several years. It should be evenly 

 scattered and thoroughly mixed with the soil and 

 even then it is largely fertilizing for future years. 



Stable manures, while more readily available to 

 the plant at any stage, should undergo the same 

 thorough incorporation, for after a lawn is once 

 sown you cannot get under it to stir the soil except 



