22 



Garden and Forest. 



[March 7, 



The Lawn. 



"\JOW is the time to attend to tlie lawns. If tliey have been 

 -'■^ top-dressed with manure or compost over winter, on 

 some fine dry day when it is not frozen, go over the lawn with 

 wooden-toothed rakes and spread the dressing equally over 

 the groimd. Then repeat the operation and rake off all sticks, 

 stones and other rough things that may have been in the 

 dressing, but do not rake off any of the manure except where 

 it may be so heavy as to threaten interference with the mower 

 in summer. If this is done now, there will be no fear of the 

 grass bleaching under the manure where it has fallen in 

 lumps, but if delayed till the grass begins to get green it will 

 bleach, then sun-scald and look patchy. 



Lawns that have not been top-dressed should also be raked 

 over with close-toothed wooden or iron rakes, so as to clear off 

 the loose dead grass and other debris that would interfere witli 

 the mower. In raking the lawns be very particular along the 

 borders of roads and pathways, where small stones may have 

 been thrown up on the turf. 



If the dead grass is long or shaggy burn it off. This may be 

 heresy in the eyes of theorists, but experience has proved it to 

 .be good practice. The burning does not injure the crowns of 

 the grass in the least degree nor destroy a particle of the nu- 

 triment on the surface of the ground, but it effectually gets rid 

 of the dried grass, which, if not removed, would clog the mow- 

 ers and weaken the young shoots in coming up. 



If the surface of tlie lawn has any depressions fill them up 

 with loam. These may be the foot-prints of men or animals 

 made when the ground was soft. And some morning when 

 the lawn is wet and soft go over it with a heavy roller to 

 make the sod smooth and even ; but never use horses in the 

 roller when the lawn is in this condition, as their feet would 

 leave deep impressions in the ground. With two men and a 

 hand iron roller all the grass in the narrow places, as between 

 the trees and shruljs, can lie reached, and in the open spaces 

 eight men to a large iron roller do capital work. 



Many sp)Ots in the lawns will need patching. Where trees 

 or rocks, in former years, have been dug out, the earth may 

 have sunk so as to form a hollow; fill up such places with 

 loam, and resod. And where little liillocks occur on the lawns, 

 shave them down and replace the sod. 



Sometimes weeds kill out the grass. The most destructive 

 of these pests are Yarrow, Mouse-ear Chickweed and Sorrel. 

 They kill out broad patches, and can only be overcome by 

 being dug under or cut out, and again resowing or sodding 

 the ground to grass. Crabgrass is almost invulnerable. So 

 long as we keep our lawns smoothly shaven we cannot sub- 

 due it, for in September and October it spreads its wiry stems 

 along flat on the ground and perfects and scatters its seed for 

 tlie ne.\t season's work. The only way to get rid of it is to 

 pasture the land or so encourage the lawn grasses to grow 

 that they shall choke it out. 



Where the lawn is mossy, as in the neighborhood of trees, 

 or rather bare of grass caused by impoverished land or drought, 

 remove the moss with a sharp long-toothed iron rake and 

 loosen the surface of tlie ground ; then topdress thinly with 

 rich earth, and sow some red topseed on it, rake it in and roll 

 firmly. 



Where it is needful to do repairing, as for example, to mend 

 the borders along the roadsides, to cover places caused by re- 

 cent tree removals, to turf over beds, mend banks about the 

 house, and the like, always use sod in preference to grass seed. 

 Where much sod-laying has to be done a sod-cutting machine 

 should be used, but in small places where the soils are cut 

 with a spade never let two or more men work for the same 

 piece of ground, as no two men cut sods alike. With the 

 ground properly prepared and leveled, and the sods all equal 

 in thickness, length and width, in laying them it is an easy 

 matter to make a neat piece of work. All sodding and seed- 

 ing should be done as early in spring as possible, in order 

 that the grass may be well up and have a good hold upon the 

 ground before the warm dry weather sets in. 



William Falconer. 



Do NOT HURRY to uucover the Roses, Strawberries and 

 other plants that you have protected over winter. A few 

 bright, warm days in March is no indication that the winter has 

 completely retired; the frosty, searing winds of March are more 

 injurious to plants than is the zero weather of Januarv. 



Garden Labels.— The frost will have thrown many small 

 labels out of the earth and we will now find them Iving on tlie 

 surface of the ground. If this is neglected the wind will lilow 

 them about. Stick them into the ground where vou find them 

 lying. 



The Forest. 



Forest Trees for California. 



A GLANCE at the forest map of California, given in 

 Vol. 9 of the Report of the Tenth Census, shows 

 that there are in the State but two compact bodies of tim- 

 ber ; that of Pines and Firs covering the higher western 

 slopes ofthe Sierra Nevada, and the Redwood beltstretching 

 along the western portion of the Coast Range, from the bay 

 of Monterey to the Oregon line. The lower foothills of the 

 Sierra, and the plateaus and northern slopes and canons of 

 the Coast Ranges, bear a scattered growth of timber ; but 

 neither the quantity nor the ciuality entitles it to be counted 

 on for more than a scanty supply of firewood, after the 

 needs of the first settlers have been met. The great valley, 

 and the adjacent slopes on either side, are practically tree- 

 less, except along the courses of the streams, and on the 

 exceptional area formed by the delta of the Kaweah River, 

 in Tulare County, which is covered with quite a compact 

 growth of the White Oak {Quercus lobala). A scattered 

 growth ofthe same Oak prevails in most of the Coast Range 

 valleys, outside of the Redwood belt ; on the rolling lands 

 nearthe coast, it is intermingled with the California Live Oak 

 ((?■ ogri/oha) and the Black or Sonoma Oak {Q. Kelloggii). 

 Along the Sierra foothills it mingles with the Blue Oak 

 {Q. Donglasii); higher up it disappears and the Blue Oak 

 with the two mountain Live Oaks (^. Wisliceiii 3.x\d Chiy- 

 so/epis) and the Foothill or Digger Pine {P. Sabiniaiia) pre- 

 vail. These, with occasional groups or individuals of the 

 beautiful Madrone (properly Madrono — Arhuius Men- 

 sicsii), a few Firs on the higher levels, and in the cations 

 the large-leaved Maple {Acer macrophylluni), the Box Elder, 

 the large Alder {Aliuis oblongi/o/ia], and last but not least 

 the Laurel {UinbeliuLiria Cali/ornica), constitute the com- 

 mon tree growth of Central California that, outside of the 

 timber belts first mentioned, might be expected to serve the 

 common uses of the deciduous forest trees of the Atlantic 

 slope. To these are added, in the northern portion of the 

 State, a part of the Conifers of Western Oregon ; whiie in 

 Southern California, a number of trees*mentioned above 

 are wanting, or but feebly represented, and the mountains 

 as well as the valleys are as a rule scantil)' timbered, and 

 largely quite bare of trees. 



Even -were these trees mentioned as w-ell adapted to the 

 uses of every day life as those of Eastern deciduous forests, 

 their relatively scanty occurrence within that portion of the 

 State best adapted to dense settlement would render the 

 maintenance of the timber supply a question of the most 

 pressing importance. But as a matter of fact the wood of 

 most of the native non-Coniferous trees, and especially 

 that of the lowland Oaks, subserves but indilTerently any 

 purpose save that of fuel. Not only have the trees as a 

 rule a very low trunk, beginning to branch from seven to 

 fifteen feet above ground, and often losing the leader ; 

 but even the "clear" wood is mostly so brittle and its 

 grain so uncertain that to split it into rails, clapboards or 

 staves is out of the question. When a tree is broken off by 

 the wind, instead of the long, elastic splinters projecting 

 from both ends, we find rough, jagged breaks almost square 

 across. Of the California Live Oak, the wood-choppers 

 sometimes state with mild exaggeration that it splits cross- 

 wise about as readily as length \\ise. The White Oak is 

 a little better, and like the Blue Oak is sometimes used for 

 fence posts; but even in this dry climate they show little 

 durability as such. Only the mountain Oaks can to a cer- 

 tain degree subserve the ortlinary purposes of hardwoods ; 

 and no Californian tree, save perhaps these, could be suc- 

 cessfully worked into axe helves, hoe handles, or other 

 agricultural implements of any durability. The IMaple, 

 Ash and Laurel are to some extent used for furniture and 

 inside finish, but not where strength of material is required. 

 Practically all the hard woods used in California must be 

 imported, and at present come from the Eastern States ; a 

 small part, for cabinet and decorative work, from Mexico. 



