THE PRACTICAL FLOWER GARDEN 



When a person has once become interested 

 in preserving the turf about her place, it will 

 be found a most engrossing, and delightful 

 occupation. Until this interest is aroused, 

 many who are really excellent flower or vege- 

 table gardeners may be both ignorant of the 

 care of the grass and unobservant of its con- 

 dition. A man who was an excellent flower 

 gardener once said to me, "I do not bother 

 with the grass except to keep it cut; so long 

 as there is 'something green,' I am satisfied." 

 Probably the "something green" was in his 

 case, as in many others, composed of chicory, 

 moss, plantain, dandelion and sparse grass. 

 Where the turf is thick and fine, there is not 

 much place for weeds to root, and on a fine 

 surface of grass a weed is immediately appar- 

 ent to the watchful eye. 



Many professional gardeners, as well as 

 those who are amateurs, seem to think that 

 if in winter they scatter over the lawn man- 

 ure, which is often crude and raw from not 

 being sufficiently decomposed, therefore hav- 



48 



