MOWING, ROLLING, AND WATERING 53 



show but accomplishes precious little. Far 

 better would it be to give the lawn a thorough 

 soaking with water straight out from the nozzle 

 of a hose once a week, or even once in two 

 or three weeks. When you do water, water 

 thoroughly. 



Light surface sprinklings accompHsh this 

 much of good : They do check transpiration 

 from the leaves and evaporation from the 

 surface of the ground for a short time. But 

 the trouble is that they do not give enough 

 water to soak into the ground and really 

 saturate it for a depth of some inches. The 

 roots of the plants show a very natural ten- 

 dency to seek the best supply of moisture, 

 and continuous light surface sprinklings have 

 the result of drawing the roots to the surface 

 whereas they should properly be penetrating 

 deep into the lower layers of the soil. This of 

 course is but another argument for the very 

 thorough and very deep preliminary pre- 

 paration of the site. If the roots can find all 

 they require at a depth of eight inches to a 

 foot below the surface rest assured they will 

 travel down to it. A lawn thus prepared in 

 the first place can withstand the trials of an 

 ordinary summer in the eastern United States 



