HOW TO FEED A LAWN 63 



slightly grayish colour. This top dressing 

 may safely be used in heavier doses than the 

 uninitiated would imagine. It is better to 

 select for the broadcasting a day when rain 

 is anticipated so that the fertiliser may be 

 washed down to the roots of the grass at 

 once. 



Nitrate of soda as a top dressing is used 

 broadcast up to five hundred pounds per 

 acre. It would be better to apply this 

 quantity in two or even three separate dress- 

 ings rather than all at once. Nitrate of soda 

 is so easily soluble in water that even moder- 

 ate rains on a well drained and especially on 

 a leechy soil will wash away the greater part 

 of a heavy dressing, which is thus utterly lost. 

 If this is scattered over the surface on a dry 

 day, and is not quickly followed by rain, the 

 grass will inevitably be burned because the 

 salt will extract water from the foliage of the 

 grasses. To avoid this, some people prefer to 

 apply nitrate of soda in a solution, and it may 

 be prepared at the rate of one pound in forty 

 gallons of water. The effect of nitrate of 

 soda is very rapid. The grass will be seen to 

 respond immediately to the application, it 

 will make a vigorous growth and assume a 



