CHAPTER IV 



LAWNS 



Nothing adds more to a city home than a 

 fresh and velvety lawn. Nothing, however, is 

 more seldom seen. Still, if properly planted 

 and tended, good lawns are not difficult to 

 achieve. The chief cause of failure is in per- 

 mitting hasty turfing immediately upon the 

 completion of building operations. 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL 



No proper consideration is had for soil con- 

 ditions. It may be that in excavating for the 

 cellar, sand or clay has been thrown upon the 

 old surface soil to a depth of a foot or more. 

 Mixed with this are pieces of board and brick, 

 chips of stone, and not infrequently concrete. 

 It should be apparent to any one that turf laid 

 on such soil as this can not succeed, yet in al- 

 most three-fourths of the instances where grass 

 "refuses to grow" this is the immediate cause 

 of the trouble. 



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