72 PRACTICAL LANDSCAPE GARDENLXG 



■Sometimes it is necessary to raise the grade on ground where large 

 trees are established. A fill of a foot or more of soil over the roots of 

 most trees will kill them very quickly. Such trees may be preserved 

 by building a dry retaining wall with a diameter at least two feet 

 greater than the trunk. If the lawn is of sufficient size and the trees 

 form a clump, a depression may be left around them. 



Now that the rough work is out of the way, drainage attended 

 to, grades established and terraces built, the question of the real 

 making of the new lawn confronts us. 



The changed conditions make it necessary to provide new soil 

 close to the house and on properties of small dimensions it may be 

 necessary to resurface the entire area. Wherever fill is needed just 

 as good soil as can be procured should be used and at least four 

 inches of good top soil provided for the surface. 



If the old turf needs remaking it should be dug or plowed to 

 the depth of a spade, the soil being turned well over, stones and 

 weed roots removed and large clods broken up. 



Manuring or fertilizing is an important question. Experts 

 claim that one ton of grass removes from the soil thirty-four pounds 

 of nitrogen, thirty-six pounds of potash and seventeen pounds of 

 phosphoric acid. It is largely these substances, therefore, that 

 must be provided. Stable manure, if obtainable, is very satis- 

 factory. Apply at the rate of one load per one hundred square 

 yards and dig or fork it into the soil. Care should be exercised to 

 see that the manure is not buried too deeply, else it will not be with- 

 in reach of the new young grass — four inches is a good average 

 depth. A good commercial fertilizer, containing four per cent, 

 nitrogen, eight per cent, phosphoric acid and ten per cent, potash, 

 will be found to give very satisfactory results. This should be 

 applied at the rate of ten pounds per one hundred square yards and 

 raked in. Fertilizers that are highly soluble should not be used on 

 sandy soils, as they will quickly dissolve after rainfalls, be washed 

 beyond the reach of the roots and so wasted. This same remark 

 covers all commercial fertilizers applied in a wet season or a time of 

 drought. In one case they are washed away, and in the other they 

 he about the surface and waste. 



After manuring, the ground should be prepared to receive the 

 seed. The soil should be carefully gone over with an iron toothed 

 rake, all large stones removed, clods broken up and weed roots taken 

 out, then rolled and raked until the surface becomes firm and fine; 

 it should be so firm that walking over it leaves no footprints. 



