128 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



August, 1906 



USE JOIST HANGERS 



r 



Don't cut away your 



timbers or depend on 



flimsy spiking 



» 



We make Hangers adapted 

 to all conditions 



Lane Brothers Company 



(The Door Hanger Manufacturers) 



434-466 Prospect St., Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 



FOR YOUR 



VACATION READING 



Buy books that are exchangeable 



Ike, 



Most Popular Novel 



(Brand new from the Publishers, in expensive binding) 



The Metropolitan Magazine 12 Months, and 

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Seiect any one of the twenty-three books below. Tne covers of some of them are reproduced in 

 facsimile above. Fill in the Order Form, and Mail it today. The reason we say "mail it today" is that 

 the list is changed every month. If you delay in sending your order, you may not £et the book you 

 require and we should be obliged to return your money. 



1 The Long Arm . Samuel M. Gardenhire 



2 The Dawn of a Tomorrow 



Fiances Hodgson Burnett 



3 The Wheel of Life . Ellen Glasgow 



4 The Truth About Tolna . Bertha Runkle 



5 The House of a Thousand Candles 



Meredith Nicholson 



6 The Lake . . . George Moore 



7 The Great Refusal . Maxwell Grey 



8 Carolina Lee Lilian Bell 



9 The i'hadow of Life Anne Douglas Sedgwick 

 10 The Lawbreakers . . Robert Grant 

 1 1 The Last Spike . . Cy Wurman 



12 The Passenger from Calais Arthur Griffiths 



13 Barbara Winslow— Rebel Elizabeth Ellis 



14 Pam Decides . Bettina von Hutten 



15 Cowardice Court Geo. Barr McCutcheon 



16 The Patriots . Cyrus Townsend Brady 



17 A Motor Car Divorce Louise Closser Hale 



1 8 The Girl with the Blue Sailor 



Burton E. Stevenson 



1 9 The Angel of Pain . E. F. Benson 



20 My Sword for Lafayette Max Pemberton 



21 A Maker of History . Oppenheim 



22 Fenwick's Career Mrs. Humphrey Ward 



23 Coniston . . Winston Churchill 



Many of these books are among the most popular of the day. 

 You can exchange the book at any Tabard Inn Library station. 



A.H.&G e FORM OF ORDER. 



1906 



THE TABARD INN LIBRARY 



1611 Chestnut St., Philadelphia 



1 'i i' Sib I 1 ierewith $2.10 for which you will enter 



my name for THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE for one year 



b winning with the number, and send tne by mail pre- 



1 aid a new copy of the following Book ; 



the Rook to be in a Tabard Inn Case and to be exchangeable forever 

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— A~ 



maritime forms of common grasses, besides 

 bluegrass and red-top, none of these have been 

 taken up by commercial seedsmen and pro- 

 duced in sufficient quantities to be available 

 for lawn making in these regions. Persons 

 wishing to establish lawns under these circum- 

 stances must, therefore, depend largely upon 

 the same grasses that are used for the making 

 of lawns farther from the coast — bluegrass, 

 Rhode Island bent-grass, redtop and white 

 clover. Under coast conditions it is advis- 

 able to use mixtures containing a large num- 

 ber of varieties. In this way those not suited 

 wil be replaced by those best fitted for with- 

 standing the conditions without re-establish- 

 ing the lawn. 



There are a few grasses which in themselves 

 are well suited to lawn making, but which, 

 because of their habits of growth, are not well 

 adapted to use in lawn mixtures. Italian rye- 

 grass is a notable example of this type of plant. 

 It is in itself capable of making a fairly good 

 lawn, but because of its more rampant growth 

 and broad leaf blades, which possess a shiny 

 appearance, it does not blend well with other 

 grasses on the lawn — such as redtop, bluegrass 

 and white clover. It grows more rapidly than 

 do those species, and always appears as an 

 obtrusive companion upon the lawn. It is, 

 therefore, not advised as an important or de- 

 sirable feature in a lawn mixture. 



SEED. 



Too great care can not be exercised in pro- 

 curing seed for establishing a lawn. Pure seed, 

 of high germination, is of great importance in 

 securing a good stand of grass. Pure seed is 

 the keynote to a clean lawn, provided the work 

 of preparing the land has been efficiently done. 

 Thorough preparation involves not merely the 

 mechanical treatment of the soil to reduce it 

 to a proper seed bed, but the use of weed-free 

 manure and the adoption of a course of treat- 

 ment previous to preparing for the lawn which 

 shall serve to eradicate weeds. Such prepara- 

 tion, coupled with pure seed, should give a 

 satisfactory stand of grass which shall need 

 only the usual care necessary to maintain a 

 lawn after it is once established. Too much 

 can not be said in favor of securing pure seed, 

 and, if possible, specially selected seed. This 

 is of considerable importance with light seeds 

 like bluegrass, redtop and seeds of the bent- 

 grasses. In the case of bluegrass, select seed 

 weighs about twenty-two pounds to the bushel, 

 while the ordinary grade of bluegrass, although 

 it may be called pure, averages about twelve 

 pounds to the bushel. Select or recleaned blue- 

 grass is, therefore, the most economical to buy, 

 although the original cost is considerably more 

 than that of the common commercial article. 



The stand of grass resulting from the use 

 of recleaned, selected seed is much more uni- 

 form thai when seed containing a great num- 

 ber of hulls and light seeds is employed. The 

 same remarks hold with the bent-grasses, and 

 even with white clover, although the market 

 at the present time does not offer as much op- 

 portunity for selection with this last-named 

 seed as with the bluegrass. 



The quantity of seed to be used upon a lawn 

 is of decided importance. It is better to use 

 an excessive amount of seed and allow natural 

 selection to eliminate the weak specimens 

 rather than to seed sparsely with the hope 

 that the natural habits of the plants will be 

 sufficient to enable them to take possession of 

 the entire area. A thick stand of plants of 

 the desired species gives little opportunity for 

 the development of weeds, while a thin stand 

 of the same species offers a place for the 

 growth of weeds, which may become de- 

 termined competitors for the possession of the 

 ground, thus subjecting the gardener to the 

 necessity of eliminating the weeds or of re- 

 establishing the lawn. Heavy seeding of 



