August, 1906 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



' 3 5 



securing a uniform sod or turf over the en- 

 tire extent of the lawn. In order to secure 

 this the plants which constitute the lawn 

 should be kept in a luxuriant, vegetative con- 

 dition and never allowed to go to seed. There 

 is no operation connected with plant life which 

 is so trying upon the vitality as the produc- 

 tion of seed. In order to keep a close, even 

 surface over the area, it is necessary to use a 

 mower frequently, but in using the mower the 

 clipping should not be done close enough to 

 deprive the plants of sufficient leaf area to 

 carry on their normal functions; that is to say, 

 as a general rule the lawn mower should be 

 set high rather than low. Upon newly estab- 

 lished lawns the operation of clipping should 

 not be delayed until the grass is too high. As 

 soon as a mower with a blade two inches high 

 will cut the ends of the leaves, the mower 

 should be passed over the surface. By re- 

 peating this at close intervals during the 

 growing season a better and more uniform 

 stand of grass will be secured. 



It is a mistake to allow a lawn to go in an 

 unkept condition during the first months of 

 its existence. It should from the beginning be 

 subjected to the same treatment which is to 

 be carried on later in its life. It is not advisable 

 to clip the lawn frequently during periods of 

 drought, but even during these periods it is 

 not well to allow the plants to produce seed 

 stalks. The general plan of keeping a lawn 

 clipped to a height of two inches is a very 

 safe one to follow. The clipping, too, should 

 be sufficiently frequent to prevent the neces- 

 sity of raking off any considerable quantity 

 of material after each clipping. If the soil 

 is moist, very rich, and the growth luxuriant, 

 it will be necessary to rake off the clippings, 

 but on comparatively poor soil the clippings 

 will not be deterimental unless they produce 

 an unsightly effect. Before growth has ad- 

 vanced to any considerable extent each spring, 

 the lawn, as soon as it is comparatively dry, 

 should be gone over with a heavy lawn roller, 

 so as to embed firmly any of the grass roots 

 which may have been loosened by frosts and 

 to reduce the surface to a uniform condition. 



The winter top-dressing has already been 

 referred to, and upon soils which are not uni- 

 formly very rich and retentive this dressing 

 is very desirable, as it not only furnishes a 

 winter protection for the roots of the plants, 

 but supplies them with a liberal quantity of 

 immediately available plant food for start- 

 ing growth in the spring. In some localities 

 it is necessary to give special attention to the 

 eradication of persistent weeds, such as plan- 

 tains, dandelions, and other deep-rooted plants 

 of this character. Where these can not be 

 crowded out by constant clipping and the lib- 

 eral use of fertilizer, it becomes necessary to 

 remove them by the use of a trowel or knife. 

 If the lawns become depleted and a large per- 

 centage of the vegetation is composed of dan- 

 delions, docks, or plantains, it will in general 

 be most economical to break up and re-estab- 

 lish the lawn rather than attempt to eradi- 

 cate these weeds by the use of the trowel or 

 knife. 



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 A good book on Versailles has long been 

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 part taken in its building by the many famous 

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 those unacquainted with the history of Ver- 

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as it does, the history of the palace in the time 

 of its creator and during the period of its 

 greatest brilliancy. 



This, however, is but a part of the story of 

 Versailles and by no means exhausts its enor- 

 mous interest. Versailles, as it stands to-day, is 

 a colossal monument to some of the most ab- 

 sorbingly interesting periods of European his- 

 tory. Versailles to us is not simply a great 

 palace endowed with memories of Louis XIV 7 , 

 but a building deeply associated with the his- 

 tory of his immediate successors. Nor does its 

 interest terminate with them, for the proclaim- 

 ing of the king of Prussia as emperor of Ger- 

 many within its splendid walls is as romantic 

 an episode as transpired there at any time. It 

 is true Mr. Farmer deliberately limits his book 

 to the time of Louis XIV, but the reader who 

 wishes to know the history of the palace will 

 not be content with the long period treated in 

 this volume. 



Versailles, in fact, is a striking example of 

 the close tie that exists between building as 

 building and the personal associations of peo- 

 ple connected with it. It is one of the most 

 human of structures. It was built as an ex- 

 pression of the state and glory of one king, 

 closely identified with the supremest follies of 



another, associated with some of the most 

 tragic episodes of a third. As an architectural 

 creation it far surpasses in interest any other 

 modern palace. Its extent is overpowering, its 

 magnificence scarce equaled, its gardens one of 

 the wonders of the modern world. Its influ- 

 ence as a building is still potent, for while no 

 one undertakes to build a Versailles to-daj it- 

 wonderful structures are still a source of con- 

 stant inspiration to contemporary architects. 



Versailles makes an instant appeal as an art 

 creation. Its vast palaces have excited astonish- 

 ment from the days of their first building. 

 The rich and ornate decoration is brilliant 

 testimony to the artistic powers of its creators. 

 Its great park has rarely, if ever, been equaled 

 for the beauty of its landscape work and the 

 sumptuousness of its sculptured adornments. 

 Even to-day, although much has been lost, it 

 is still adorned in an extraordinarily rich man- 

 ner with the most difficult and the most dec- 

 orative of the arts. 



All this splendor was created for the glori- 

 fication of a single monarch and for the exhi- 

 bition of as great a state, for the exploitation 

 of as wonderful an etiquette as the world has 

 seen. Much of Mr. Farmer's book is taken 

 up with the brilliant people who lived at \ ei 



