HOW TO MAKE A LAWN.-continued. 



pins eight or ten inches in length to pin the sods in 

 place, to prevent them from being washed down by 

 excessive rains before the grass roots have had time 

 to fasten in the soil. In small yards sodding is often 

 done so as to get immediate results ; but in all such 

 cases great care should be taken to see that the sods 

 used are of the proper quality, otherwise it is much 

 better to wait a few weeks for the lawn seed to pro- 

 duce the lawn. The '"Terrace Sod, " mixture which 

 we offer is composed of deep rooting grasses, which 

 if once established will hold the soil and prevent wash- 

 ing, and we advise liberal fertilizing and seeding so 

 that the grasses may be quickly established. 



Shady Lawns. - When a lawn is much 

 J shaded cither in whole or 



in part, the shaded portions should be sown with the 

 "Shady Nook" Lawn Grass Mixture, which is a com- 

 bination of fine dwarf growing evergreen vaiieties, 

 whi' h in their wild or natural state are to be found 

 growing in the woods or other sheltered or shaded 

 spot i. Under or in the immediate neighborhood of 

 larga trees fertilizers should be applied liberally and 

 frequently, for the tiees absorb the fertilizer and im- 

 poverish the ground. Ground much shaded is very 

 frequently sour, and if the drainage is defective it is 

 apt to be covered with moss. In such cases an appli- 

 cation of lime raked into the soil is an excellent 

 corrector and sweetener, but the moss should be first 

 removed by means of a sharp rake. 



Fertilizing*". The q ues ti on °f fertilizers for 

 *" the lawn is an important one. If 

 the soil is naturally a deep rich loam it is not indis- 

 pensable that manure at all be used the first season 

 of sowing, although in every case it would be an 

 advantage, and is really essential if the soil is poor or 

 light Perhaps the best way to apply well rotted 

 stable manure, is to spread it thick enough to cover 

 the ground after plowing or digging, and then harrow 

 or rake it in ; though a little more costly, the best 

 plan to insure permanency for the lawn is to use from 

 2,500 to 3,000 lbs. per acre of coarse ground bone (or 

 better still, about half the above quantity of bone and 

 the other half of Henderson's Lawn Enricher), or in 

 that proportion over lesser areas, the bone decomposes 

 slowly, giving lasting enrichment, while "the Lawn 

 Enricher gives immediate results, the combination of 

 these two fertilizers is lasting in effect, insuring a 

 "velvet lawn,'' under ordinary circumstances, for six 

 or eight years without further application of manure. 

 When the land has not been fertilized before sowing, 

 it is necessary to use some top dressing of manure, 

 each season, to keep up the fertility of the lawn, and 

 nothing is better for this purpose than to spread over 

 it late in the Fall (November or December), well 

 rotted short stable manure enough to partially cover 

 the surface. On no account should fresh stable 

 manure be used, or the lawn will be very apt to be 

 ruined by the introduction of weed seeds. This 

 should be allowed to remain on until such time as the 

 grass shows signs of starting in the Spring, when the 

 rough portion should be raked off and a heavy roller 

 applied, so that the surface of the lawn be rendered 

 smooth and firm for the mower. If the top dressing 

 of well rotted stable manure has been omitted in the 

 Fall, fine bone dust mixed with finely sifted wood 

 ashes, in equal parts, may be sown on the lawn 

 about as thick as sand is usually strewn on the floor, 

 and rolled down, and we advise that the lawn be 

 rolled several times during the spring. 



Stimulating. Where very quick results are 



*** required, or in case a lawn is 

 becoming bare or patchy in spots, caused by wear 

 and tear or otherwise, the grasses may be forced into 

 a quick growth by applying nitrate of soda at the rate 

 of 200 lbs. per acre If put on in the dry state it should 

 be applied just before a shower, otherwise it is apt to 

 burn the grasses ; but the safer plan is to dissolve 

 one pound of the nitrate in thirty to forty gallons of 

 water and sprinkle with the solution. 

 riowino" Should be begun in Spring as soon 



lUWlilg. as the grass is two or three inches high, 

 and continued every seven or eight days until the ces- 

 sation of growth in Fall. If the lawn is gone over 

 with the mower once a week, the clippings are best 

 left on, as the sun quickly shrivels them up, so that 

 they never appear unsightly; but if mowing is delayed 

 two or three weeks, then the grass must be raked off. 



It sometimes happens that the soil contains seeds of 



perennial weeds ; and such seeds are rarely found in 



the grass seed, such as dandelion, dock or thistles, 



which seriously interfere with the beauty of the lawn. 



When this occurs, there is no other remedy than the 



slow process of cutting them out with the knife or 



spud. Crab grass, known also as five-finger grass, 



and summer grass, is one of the commonest pests to 



contend with, and is especially troublesome in dry 



seasons. It is, however, only an annual coming up 



from seed each year. A mowing machine will not 



cut off all the seed stems, for some grow along the 



ground and bend before the mowing machine, and 



the best plan is to loosen it up with a rake and use the 



scythe a few times, cutting both ways so as to get all 



the seeding stems. Lawn grass seed should be sown 



thickly on these spots, and the lawn heavily fertilized 



in Spring. The crab grass seed does not usually 



germinate until warm weather, and it there is a good 



healthy turf at that time the seed is less likely to 



germinate. We therefore advise so as to induce a 



good healthy growth that when cutting the grass 



during May. the lawn mower be set high so that the 



grass will not be cut too short. 



RollinQ" The benefit derived from using a roller 



** on the lawn, especially in the spring, is 



not fully understood. The action of freezing and 



thawing causes the ground to heave, and if it is not 



firmly pressed back with a roller before hot weather, 



the grass is apt to be killed or injured, leaving 



the lawn full of bare spots. For use on the lawn 



always take a '''two or three sect/on" roller, as they can 



be turned without injuring the grass. A 300 lb. roller 



is about as heavy as one man can pull, though a 400 lb. 



will be better if you have two persons to operate it. 



Ppnnvfltino - ^° renova te lawns that have 



K.CliUVciLiii£. become worn out b y neglect or 



other causes, and where it is not convenient or desi- 

 rable to renew by plowing up, they may be greatly 

 benefited by running a light harrow over, if the sur- 

 face is large, or by a sharp steel rake for smaller 

 areas, after stirring the surface by such means 

 judiciously, so as not to hurt too severely the roots. 

 Lawn grass should be sown over the surface after 

 harrowing or raking in about half the quantity advised 

 for new lawns. After sowing, the surface should be 

 harrowed or raked over, and firmly rolled or beaten 

 down, but if spurious grass or other weeds have got 

 possession of the lawn, then this way of renovation 

 would not be satisfactory, and it had better be plowed 

 under and sown afresh, in the manner already given 

 for the formation of the lawn. 



IF PEOPLE ONLY KNEW ftSf&SZTHE "HENDERSON" LAWN GRASS SEED.iMKMWUR 



