S£cdin<y When the seed is sown a light harrow should be 

 o* again applied, so as to sink the seed one inch or so 

 in the soil, and after that a thorough rolling given, so that the 

 surface is made as smooth and firm as possible. In the latitude 

 of New York the seed may be sown any time from April to Oc- 

 tober. If the preparation has been good and the weather is not 

 very dry and unfavorable, a good lawn will be in evidence in 

 8 or 10 weeks' time. Under very congenial conditions, new 

 lawns are frequently ready for mowing in 6 weeks from sowing. 

 If sown in the hot months of June and July, a sprinklingof oats 

 should be sown at the same time, so that the shade given by the 

 oats will protect the young grass from the sun. Lawns are very 

 often sown during the early Fall months (September being the 

 best) with excellent results. On lime soils Kentucky Blue Grass 

 is sometimes used alone, but for a firm, carpet-like lawn the 

 "Henderson" Lawn Mixture is preferable, as it contains some 

 grasses which give quick results, and form a good turf the same 

 year as sown, while a satisfactory turf cannot be established 

 by using Kentucky Blue Grass alone under two or three years. 

 For small plots, of course, digging, trenching and raking must 

 be done instead of plowing, subsoiling and harrowing, and the 

 surface after sowing should be patted down with the back of a 

 spade or rolled with a roller. 



Quantity of Seed Required. ^HSSSSEgSS 



to form a perfect lawn, we may state that one quart of Lawn Grass 

 Mixture is sufficient to thoroughly sow an area 20 feet by 15 feet— 

 300 square feet — or to cover an acre five bushels will be required. 

 It should be borne in mind that, in order to produce the best re- 

 sults, grass seed for lawns should be sown at least twice as thick 

 as if sown for hay. In fact, if very rapid results are wanted, a 

 lawn will be much quicker obtained by using one-third more seed 

 per acre — in a lawn of about an acre in extent, which we made, 

 six bushels of the "Henderson" Mixture were sown on the 25th of 

 April, harrowed well in, then rolled firmly with a heavy iron 

 roller — the result was that by July 1st, or about sixty days from 

 the date of sowing, ?, perfect lawn was obtained, having had to 

 be twice mowed over by machine previous to that date. 



TpiM*JirP<2 ant\ ^sl^nPC ° n slo P in ff banks it is often 

 ICliatca ailU OIUJJCS. necessary to use sod, as the 



rains wash the soil off before the grass seed has time to germi- 

 nate. It is sometimes even necessary, in sodding very steep 

 banks, to use 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 re- 

 sults ; 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 produce 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 washing, and we advise liberal fertilizing and 

 seeding so that the grasses may be quickly established. 



Shflflv I flWtm When a lawn is much shaded, either in 

 OlldUj L»a.YVlI3. wno i e or - in part, the shaded portions 

 should be sown with the "Shad}' Nook" Lawn Grass Mixture, 

 which is a combination of fine dwarf-growing evergreen varie- 

 ties, which in their wild or natural state are to be found growing 

 in the woods or other sheltered or shady spots. Under or in the 

 immediate neighborhood of large trees fertilizers should be ap- 

 plied liberally and frequently, for the trees absorb the fertilizer 

 and impoverish the ground. Ground much shaded is very fre- 

 quently sour, and if the drainage is defective it is apt to be 

 covered with moss. In such cases an application 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. 



Fpt"f lli7inCV The question of fertilizers for the lawn is an 



1 CI Ml IHg. important one. If the soil is naturally a deep, 

 rich loam, it is not indispensable 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 dig- 

 ging, 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 slowl}', giving lasting enrichment; 

 while the Lawn Enricher gives immediate results, the combi- 

 nation 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 nec- 

 essary to use some top-dressing of manure each season to keep 

 up the fertility of the lawn, and nothing is better for this pur- 

 pose than to spread over it late in the Fall (November or Decem- 

 ber) 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 duringthe Spring. 



Sf imill JltilKX Where very quick results are required, or in 

 OllMIUlallllg* case a i awrl 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. 

 MoWinC* snoul d be begun in Spring as soon as the grass is 

 ITlUWIIlg two or three inches high, and continue every seven 

 or eight days until the cessation 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 thist 1 es, 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, com- 

 ing up from seed each year. A mowing machine will not cut off 

 all the seed stems, for some grow along the ground and bend be- 

 fore 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 of 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 if 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 duringMay, the 

 lawn mower be set high so that the grass will not be cut too short. 



Rnllinft* The benefit derived from using a roller on the lawn, 

 IvUIIHIg. 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 section'''' 

 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. 



PprinvJltinO' ^° renovate lawns that have become worn out 

 1\C1IU Vallllgo -fry neglect or other causes, and where it is not 

 convenient or desirable to renew by plowing up, they may be 

 greatly benefited by running a light harrow over, if the surface 

 is large, or by a sharp steel rake for smaller areas. After stir- 

 ring the surface by such means judiciously, so as not to hurt too 

 severely the roots, lawn grass should be sown over the surface, 

 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. 



PETER HENDERSON & CO. have made the formation of perfect and permanent Lawns a study for years, and the most beautiful Lawns in America 

 were formed by following our advice, which we give free on receipt of details and conditions. 



