Seeding When the seed is sown a light harrow should be 
; ° 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 sprinkling of 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 
“‘Hlenderson’’ 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. 
¢ 0 As a guide for the proper 
Quantity of Seed Required. oon Fo; cca vepuinea 
toform a perfect lawn, we may state that onequart of LawnGrass 
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, 2 perfect lawn was obtained, having had to 
be twice mowed over by machine previous to that date. 
Terraces and Slopes, (222000 oe won as the 
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 ismuch 
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. 
Shady Lawns When a lawn is much shaded, either in 
whole or-in part, the shaded. portions 
should be sown with the ‘‘Shady 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. 
Sli7e The question of fertilizers for the lawn is an 
Fertilizing. important one. If the soilisnaturally 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 1bs. 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 
‘ing up from‘seed each year. 
areas, the bone decomposes slowly, 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 /vesh stable manure be used, ; 
or the lawn will be very apt to be ruined by the introduction of | 
weed seeds. 
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 wed/-rotted stable manure has 
been omitted inthe Fall, fine bone dust mixed with finely sifted 
wood ashes, in equal parts, may be sown on the lawn about as 
This should be allowed to remain on until such : 
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. 
1 Hy Where very quick results are required, or in 
Stimulating. 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 2001bs. peracre. If putoninthedry 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. 
Mowing should be begun in Spring as soon as the grass is 
two or three inches high, and continue every seven 
or eight days until the cessation of growth in Fall. 
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 ¢he sozl 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. Itis, however, only an annual, com- 
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 
arake 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 during May, the 
lawn mower be set high so that the grass will not be cut too short. 
Rollin The benefit derived from using a roller on the lawn, 
g. 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 useon the lawn always takea ‘‘fwo or three section’’ 
roller, asthey can be turned without injuring the grass. A 300-1b. 
roller-is about as heavy as ‘one man can pull, though a 400-1b. 
will be better if you have two.persons to operate it. 
: To renovate lawns that have become worn out 
Renovating. by 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 asharp 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 6f the lawn. } 
PETER HENDERSON & CO. have made the formation of perfect.and permanent Lawos 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. 
If the: 
