54 HENDERSON'S GARDEN GUIDE AND RECORD. 



awns 



and Grass Plots 



MAKING AND MAINTAINING 



A lawn may be formed either by laying turf or by sowing seed. The gain in time by 

 "sodding" is so slight as to be scarcely worthy of consideration, while the results obtained 

 by both methods are not to be compared. Sods, no matter how carefully cut and closely 

 laid, often separate in dry weather, leaving crevices about which the grass dies out; besides, 

 the grasses that compose such sod as is procurable for "sodding" lawns are usually coarse 

 and not at all the best sorts for forming a perfect lawn, having a smooth turf of closely 

 interwoven fine-leaved grasses that maintain their rich green color throughout the season. 

 The perfect lawn is only obtained by sowing a blend of several varieties suited to conditions 

 and climates. Only study, experiment and experience teach which are the best grasses 

 for different localities and soils. Therefore it is advisable to purchase from a reliable seeds- 

 man such of the several lawn grass mixtures as they offer suited to your requirements. 

 In addition to the selection of a proper blend of grass seeds, the next most important factor 

 in producing a perfect and permanent lawn is: 



son. AND PREPARATION. Good, deep, rich loam, overlaying a gravel or other 

 porous subsoil, insures underdrainage, permitting rain and surface water to percolate down 

 and through the top soil, keeping it evenly moist, neither saturated nor dried out, the sur- 

 plus water being stored or drained off below. Having such soil and subsoil conditions it 

 will only be necessary to apply evenly well-rotted stable manure at the rate of 15 to 25 

 tons per acre, and coarse-groimd bone at the rate of J^ to 1 ton per acre, then turn the top 

 soil, manure, etc., with plow or spade to a depth of not less than 8 inches. The grass roots 

 will then go down deep where they are less susceptible to damage from heat, drouth and 

 freezing. 



Where the under- or subsoil is clay, tmderdrainage must be resorted to as described 

 on page 5. The next best thing to drainage is subsoil plowing or for small areas "trench- 

 ing." We elucidate both operations on page 5. The whole scheme in laying a perfect 

 and permanent lawn is to make conditions so inviting below that the grass roots wiU go 

 down deep, for grass that roots only in the upper three or four inches of surface soil bums 

 out in hot, dry weather and freezes and heaves out in winter weather. 



GRADING is shaping the surface contour of the land to ideals. This means filling in 

 low spots with soil from high spots, and doing this often lays bare on the "uppers" inorganic 

 earth or "subsoil" in which nothing can grow, excepting, perhaps, the most aggressive of 

 plants — weeds. In other words inorganic earth (subsoil) until leavened by weathering and 

 incorporated with humus — decayed vegetable and animal matter — is a repellent medium 

 in which to grow grass or any cultivated plants. For this reason it is usually necessary 

 before grading to remove the top soil both from the places to be filled in, and the hillocks 

 to be leveled. Then when the grading has been done the top soil is to be respread. 



How often we see a foundation or cellar excavated for some building, the inorganic 

 subsoil being spread over top soil with disastrous results. In such cases the top soil should 

 first have been rem.oved and then replaced after the cellar soil had been spread. 



SEEDING . After the ground has been graded to the desired shape, drained if necessary, 

 and the top soil plowed and harrowed or spaded and raked as previously described; then 

 seeding wiU be in order. 



QUANTITY OF SEED. Five bushels of lawn grass seed is required to sow one acre, 

 or one quart fer 300 square feet (an area 15 x 20 feet). This may seem a Uberal quantity, 

 but it should be borne in mind that the fine-leaved lawn grasses do not tiller out to the 

 same extent as the coarser pasture grasses, and besides, we want to get a lawn quickly and 

 crowd out the weeds, the seeds of which are in aU soils. 



