56 HENDERSON'S GARDEN GUIDE AND RECORD. 



LAWNS AND GRASS PLOTS. 

 Making and Maintaining. — Continued. 



WEEDS. It sometimes happens that soil contains seeds of weeds; most of which 

 are fortunately of annual duration and if the lawn is mown regularly, the weeds can not 

 seed and will therefore not be troublesome the succeeding season. But where perennial 

 weeds infest a lawn, such as dandelion, dock, plantain, thistle, etc., there is no other remedy 

 than the slow process of cutting them out with the knife or spud. 



Crab or summer grass is one of the commonest and most troublesome weeds that 

 infest a lawn. It is however only an annual and, where it can be kept from seeding by 

 mowing the flower and seed heads off, it will not be in evidence another season. Unfor- 

 tunately crab grass has a sneaking habit of drnking below the cut of a lawn mower, so to 

 be sure the seed heads are shorn off they should be elevated by raking before mowing. 



WEEDS IN WALKS, DRIVEWAYS, ETC. The easiest and best way to get rid 

 of weeds, moss, grass, etc., in garden walks, etc., is to apply Henderson's Weed Destroyer, a 

 fluid compound. It completely destroys all vegetable growth wherever applied, and by 

 its effect on the ground prevents fresh growth for a year afterwards, thus saving an im- 

 mense amount of labor in hoeing, etc. For brick walks it is a boon. Its application is 

 easy, being in a liquid form and only requiring to be mixed with water and applied with a 

 watering can or sprinkling cart. A gallon diluted with 16 to 20 gallons of water is sufiicient 

 to treat 400 square feet. If the ground is very dry it should first be sprinkled with clear 

 water, so the Weed Destroyer will not soak away too quickly. Where large weeds and 

 docks are to be destroyed it is best to mow or chop off the tops first. 



WORMS ON LAWNS. Fish, angle or earth worms sometimes colonize in rich moist 

 soil in such numbers as to disfigure the surface with their worm casts. The best way to 

 get rid of the worms is to apply Carter's Worm Killer — an English non-poisonous powder 

 which also benefits the grass. It is procurable from us and the price is very reasonable. It 

 should be strewn evenly over the affected locality at the rate of half a pound per square yard 

 and then the ground should be thoroughly watered. This will cause the worms to immedi- 

 ately come to the surface and die, when they may be swept up and removed. 



MOLES, HOW TO EXTERMINATE THEM. Moles often cause havoc in lawn 

 and gai-den by burrowing here and there, destroying roots, raising ridges and causing plants 

 and grass to die out. 



On the lawn a good heavy roller frequently used over the "runs" often frightens 

 the moles and drives them to other quarters. But the best thing to do is to exterminate 

 them, which may be done with a good mole trap — procurable from seedsmen — but to 

 be successful in trapping moles one must understand something of this wary little animal's 

 habits. The mole usually has a permanent home situated in some protected place, as under 

 the root of a tree or a large stone, and from this base they burrow in different directions. 

 Some of these "runs" are used regularly and others are seldom used and sometimes a "run" 

 is used but once. Of course to catch moles it is necessary to set traps over the "runs" 

 that are used the most. To determine this depress the ridges in places with the foot, then 

 examine the depressions the succeeding day and note those that have been again raised. Here 

 set your traps — precautions being taken against the smell of one's hands remaining about 

 the traps. 



Moles and other animals or insects inhabiting underground burrows may also be ex- 

 terminated with carbon bisulphide, usually procurable at drug stores. It is an inflammable 

 fluid that evaporates when exposed to the air, killing all animal life that breathes the fumes 

 which are not injurious to vegetation. A tablespoonful (nearly 1 oz.) of the bisulphide 

 poured in the track or "run" through a hole made with a pointed spade handle or dibber, 

 the hole being quickly closed with soil or by a pressure of the foot, will penetrate and 

 fumigate several feet of the "run" or a wad of cotton waste the size of hen's egg, rags, 

 dried grass, corn cobs or other absorbent material may be saturated with bisulphide and 

 thrust into openings at intervals. For mice, ground squirrels, etc., the mouths of the 

 bmrows should be closed over with a wad of the saturated material to prevent escape of 

 the pests. A pint (about 1 lb.) of the carbon bisulphide is usually sufficient to treat a 

 dozen to twenty ordinary burrows. 



