23 



It is good practice to sow a lawn very thick — eighty 

 pounds to the acre is ahout right. This will occupy the 

 ground cjuite fully the first year and thus exclude the 

 weeds. It is also well to go over the lawn twice a year 

 — in April and Septemher — and sow a sprinkling of seed 

 in places where it appears too thin 



SEED MIXTURES EOR DIFFERENT SOILS 



For Shaded Places 



Kentucky Blue Grass 35 per cent. 



Wood Meadow Grass 45 



Crested Dog's-Tail ' 20 " 



For Terraces 



Rhode Island Bent 50 per cent. 



Crested Dog's-Tail 30 " 



Kentucky Blue Grass 20 



For Piiifiug-Grccns 



Rhode Island Bent 40 per cent. 



Creeping Bent 30 " 



Crested Dog's-Tail 30 



For Clav Soils 



Kentucky Blue Grass 60 per cent. 



Red Top 40 



For Sandy Soils 



Kentucky Blue Grass 30 per cent. 



Rhode Island Bent 40 



Creeping Bent 30 " 



For Country Lazciis 



Kentucky Blue Grass 25 per cent. 



Rhode Island Bent 75 " 



OPEN LAWN TREATMENT 



This is one of the most costly mansions in Michigan, occupying just one-quarter 

 of a city block, which is not much ground for a property of this kind. The expe- 

 dient was used of planting a massive hedge of Norway Spruce on the parkway, as 

 can be seen in the right ofTscape, virtually adding 40 feet to the yard. With this 

 treatment there is enough open lawn to look well. The specimen tree is a Koster's 

 Colorado Blue Spruce. The vines on the house are Ampelopsis Veitchii and the 

 shrubs by the porch are Spirasa Van Houttei. The trees on the street are Elm. 



ANTS IN LAWNS 



ON sandy soils, ants sometimes become a very troublesome 

 pest. They do not directly attack the plants but they do 

 much mischief by the way they loosen up the soil in making their 

 tunnels and galleries, thus disturbing the grass roots and causing 

 them to dry out. The best means to destroy them is by the use 

 of carbon bisulphide, which is a heavy volatile liquid. The fumes, 

 being heavier than air, c|uickly penetrate downward, dealing instant 

 death to the entire colony. Eirst, make a hole with a stick ; in it 

 pour two tablespoonfuls of the poison, cover the hill with a wet 

 clcrth to confine the gas, and it is all over with the ants — the black 

 ants that live in hills. 



Caution : Carbon bisulphide is a very active poison and its 

 use should not be entrusted to children. It is also very inflam- 

 mable and its vapor is highly explosive. Do not use near a fire. 



When a lawn becomes infested with the small red ants that 

 make little ring-like mounds, about the size of a coat-button, all 

 over the yard, the best treatment is a dressing of tobacco dust, or 

 wood ashes, or kainit, repeated until the pest is abated. All these 

 are good fertilizers. 



Another good way to fight the little red ant is to make a solu- 

 tion of cyanide of potash and, after applying evenly with a sprink- 

 ling can, wash it down with a hose. This is also a very active 

 poison and must be used with great care. 



