56 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[April, 



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FARM LANDSCAPE GARDENING, 



Many of our farm houses are still surrounded 

 by unkempt tangles of suckering shrubs, or by 

 a heterogeneous mass of evergreen and deciduous 

 trees with naked stems and without individu- 

 ality and beauty, breeding dampness and dis- 

 ease where there should reign sunshine and 

 health. 



The great contrast between such surround- 

 ings and the tastefully laid-out grounds of the 

 suburban residence with its broad expanse of 

 green lawn, beautifully proportioned evergreens, 

 its gracefully spreading and uncrowded shade 

 trees, and its natural and well cared for groups 

 of choice shrubbery is striking enough to be- 

 come evident to most intelligent farmers. Yet 

 the disparity between the two appears to the 

 casual observer so wide and the labor and ex- 

 pense necessary to obtain satisfactory results so 

 great, that improvements are seldom attempt- 

 ed. It is true that the care of such a lawn 

 would bring to the working farmer only addi- 

 tional burdens to his already loo arduous 

 labors, while to the merchant and city trades- 

 man the time spent in managing his lawn 

 serves as a pleasant and health-giving recre- 

 ation. 



It is obvious therefore, that the farmers 

 door-yard should be planned so that it does not 

 require daily attention. It should consist 

 largely of green sward and trees and shrubs 

 that thrive when surrounded with grass. All 

 those that sucker much and spread by root 

 buds should be avoided. No more drives and 

 walks should be made than are required for 

 daily use. Trees and large shrubs should be 

 grouped at the sides, and the smaller shrubs in 

 the curves of the path, leaving broad open ex- 

 panses of grass, dotted sparingly with decidu- 

 ous trees with spreading heads, and here and 

 there a choice evergreen. 



To accomplish such results upon a place 

 already crowded and cluttered is somewhat dif- 

 ficult, yet not altogether impossible. To begin 

 with, I would remove all unshapely bushes like 

 June Roses, Wax-berries, the suckering Spireas, 

 etc., and also nearly all evergreens with naked 

 stems. I would then remove all trees so close 

 to the house as to prevent the free entrance of 

 sunlight, and from places where they could best 

 be spared with a view of making open vistas 

 bordered by trees and shrubs reserved for their 

 beauty. In deciding between trees to be re- 

 served, their beauty, rather than their utility 

 should be the guide. A grand old spreading 

 Apple tree which has acquired a certain sturdy 

 and picturesque beauty, on account of its age, 

 is often to be preserved in preference to a 

 young and characterless one even if the fruit of 

 the latter is of better quality. It takes thirty 

 years before a Lilac or Snowball develops its 

 highest beauty, old specimens should not there- 

 fore be wantonly sacrificed for the purpose of 

 replacing them with some untried favorite of 

 to-day. Beautiful examples of natural group- 

 ing can be seen everywhere in neglected fields 

 and the borders of timber lots, and much can 

 be learned from a study of these that can be 

 made useful in improving grounds. 



In removing surplus trees from ornamental 

 grounds they should be grubbed up and the 

 holes carefully leveled and sodded. Sawing 

 them off three feet high and surmounting them 

 with a tin pan or wooden bowl filled with sickly 



Moneywort is a common custom which surely 

 does not add to the beauty of a lawn. Having 

 removed all objectionable trees, the lawn may 

 be gradually brought to a uniform surface — 

 not necessarily level — by covering the lowest 

 places early each spring with two inches of 

 light, rich soil, through which the grass will 

 readily grow. 



Many country houses stand upon a rude 

 bank made from digging the cellar, and left 

 without improvement, save what the stunted 

 grass has produced. Such banks can be trans- 

 formed into beautiful terraces, with little ex- 

 pense, by leveling them to fifteen or twenty 

 feet around the house and making their 

 margins straight and abrupt and their edges 

 parallel with the house. They may then be 

 ornamented with one or two groups of dwarf 

 evergreens, as the Swedish Juniper, Globe 

 Arbor Vita?, Yucca, Daphne Cneorum, Dwarf 

 Spruce and Rhododendrons or if deciduous 

 shrubs are preferred the Deutzia gracilis, the 

 Variegated Leaved Weigelia, the Hydrangea 

 quercifolia, H. paniculata, or Tree Peony. 



Such improvements need not all be made at 

 one time, or in one year. If one or two defec- 

 tive trees are removed each year and their 

 places filled with something in accordance with 

 a well matured plan, a place can be completely 

 metamorphosed in the course of a few years 

 without additional labor and expense. Such 

 improvements, if judiciously planned and ex- 

 ecuted with taste, will pay a hundred fold, not 

 only in the increased value of the property, but 

 also in the pleasure of making them and the 

 enjoyment they afford ever afterwards. 



L. B. Pierce. 



FORMATION OF LAWNS. 



There seems to prevail a popular fallacy, that 

 grass will grow on any ground where the seed 

 is sown, an error which the numerous scanty 

 patches of green, miscalled lawns, obviously 

 disprove. A handsome lawn is not the work 

 of a day, but the result of thoughtful care and 

 persevering labor. 



To produce a good sward, it is absolutely 

 necessary that the ground be thoroughly pul- 

 verized, mellow and highly fertilized by a 

 bountiful application of well rotted stable 

 manure, or superphosphate composted with it 

 and well worked into the soil. To obtain an 

 even ffertility throughout the entire piece of 

 land it is better to prepare the ground in the 

 fall, smoothing out or filling in depressions, 

 and raising the poorer spots up to the general 

 standard, by higher cultivation or extra ma- 

 nuring. . 



The soil must be of the same density through- 

 out if the lawn after once being established, 

 shall retain its even surface. Veins of a sandy 

 nature, often run through a piece of ground, 

 and unless they are removed and the spaces 

 filled in with other soil, are apt to settle in the 

 spring, making ugly depressions. Or it may 

 be that streaks of heavy clay pass through a 

 lighter loam, which not settling to the same 

 extent as the surrounding ground, produce 

 unsightly ridges. The remedy in either case is 

 to remove this soil and filling in. By care- 

 ful attention to this point in the beginning, 

 much after labor and disappointment may be 

 spared, and the ground will settle uniformly, 

 leaving the surface smooth and even*. After 

 the land has been thoroughly prepared, it 

 should be carefully leveled, graded, and sod- 

 ded or seeded down as early in the spring as 

 the ground is dry enough to work. 



Sodding has the advantage of making a good 

 sward at once, and for small lawns is prefer- 

 able to seeding, the only objection being the 

 expense, which the advantage of not having to 

 wait two years, as with seeding, goes far to 

 counter-balance. Sods from a closely grazed 

 pasture, if free from weeds, form an excellent 

 sward, and if placed on rich soil will make a 

 fine lawn, after the first clipping. The sods 

 should be of uniform size and thickness, with 

 the edges sharply cut, so that in laying, the 

 pieces fit snugly together. A foot by a foot 

 and a half, are the average dimensions. Where 

 the sward is well matted and tough, as it is 

 apt to be on an old pasture, the sods may be 

 removed in long narrow strips. A board eight 

 inches wide and five feet long is laid on the 

 turf; with a sharp spade cut all around the 

 edge, then turn the board over and cut another 

 strip, and so on, until the requisite number is 

 procured. Sods so cut are easily rolled up and 

 transferred in a cart or barrow to the place 

 where required, and as the edges are sharply 

 severed, they can be closely matched. 



The surface of the soil should be loosened 

 with a rake to encourage the downward growth 

 of the roots. After the lawn has been laid, 

 roll with a weighted roller, and if the weather 

 be dry a good sprinkling will be necessary: do 

 not, under any circumstances, pound with a 

 maul, as the sods are greatly disturbed thereby, 

 and it has a tendency to make tufts of grass, 

 which spoil the appearance of the turf. 



A lawn laid as here described, and gone over 

 every few days with a lawn mower, will last 

 a life time and always present a smooth, 

 velvety surface. 



Where the extended area will not permit of 

 sodding, "seeding down "becomes necessary. 

 In this case the soil should be even more care- 

 fully prepared. The seed sown broadcast as 

 evenly as possible, at the rate of four bushels 

 to the acre ; two years are generally required to 

 make a well matted turf. 



Poa pratensis (Kentucky Blue Grass), 

 Festuca elatior (Tall Fescue) and Agrostis 

 canina (Rhode Island Bent Grass,) are the best 

 lawn grasses, but to make a more rapidly mat- 

 ted sod, it is advisable to mix White Clover 

 and Red Top with them. These appear earlier 

 and a coarse grass, kept well! cut, looks better 

 than a scanty growth of a finer variety. As 

 soon as the grass is a few inches high, go over 

 it with a lawn mower, this will thicken the 

 grass and mat the roots more firmly. Fre- 

 quent rollings with a heavy roller will stimulate 

 the growth, and in a dry season occasional 

 sprinkling will be necessary. 



After a lawn is once fairly established, it 

 should receive, every fall, a light top dressing 

 of fine well rotted stable manure, alternated 

 occasionally with a dusting of superphosphate 

 of lime, bone-meal or guano. Under such 

 treatment the grass will appear fine and green 

 in the early spring, and grow luxuriantly 

 throughout the entire summer. 



Ike Ivy. 



Ornamental Shrubs. — Neglected and un- 

 sightly flowering shrubs are seen far too often 

 in yards near dwellings, so that the place would 

 present a better appearance if they were dug 

 up and burnt. Frequently, however, such 

 shrubs may be restored to vigor and beauty by 

 severely cutting back straggling branches and 

 removing all dead wood. At the same time a 

 good coat of stable manure should be spread 

 around them and lightly spaded under. 



