March, 1918 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
99 
son. Cottonseed meal where ob- 
tainable at a low enough price 
may be used to advantage. In 
connection with those fertilizers, 
however, it is desirable to use 
some wood ashes or other fertil- 
izer containing potash. As fertil- 
izers with this element are unusu- 
ally high priced this year, the nat- 
ural inclination will be to use min- 
imum quantities. With soils that 
have been well fertilized in the 
past, failure to use a normal 
amount of potash will probably 
not affect the lawn badly in one 
season. These fertilizers should 
be applied at the earliest possible 
moment. 
Temptation to get on the lawn 
and clean it up is strong as soon 
as the snow is gone and the 
weather begins to settle. Impa- 
tience, however, should be curbed 
until the ground is settled fairly 
well so that footmarks will not 
show in the turf. Where a lawn 
has been trampled down during 
the winter or played upon when 
it was soft in winter or early 
spring, the owner should take 
steps to compact its surface at the 
earliest possible moment. This 
compacting, however, should not 
be done until all trash has been 
removed. As soon as the ground 
is sufficiently settled so that a 
rake does not dig into the turf, 
the owner should rake it gently 
with a wooden-toothed rake. 
Frequently, however, all that is 
necessary is to pick off the litter. 
If a lawn has been covered with 
manure in the fall, it will be nec- 
essary to break the manure up 
with a rake in the spring, and re- 
move some of the coarser portions. 
A wooden rake is best for this 
purpose, as it will leave so much 
more of the fine material upon the 
ground. 
Do not rake off so much of the 
manure that the lawn will have 
a thoroughly clean appearance. 
All of the fine manure that the 
summer growth of grass can pos- 
sibly hide should be left. It is 
surprising how much litter the 
grass will obscure in a lawn, as 
one or two heavy rains will beat 
down a quantity of such material. 
Before freezing weather is en- 
tirely over, fresh grass seed 
should be sown, for it must be re- 
membered that only by repeated 
applications of grass seed can a 
good lawn be produced. The or- 
dinary seeding’ of grass on a new 
lawn is 1 pound of seed to every 
400 square feet — that is, to a piece 
20 feet square. For reseeding a 
lawn, one-tenth to one-half of this 
amount should be used, according 
to the condition of the lawn at the 
time. For the northern part of 
the United States, Kentucky blue 
grass and redtop are the standard 
varieties. However, where there 
are many bare spaces it will be 
found well to use some white clov- 
er. About one-tenth the quantity 
of clover as of the other grasses 
mentioned will be required. 
Probably as good a time as any 
to apply grass seed will be some 
morning when the ground is 
frozen, so that when the ground 
thaws during the middle of the 
day the sown seed will be covered 
sufficiently to germinate well. 
The most successful seeding is 
that done while the ground is 
freezing a little each night and 
thawing again in the day time. 
Many people have success in soav- 
ing grass seed upon a light snow- 
fall at a time when the snow is 
likely soon to melt. With either 
of these methods, however, there 
is danger that birds will eat some 
of the seeds before it is covei'ed in 
the soil. In spite of this, how- 
ever, there is a better chance of 
getting a good lawn by these 
methods than when the seed is 
sown on land that will not quickly 
cover it. 
The last operation in the prelim- 
inary spring care of a laAvn is to 
give it a good rolling. This rol- 
ling, which should be done with 
as heavy a roller as can be 
handled, should not be begun, 
hoAvever, until after the lawn is 
dry enough so that the roller 
passes over it without sinking at 
any point beloAv the general level. 
If the land is too Avet the roller 
will leave depressions. This roll- 
ing should be done just as soon as 
the land is dry enough to permit 
it, as rolling compacts the soil 
about the roots of the plants, 
brings them into closer contact 
with the soil, and gives them a bet- 
ter opportunity to make a quick 
start as soon as weather condi- 
tions are favorable. 
Grass cutting should begin just 
as soon as the lawn moAver can 
get a good hold. The very early 
cutting may be made Avith the 
lawn mower set close to the 
ground. As soon as the growth of 
grass becomes a little less vigor- 
ous, the mower should be set just 
as high as possible. This high cut- 
ting should be done as frequently 
as though the grass Avere being 
cut shorter. 
This is the time to study spray- 
ing. Spraying is serious business 
and the spraying campaign should 
be Avell Avorked out in advance. 
Know first Avhat insects or dis- 
eases you are going to combat, 
then get the best materials to meet 
them and learn Avhen and how 
best to apply them. 
