336 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
SOIL BUILDING FOR PARK AND CEMETERY LAWNS 
From Bulletin on “ Lawn Soils and Lawns,” by Oswald Schreiner, J. J. Skin- 
ner, L. C. Corbett and F. L. Mulford, of U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
The ideal soil for a lawn is available in 
but a few cases where it is desirable to es- 
tablish a greensward. Large lawns and 
parks are not, as a rule, so subject to dif- 
ficulties of this kind as are small private 
grounds. The problem there is that of 
converting not a normal but an abnormal 
soil into a suitable and congenial place for 
the growing of grasses. 
The soil material consists of several rec- 
ognizable grades, which can be determined 
in any given soil by analysis — clay, silt, 
very fine sand, fine sand, medium sand, 
coarse sand, and fine gravel. It is this 
•difference in size of soil particles and in 
the proportions in which they are present 
in soils that has given rise to the differ- 
ent classes of agricultural soils, such as the 
clays, clay loams, sands, and sandy loams. 
The following discussion of different soil 
classes will be useful as a guide in select- 
ing soils suitable for lawn or park pur- 
poses and for the production of lawn soils 
by proper mixing of two or more soils of 
different texture. 
Clay soils: When productive these soils 
usually make very strong lawn soils, giving 
a dense sod. In the regions suited to the 
Kentucky blue grass, excellent lawns con- 
sisting wholly of this most desirable of 
lawn grasses are easily obtained. The clay 
soils are usually, however, more difficult to 
prepare for lawn purposes, as the handling 
of the soil requires greater care than the 
more loamy soils to obtain a good physical 
condition at the time the seed is started. 
Liming is often desirable to help loosen 
the texture, and the plentiful incorporation 
of organic manure is almost a necessity. 
In very heavy clays it will often prove ad- 
vantageous to incorporate a loam or sandy 
loam with the first few inches. 
Clay loam soils : When well drained and 
carefully handled, a clay loam is well suit- 
ed for the establishment of an excellent 
greensward. It is retentive of moisture in 
amounts decidedly favorable to a good 
growth of grass. In the making of lawn 
soils by mixing, clay loams give good re- 
sults, especially for mixing with sandy soils. 
Silt loam soils : These soils are ideally 
adapted to lawn making, but they must 
have good drainage and be liberally sup- 
plied with organic matter. 
Loam soils : These soils, when they have 
good drainage and contain sufficient or- 
ganic matter, will maintain a good lawn. 
When hauled in, due consideration should 
be given to the nature of the soil or filling 
already in place, as this becomes the sub- 
soil of the finished lawn. 
Coarse sandy soils : These soils are un- 
suitable for lawn purposes. Although cer- 
tain grasses will grow upon them, and 
where necessary can be used as soil bind- 
ers, the result produced can hardly be 
called ornamental. They are too dry and 
loose for lawn purposes. 
Fine sandy soils : A fair lawn may be 
established on soils of this class by paying 
|»— a cctcc< 
SOIL AUGER FOR COLLECTING SOIL 
SAMPLES, AND EXPLORING SUBSOIL 
CONDITIONS IN LAWNS; PREVENTS DIS- 
FIGURING LAWN BY DIGGING HOLES. 
special attention to the preparation of the 
soil by the introduction of manure or green 
manure, together with bone phosphates, and 
lime in some cases, and copious watering 
during dry seasons. With a clay or clayey 
subsoil a really good and permanent lawn 
can be established on such sandy soils 
without great difficulty, especially when a 
mixture of suitable grasses is used. Its 
low water-holding power is its chief draw- 
back. Top dressings of well-rotted stable 
manure and other fertilizers from time to 
time are requisite for good results. Lime 
as a top dressing is also often desirable on 
sandy soils. 
Sandy loam soils : Such soils make very 
good lawns when well drained and well 
supplied with organic matter ; and, where 
underlain by a clay or sandy clay subsoil, 
they sometimes even rival the clay loam or 
silt loam in adaptability to lawn grasses. 
When low in organic matter the deficiency 
must be made up. Stable manure, forest 
mold, green crops plowed under, especially 
the legumes, afford very desirable materials 
for supplying organic matter. Lime is fre- 
quently desirable and often necessary in 
the soil preparation and as a later top 
dressing. Bone phosphate should be used 
in preparing the soil and may be later used 
as a top dressing. 
Fine sandy loams : These are very sim- 
ilar to sandy loam soils in their adaptabil- 
ity to lawn making and have even a greater 
water-holding power. 
Soils are underlain at different depths in 
different types by a distinctly different soil 
layer known as subsoil. In shallow soils 
this subsoil, usually of a different texture, 
but not necessarily so, is sometimes within 
a few inches of the surface, and is indeed 
often touched by plow or spade, and thus 
gradually the soil itself may be deepened 
and changed in texture. In other cases the 
soil is quite deep, often many feet, and in 
arid regions this change in soil material as 
one goes downward is often not observ- 
able at all. 
A soil cannot be judged for lawn pur- 
poses simply by the visible surface or top 
soil as far as it is ordinarily cultivated or 
turned by plow or spade. The depth of 
the surface soil is very important and 
variable. Soils of widely different agricul- 
tural value owe this often to difference of 
depth alone. The fact that the nature of 
the subsoil has an effect on the productive- 
ness and suitability of soil for lawn pur- 
poses has already been mentioned. Those 
soils having a clay subsoil are usually 
stronger soils and better able to maintain 
a good lawn than those having sandy sub- 
soils. In the sandy soils the better results 
are always obtained where a good clayey 
or even clay subsoil occurs. 
In the illustration are shown three-foot 
profiles of soil types illustrating different 
depths of surface soil and nature of sub- 
soils as actually encountered under natural 
conditions. 
The texture of the subsoil is fully as im- 
portant as the texture of the soil, although 
the requirements of a good subsoil are 
usually somewhat different from the re- 
quirements of a good top soil. An im- 
pervious clay subsoil is utterly unsuited for 
any crop, and soils occurring above such 
subsoils are themselves usually poor, but 
can often be made most productive by lay- 
ing drainage tiles in the subsoil. The 
character of the subsoil, its texture, and its 
distance from the surface are often vital 
criterions of natural productiveness and 
suitability of soils, and hence these fac- 
tors must also receive consideration in the 
establishing of a lawn, whether it be by 
filling in of soil materials or on a soil in 
its natural position. 
