733 
Making a Lawn 
I have to put iu a lawn of about six 
acres; it was graded and Seeded last 
Spring, and everything came up but grass. 
I never saw such weeds for size and va¬ 
riety. It is very heavy soil, and had been 
filled in from 2 to 15 ft. and smoothed 
down when very wet. It got as hard as 
cement and cracked down to the original 
level. Last Fall l pur the tractor on it 
with diskers and harrows to work up a 
good surface, intending to work it again 
this Spring the same way until I get a 
good cushion of fine soil, at the same time 
getting rid of the weeds as they start. I 
have any quantity of very old cow manure 
which I intend to work well into it at the 
same time. Some expert golf course men 
are going to build a golf course here, and 
they have been hauling cinders, thousands 
of loads, and will continue until Spring, 
intending to cover the ground with cin¬ 
ders and sand and work it in as the foun¬ 
dation for their turf. I have never heard 
of that: being done before, and am inter¬ 
ested. Money is no object: it is results 
that count. Could you advise me of some 
practical method of making this lawn? 
Grosse He, Mich. t. t. 
I cannot guess t ie reason for adding 
cinders and sand t * the surface of this 
golf course, as I have no personal knowl¬ 
edge of the character of tlie soil, but I 
presume those in charge of the job under¬ 
stand their business and can give rcasous 
for it. I have graded and seeded down 
lawns in all kinds of soil, from light sandy 
loam to the heaviest clay loam, with very 
satisfactory results, and never found it 
actually necessary to add anything to 
change the character of the soil except 
plenty of good old well-rotted manure, 
though on several occasions when work¬ 
ing up stiff clay loam I thought ashes or 
sand might have benefited it if they could 
have been applied in sufficient quantity. 
I can imagine how hard this soil got after 
being worked over while wet. Nothing 
will convert heavy clay loam into a more 
cement-like condition, and so destroy its 
usefulness for a year or longer,_ than 
working it over when wet. This Y\ inter’s 
freezing will in a great measure restore it 
to its original condition, and you probab¬ 
ly will not experience much difficulty in 
putting it into good condition for seeding, 
but be sure it is in proper condition for 
working before doing anything with it. 
If a mistake should be made and this soil 
is worked over this year again while too 
wet it will be useless to try to do any¬ 
thing with it for another year or two. 
Tt will be well to use tbe old rotted cow 
manure iu liberal quantity. I would ad¬ 
vise this be spread broadcast as evenly i 
as possible, covering tbe ground at least ; 
one inch, then work it into the soil with 
the disk harrow, going over it both ways, 
and if it does not seem to be cut up as 
finely as it should be. go over it again 
diagonally. After the disk use the smooth¬ 
ing harrow, making the surface as smooth 
and level as possible. A clod crusher 
made in the stone-boat style will be use¬ 
ful in crushing tbe small clods and level¬ 
ing the surface. You will find that the 
use of these horse-drawn implements will 
leave tlu* surface more or less uneven. 
There will be numerous humps and hol¬ 
lows that will have to be leveled before 
the ground can be considered ready for 
seeding. The steel rake and shovel must 
be used to correct this trouble. The 
ground should be raked over, and when¬ 
ever or wherever a luimp is found it 
should he leveled, and the soil taken off 
it put into the hollow which is nearly 
always adjacent. Sometimes this un¬ 
evenness can bo corrected by the use of 
tbe steel rake alone, but often the 
shovel will have to be used. After the 
whole plot has been raked over and lev¬ 
eled. a hand roller weighing 500 lbs. or so 
should he run over it ; this rolling will 
reveal all the soft spots, which must he 
tilled. After these have all been attended 
to the ground should be rolled again, 
'-ming the other way across it this time. 
This rolling will reveal the remaining soft 
spots, which must he filled and leveled off 
as before. These depressions made by 
the roller can easily lie filled by raking 
in fine soil from the surrounding surface, 
t'on’l be afraid to use the roller; if your 
ground is in good working order the 
roller will do no harm, and besides, it is 
the only way you can find the soft spots 
and put them in shape so they will not 
show Up after ground is seeded. The sec¬ 
ond rolling and leveling should put the 
ground in shape for seeding. 
The seeding down is a very important 
factor in making a good lawn. Tn the 
first place only the very best lawn grass 
seed should be used, and it should he used 
m sufficient quantity, too; for to skimp 
in the sowing is to spoil the whole job. 
At least 100 lbs. of seed to the acre should 
be used. This should be hand sown. 
I awn grass seed is too fine and l’glit 
weight to be sown with a machine. The 
"tdy time a seeder can be used is when 
there is a total calm. The slightest wind ] 
is apt to carry away the seed and deposit 
it anywhere except where it should he. 
when sown by a machine. When sown by 
band the sower can bend over until his 
ouiid almost touches the ground and thus 
seatter the seed just where he wants it. \ 
e'en though there should he considerable ; 
breeze moving. It is a good plan to mark | 
the gfound off into strips about 4 ft. wide 
"mi a rake handle and sow these strips 
o";' at a time, going back and forth. Tn 
tins way the sower can see just what lie 
is doing uiul cau be absolutely sure the 
ground is being evenly seeded. 
(Continued on page 735) 
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