DE GIORGI BROS. CO., COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA 
21 
THE “OUTLINE” OF GARDENING 
SOIL—Any soil where weeds grow is all right or can be made 
so. If the soil is poor, apply manure, the more the better. Spade 
it under. Spade 9 to 12 inches deep, preferably in the spring, then 
rake the soil smooth. If the soil is too heavy, (gumbo, clay), apply 
stable manure; if it is too light (sandy), again apply manure. 
Manuring makes light soils heavier and heavy soils lighter. This 
sounds like a joke, but it is a fact. If your soil is pure muck (peat), 
it is ideal for raising cabbage, lettuce and other leafy vegetables, but 
before you can grow all kinds of crops on this Boil you must 
thoroughly mix it with regular soil, be this sandy, clayey, or a good 
loam. With soil and small application of stable manure you will 
raise wonderful crops, as muck soil is exceedingly rich. 
SOWING—Read cultural directions in this book. Do not cover 
the seed too deep—be very careful in this respect. Seeds the size of 
a pin head should be covered one-fourth to one-half inch deep. 
Larger seeds like those of radish or beets should be covered three- 
fourths to one inch deep. Corn, beans and peas, should be covered 
two to three inches deep. Very fine seed like those of begonia, must 
not be covered at all, merely pressed to the soil and sow such fine 
seed first in a box, not over 3 inches deep, filled with finely sifted 
soil. Cover the box with a pane of glass. 
VERY IMPORTANT—Whenever you read in our catalog “thin 
out to 4 inches apart in the row’’ as the case may be, do so as soon 
as the plants are up. If you allow the plants to crowd each other 
the crop will never properly develop. Leafy vegetables will be 
spindly and sometimes will quickly shoot to seed and the root crops 
will have thin, long and deformed roots. The beginner may think 
that the more plants in the ground the bigger the harvest. That is a 
mistake. Big and fine crops will come only from plantings where 
the plants have room to develop. 
WHY SEEDS SOMETIMES FAIL TO “COME DP’’—All real 
seedsmen send out good live seeds with strong germination. But 
seed will fail to come up if it is covered too deep, if the ground is 
not moist enough, if the weather is too hot, if a hard crust is formed 
on top of the soil, if mice, birds or insects will get it, if sown in 
too hot a hotbed and from other causes which are, for a while any¬ 
how, impossible to explain. These things happen no matter how 
good the seed sowed, and all old gardeners know it. In the great 
majority of cases seeds come up just fine, yet sometimes they fail, 
and you should be informed about the probable causes. Do not 
blame the seedsman, he is rarely to blame, he is doing his part. Be 
optimistic—do like a neighbor of ours did. He sowed beet seed three 
times, every time in a row about an inch or so apart from the old 
row. The seed did not come up. He sowed the fourth time, then 
came a heavy rain, and in a few days the seeds from all four sow¬ 
ings were up. 
CULTIVATION—As soon as your plants are big enough to 
handle, thin them out, pull the weeds, transplant and keep on culti¬ 
vating. The more you use the hoe or the cultivator, the faster your 
crops will grow, and the more they will produce. 
SETTING OUT PLANTS—You will hardly ever lose a single 
plant if you will plant in a moist soil, and if you will press the 
soil firmly to the roots. NEVER, NEVER place manure near the 
roots of a plant. Manure contains strong chemicals and will either 
kill the plant outright, or damage its roots to such an extent that 
the plant will stay stunted. If you must manure, place the manure 
a foot or so away from the roots. Putting manure right to the 
roots has killed thousands of trees and plants. Do not plant in dry 
soil. Wait for a heavy rain or soak the ground with water, then let 
it dry off so that when you press a handful of it it will not stick to¬ 
gether. Never work soil that is wet; wet soil when worked sticks 
together and hardens just like a brick. Plants do well only in soil 
that is porous, soil that crumbles easily when handled. 
MORE INFORMATION—You will get more information else¬ 
where in our catalog. It is packed with valuable pointers. Also con¬ 
sult your friends about gardening, exchange your experience with 
them, read garden magazines, and after a year or two of experience 
you will know all you need to know. Your garden will be a source 
of pleasure and profit. 
GARDENING FOR PROFIT—If you want to raise vegetables 
or flowers for profit, hire yourself to a practical gardener or florist. 
One year of experience will be worth more to you than all the books 
that were ever published on gardening. However, read books; they 
are the cheapest source of information. With actual experience in 
a garden or greenhouse, the books you will read afterwards will do 
you twice as much good, because many things now hard to under¬ 
stand will be plain to you. Experience is the best teacher. 
SPECIAL BENT LAWN GRASS SEED 
Composed of the best Bent varieties with a proper proportion of 
Red Top and Rye Grass. This special Bent Grass seed will produce 
a dense turf of the finest texture rivaling in luxuriant feel an ex¬ 
pensive oriental rug. No other Lawn Grass can compare in results 
with a lawn produced from the Bent Grasses. Bent Grasses are the 
dwarfest in cultivation, their creeping character causes them to mat 
together and they produce a dense mat of fine, silky leaves, deep, 
rich green in color. Bent turf can be mown closely and will stand 
up well under the heaviest wear. Ideal for forming a terrace sod 
as it will withstand drought and sun. If the slope is gentle add 
one inch of top soil, sow the seed at the rate of one pound to each 
100 square feet, rake the seed in and firm the soil with a roller or 
back of a spade. If the slope is quite steep, proceed as above but 
sow along with the Bent Lawn Grass seed one-half pound of Italian 
Rve Grass to each 100 square feet. Italian Rye Grass is a quick 
growing grass and will hold the soil together and give a chance for 
Bent Grasses to establish themselves. Mow the Rye Grass as soon 
as the growth is of sufficient height and keep it cut. We compose 
this Special Bent Lawn Grass Mixture out of separate varieties, 
using only the heaviest and highest germinating seed and if you 
will follow our directions you will have a lawn that will be the talk 
° f t price e ^ gl Lb > . r 85c , f 2 lbs. $1.65; 5 lbs. $3.80, prepaid. NOT prepaid: 
10 lbs. $7.00; 100 lbs. $60.00. 
Lawn Grass Seed 
In composing lawn grass mixtures, we use the highest 
grade of seed thoroughly recleaned, containing the largest 
proportion and the greatest weight of actual seed, a grade 
that is closely 100% free of hulls, the best grade obtainable. 
The small proportion of Rye grass that is included in 
some of the mixtures insures a quick effect (within a month 
from date of sowing). Rye grass is a protective grass and 
dies out completely in two years, its place is taken by Blue 
Grass, New Zealand Fescue and finally by Bent Grasses, all 
fine leaved varieties. You will have from our seed a wonder¬ 
ful lawn that you will be proud of. 
Directions for Making a Lawn 
On new lawns use 1 lb. of Seed for 100 square feet; 100 lbs. for 
one acre. To replenish lawns where grass is thin use half quantity. 
If you want a nice lawn and this in from 30 to 40 days after 
sowing, you cannot use less than 100 lbs. of seed to the acre. 
In the formation of lawns, and proper care of lawns many 
things are to be considered. The beauty of a lawn consists in the 
evenness of its surface, and the richness of its verdure. This can 
only be produced on well-drained, prepared, thoroughly pulverized 
soils. Another Important consideration in making a lawn, is to have 
the soil of even depth throughout, so that the grass may be marked 
by a regularity of growth. After sowing, the ground should be 
lightly harrowed or raked, and heavily rolled, in order to press the 
seed into the soil. Sowing can be done from the middle of March 
to the middle of May, and in favorable seasons, even up to July. 
Seed may also be sown from the latter part of August to the end 
of September. As soon as the frost is out of the ground, the land 
should be heavily rolled, and cross-rolled, as the soil is loosened by 
winter frosts, and rolling is necessary to compress it again. 
DANDELIONS—A good way to eradicate dandelions and other 
weeds in a lawn is to cut the grass regularly and never closer than 
two inches from the soil surface. Cutting induces sturdier growth 
of grass but the weeds perish when cut regularly and are prevented 
to seed themselves. 
Leave cut grass lay, it will quickly shrivel, work down to the 
soil surface and form a mulch. Your grass will withstand dry 
weather far better than lawn that is sprinkled. Your lawn will con¬ 
tinue green in spite of drought for an entire summer. Watering- 
Apply water when the color of your grass begins to be pale instead 
of a deep green, then soak the ground a foot deep by laying the 
hose on the ground and letting the water flow in a gentle stream 
for an hour or two on one section after another. Do not sprinkle 
your lawn as sprinkling is of doubtful help and in some cases 
actually does harm. If you will water thoroughly your grass will 
have plenty of moisture to fall back upon for three weeks in hottest 
of weather and longer if the temperature is not too excessive. And 
it is easier and less work too, than when you are sprinkling every 
day. 
Lawn grasses should be sown thickly, from 150 to 50 square 
feet to the pound, depending upon condition of the soil, time of 
year, etc. We like the plan of working in units of 100 square feet 
(10 by 10 feet squares), and seeding each unit with the quantity of 
seed decided upon. An easy way to do this is to take two heavy 
cords, each ten feet long and with a loop in each end. By starting 
at one corner and staking out regular spaces using the same amount 
of seed for each square of 100 feet your lawn will be very evenly 
seeded. 
Use no fresh manure for fertilizer because it contains weed seeds. 
Bone meal one pound per 100 square feet is the proper thing to use. 
ITALIAN RYE GRASS 
An annual, fine leaved, deep green grass, unexcelled as an ad¬ 
mixture in lawn grass. Will make a fine turf in 30 days after sow¬ 
ing. Its value lies in the fact that by its extremely quick growth 
it will bind soil together preventing washing out in case of heavy 
downpours and that it will protect other grasses of fine texture like 
Bent Grass for instance. Its main usefulness in the North is to 
serve as a “nurse crop”, in the South it makes an excellent winter 
turf when Bermuda Grass is dormant. Lb. 20c; 2 lbs., 35c; 5 lbs 
or over at the rate of 15c per lb., prepaid. Unprepaid: 10 lbs., $1.20: 
100 lbs., $10.00. 
WHITE CLOVER—Extra recleaned seed. 1 lb. 55c; 10 lbs., $4.50. 
KENTUCKY BLUE GRASS—Extra fancy seed. 1 lb. 35c; 10 lbs. $2.90. 
GRASS FOR GOLF COURSES £»■&, 
the best. The sturdiest grower, staying green even in prolonged 
hot and dry weather. Resistant to zonate-eye spot, a disease mani¬ 
festing itself in the peculiar targeted appearance on the leaves, 
sometimes killing the leaves entirely, turning the turf to a brown 
color. For best results in establishing a turf start Bent Grass from 
seed. Use 15 lbs. per acre. Washington Bent Grass: Lb., prepaid, 
$1.30. Unprepaid. 5 to 10 lbs. $1.10 per lb. In lots of 10 lbs. or over 
$1.00 per lb. 
OUR POLICY 
Highest Quality — Reasonable Prices 
