Remaking a Small Lawn 
HOW GOOD RESULTS MAY BE OBTALNfED—THE CHOICE OF SEED AND THE 
PROPER WAY TO TEST IT—THE VALUE OF MANURE IN LAWN MAKING 
BY L. J. D O O G U E 
D uring the fail everyone with a piece of grass imagines 
that the salvation of that bit of green is dependent on the 
amount of manure that he puts on it. If you should tell him 
that the manure that he puts on his grass is a detriment instead 
of a help he will wither you with a look of scorn. Everybody 
dbes it, so it must be right. 
Manure is an essential in making a good soil upon which to 
grow grass, but there is always a chance of getting too much of 
a good thing, particularly when applied in the form of top dress¬ 
ing in the fall. This sounds like heresy, but it is a fact never¬ 
theless. Haven’t the best lawns been produced by manure top 
dressings? No, they haven’t, but they have been made possible 
by liberal mixtures of manure in the soil and afterwards being 
treated with commercial fertilizers as dressings. Have you ever 
looked at some of these supposedly beautiful lawns that have had 
their quota of manure regularly? I mean, have you walked upon 
them and examined the texture of the grasses that composed 
them? If you have made such an examination you were doubt¬ 
less surprised to find that instead of a fine crop of grass the 
charming appearance that so entranced when viewed from a dis¬ 
tance was a bad mix¬ 
ture of weeds and 
grass, with the weeds 
predominating. If 
you don’t believe this 
make a close inspec¬ 
tion of some of the 
noted lawns you know 
and be convinced of 
the truth of this 
statement. 
If the soil is in 
good condition — that 
is, if it has depth and 
received a proper 
preparation as to en¬ 
riching and subsoil¬ 
ing when made — it 
will be unnecessary to 
apply anything to 
keep it in condition 
for many years. 
If anything, use 
spring top dressings 
and with their aid 
satisfactory re¬ 
sults can be brought 
about. In the case of 
a small lawn and a 
person insisting on 
using manure I 
should say give a liquid dressing in the spring instead of the 
fall. Steep manure in a barrel and apply with a watering pot. 
Sheep manure has the advantage of being less weedy than horse 
or cow manure. Years ago it was possible to get sheep manure 
in a pure state without also buying a little of everything ground 
up in it. The really most efficient lawn dressing is Canada hard 
wood ashes spread over the lawn in the spring. This should be 
bought under an agreement as to the percentage of potash in it, 
otherwise you are apt to get anything from three to one-half of 
one per cent., and more likely the latter than the former. Ashes 
such as these are not worth using. They should run from seven 
to eight per cent, to get the results you are looking for. Spread 
them on the ground until it has a decidedly gray appearance, and 
even should 3'ou put it on heavier no lasting damage will result. 
Apply it to the grass when rain is expected. Put on dry grass 
it will burn it badly. Bone meal, 500 pounds to the acre, is ex¬ 
cellent. Nitrate of soda spread broadcast about 100 pounds to 
the acre and repeated two or three times will enliven things mate¬ 
rially and he more beneficial than if a large amount was put on 
at one time. 
When a lawn has run out no amount of top dressing will bring 
it back to its first condition, but very much may be done for it 
to keep it looking well for 3’ears to come. 
Where it is not desired to run a plough through the ground 
take a fork and loosen up the top, put in a dressing of bone meal 
and ashes, roll it dowm heavily and in a month or so put in the 
grass seed. Doing it this way loosens up the ground sufficiently 
to let the good of the fertilizers work into the soil. Besides this 
general top dressing, dig out at intervals places about a foot 
square, and just as 
deep, and into them 
pack well -rotted 
manure, covering it 
with sod on top. 
This sort of combi- 
nation treatment, 
with frequent water¬ 
ings and rolling will 
do much to rejuven¬ 
ate the soil without 
resorting to a whole¬ 
sale digging up. This 
may seem like a con¬ 
tradiction to what I 
said about using man¬ 
ure, but it is not, for 
the conditions are not 
the same. Here the 
manure is put into the 
earth where, as it is 
supposed to be well 
rotted, it could do but 
little injury as far as 
weeds were con¬ 
cerned. This treat¬ 
ment is particularly 
effective in small 
patches such as are 
found about city 
homes and which are 
usually covered every winter with manure. A follow-up treat¬ 
ment — that is, doing a little of this each year—will in time find 
the soil in as good condition as if it had been entirely remade. A 
remade patch of grass can be kept in thriving condition for very 
many years by an occasional spring dressing and plenty of water 
and rolling. 
Good grass seed is essential to the making of successful lawns, 
so before buying any look into the matter carefully and do not 
{Continued on page 53) 
One essential to the success of a lawn is plentiful watering. A mere sprinkling is insufficient, 
especially during dry weather 
( 40 ) 
