Making a Lawn and Its Care 
Preparing the Soil 
The most desirable soils for the lawn are the loams. If the 
soil available for the building of the lawn is a tight clay or a 
sandy soil, it should be made as nearly like a loam as possible. 
Even such simple tasks as spading are important and should 
be done with care. The depth of the surface soil largely de¬ 
termines the depth to which one should spade. If the top soil 
is six inches or less in thickness, work it to the depth of the 
surface soil. Do not turn up the subsoil. 
To get the best results from spading, each shovelful of soil 
is turned over and placed upon the edge of the hole away from 
the spader. It is then pulverized with a tap of the spade. 
This not only breaks up the mass but carries the granulated 
soil back into the hole from which it was originally taken. 
After the spaded soil has been well pulverized, grade the soil 
to slope gently from the house. The grading will prevent 
water from standing around the foundation of the house. 
Next, level and roll until the seed bed is firm. 
Applying Plant Food 
When the seed bed is completed, plant food should be ap¬ 
plied. The lawn is never so effectively fed as just before the 
grass seed is sown. The plant food should be spread evenly 
over the surface of the soil at the rate of four pounds per 
hundred square feet, and worked into the top few inches. 
Sowing Seed 
After the plant food has been worked into the soil, the seed 
should be spread uniformly over the surface at the rate of 
four to five pounds per one thousand square feet of soil. 
A cover of clean straw or coarse cheesecloth on the steep 
slopes will help to prevent washing which may occur before 
the grass becomes established. 
Maintaining the New Lawn 
Regardless of how carefully the new lawn has been started 
it must be painstakingly cared for during the first summer, 
if it is to develop into a lawn with a uniform, thick turf. 
The new lawn should be watered often enough to keep the 
soil moist. Frequent and light waterings are best until after 
the grass becomes established. When there is no longer danger 
cf washing the young plants from their anchorage, the soil 
should be thoroughly soaked to a good depth at each watering. 
The water should always be applied in the form of a fine 
spray. 
Careful clipping of the grass is necessary to maintain a tidy 
appearance of the lawn and to prevent annual weeds from 
going to seed. Frequent clippings, which do not allow the 
grass to become more than three inches high, are desirable. 
Never cut the grass shorter than one and one-half inches. The 
clippings should always be removed from the lawn ; otherwise 
there is danger of their matting and injuring the grass. Lawn 
clippings make excellent raw material for the compost pile. 
Feeding 
Aboyt eight or ten weeks after the lawn is seeded, the young 
grass should again be fed with plant food. The application is 
made at the rate of two pounds per one hundred square feet 
of lawn. 
Plant food should be applied when the grass is dry and then 
brushed from the grass with a broom or the back of a rake. 
The lawn should immediately be given a thorough soaking to 
wash the plant food from the grass and carry it into the soil. 
Care of the Established 
Lawn 
If the lawn was properly built and has received 
careful attention during the first year of its growth, 
its future care should be easy. The program for the 
established lawn includes feeding, watering, clipping, 
and similar operations which are necessary in main¬ 
taining a good lawn. A lawn which is properly cared 
for improves each year as the grass becomes more 
dense and more uniform. 
Spring Care of Lawn 
As soon as favorable weather comes in the spring, 
the lawn should be rolled. 
Any thin or bare spots should be reseeded. These 
may at times appear in any lawn and should be taken 
care of at the time they occur. Loosen the surface of 
the soil in such areas and reseed. 
Importance of Feeding 
Well-fed grass withstands the inroads of weeds 
and also resists injury from the attacks of certain 
diseases. 
Regular feeding will reduce the amount of reseed¬ 
ing necessary. The greater development of the root 
system and the ability to store up reserves of food 
material, make well-fed grass plants able to withstand 
the extremes of either winter or summer weather and 
to maintain a dense turf year after year. 
Proper feeding results in an improvement in the 
condition of the lawn soil. As new roots are sent out 
by vigorous grass plants, the old ones die off and are 
responsible for adding large amounts of organic mat¬ 
ter to the soil. This is the only way that the orgaric 
content of the soil of the established lawn can be in¬ 
creased. The activity and decay of the roots also keeps 
the soil in good physical condition. Manure or similar 
materials applied on the lawn never penetrate deeply 
enough to add any appreciable amount of organic mat¬ 
ter to the soil. 
Summer Care of the Lawn 
Special care must be given the lawn throughout the 
hot months of summer. If excellent growth and vigor 
have been maintained during the spring, the lawn can 
be kept in a green, vigorous condition during the 
summer by careful watering, feeding, and clipping. 
Whenever applying water to the established lawn, 
be liberal with the amount used. Light sprinklings 
which wet only the upper surface of the soil are very 
often more detrimental than beneficial. 
Smaller amounts of plant food should be applied 
during the summer months than in the spring. Two 
pounds per hundred square feet is sufficient to keep 
the plants in vigorous growth, if made at intervals 
of six to eight weeks. 
The lawn should be thoroughly soaked following the 
application of plant food. Apply sufficient water to 
soak the soil surface to a depth of several inches. 
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