Johnny Jones Builds a Lawn 
Now that his new house is 
ereoted and the outside 
workers are off the job, 
Johnny Jones is ready to 
start the preparatory work 
on his lawn in earnest. 
During the excavation no 
undcr-soil was thrown out 
where the lawn was to be, 
but valuable top soil was 
saved and piled up at one 
side ready for later use. 
The first step of construc¬ 
tion he takes is to fork up 
the lawn area, rake it, break 
up earth clods and remove 
all rocks and debris not con¬ 
ducive to good grass growth. 
He next considers his under¬ 
soil, and finding it too stiff 
and poor adds necessary 
lacking elements in the form 
of a liberal amount of sand 
and well-rotted strawy manure. 
Taking the house steps as 
the fixed point for his grade 
he sets up grade stakes strung 
with stout cord and with 
Junior’s help drags a fiat board 
over the surface to level it. 
He has a home-made lawn 
roller (made according to direc¬ 
tions given in the Portland 
cement book) which he pulls 
lightly over the surface to 
compress the under-soil gently. 
For his seed bed he spreads a 
top 2-inch layer of loam, using 
top soil saved from the ex¬ 
cavation, screened together 
with humus supplied in the 
form of good oairy manure. 
He rakes the seed bed finely, 
rolls it lightly a second time, 
allows it to w'eather so that 
weed seeds will germinate 
prior to seeding, and hoe? 
out weeds as they spring up. 
Quality grass seed is import¬ 
ant. Jones buys his seed 
from the best store in town, 
knowing that they will give 
him the kind of mixture 
and the quantity he needs. 
Being ready to sow, he di¬ 
vides up the area, apportions 
seed, and broadcasts in two 
directions, lengthwise arid 
crosswise at right angles in 
order to cover completely. 
After sowing, he carefully 
rakes in the seed with long 
light strokes so the tiny 
grass seed is well mixed with 
fine soil particles, and then 
lightly rolls it the third time. 
To complete his planting, he 
waters thoroughly with light 
spray attached to his garden 
hose, being careful not to 
stand on newly seeded area, 
repeating this for several days. 
J3_ 
When the grass is 3 inches 
high he mows it with a 
good ' five-blade mower, and 
thereafter weekly, being most 
careful that the mower does 
not drip oil on the lawn. 
To keep maturing lawn con¬ 
ditioned he always waters as 
needed, and feeds the soil 
regularly with dependable 
commercial plant food applied 
as directed on the package. 
He keeps a lookout for stray 
weeds—eradicating the few 
t hat appear with a patent weed 
gun. Having used good seed 
and reliable commercial plant 
food there are few weeds. 
This picture of his family 
gathered to admire his fine 
lawn is a dream come true 
and is a fitting and adequate 
reward for any effort Johnny 
Jones has expended upon it. 
SUNSET MA». 
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