MAK 


Let’s Have A Beautiful Lawn 
No matter where you live, the essentials of a beautiful lawn 
are the same—soil properly prepared, suitably enriched, and 
free from weeds and weed seed; high quality grass seed; 
continual care and upkeep. 
Prepare the Soil Carefully 
To get best results, the top two or three inches of soil should 
be as rich and loamy as for a garden. It is almost impossible 
to get a fine stand of grass on heavy clay or on light sand. 
To clay soil add peat moss, straw, or other humus and pos- 
sibly some sand, mixing it thoroughly. Unusually sandy soil 
needs loam and well rotted manure or other humus. Beneath 
the top layer there should be from several inches to a foot of 
loamy soil capable of absorbing and storing moisture. Grass 
does not root deeply, but it thrives better when the layer just 
beneath the grass roots is of good mechanical texture. 
Good Drainage Is Important 
Water standing on the lawn for any length of time is sure to 
injure the grass. A gentle, rounding slope away from the 
house when grading is done will usually insure surface drain- 
age. The right kind of subsoil which will not only retain 
needed moisture, but which will also carry away the surplus 
will take care of most other drainage problems. 
Apply Fertilizers 
A top dressing raked lightly into the surface soil just before 
seeding is likely to bring an earlier, more vigorous growth of 
grass. Use a complete commercial fertilizer high in nitrogen, 
pulverized sheep manure, dried cow manure, or bone meal. 
Apply at the rate of about four pounds to a hundred square 
feet. Distribute the fertilizer evenly, using a spreader if 
possible. There are on the market inexpensive spreaders 
which can also be used for seeding the lawn. 
If fertilizer is not used at seeding time, apply commercial 
fertilizer at the rate of about two pounds per hundred square 
feet when the grass is two or three inches tall. Use the hose 
to wash the fertilizer from the grass into the soil. This will 
