


Our Lawn Seed Grows; Tey Some Today 
35 

Making a Lawn and Its Care 
Preparing the Soil 
The most desirable soils for the lawn are the 
“loams”, but if the soil available for the building of 
a lawn is a tight clay, sand should be added, or if a 
sandy soil, humus is needed, which would make it as 
nearly a loam as possible. 
Even such simple tasks as spading are important 
and should be done with care. The depth of the sur- 
face soil largely determines 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. 
Never 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 founda- 
tion of the house. Next, level and roll until the seed- 
bed is firm. 
Applying Plant Food 
When the seedbed has been completed, Vigoro, the 
complete balanced plant food, or Milorganite should 
be applied. The lawn is never so effectively fed as 
before the grass seed is sown. The plant food should 
be applied and spread evenly over the surface of the 
soil at the rate of 4 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 4 or 5 pounds per one thousand square 
feet of soil. The seeding should be done by going in 
both directions to get an even distribution, both at 
the ends as well as the center of the throw. 
A covering of clean straw or coarse cheesecloth on 
the steep slopes will help to prevent washing which 
may occur before the grass becomes established. 
Feeding 
About 8 or 10 weeks after the lawn is seeded the 
young grass should again be fed either Vigoro, the © 
complete balanced plant food, or Milorganite. The ap- 
plication is made at the rate of 2 pounds per hundred 
square feet of lawn. 
The 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 and the lawn should immediately 
be given a thorough soaking to wash the fertilizer 
from the grass and carry it into the soil. If the plant 
food is allowed to remain on the grass and moisture 
should reach it the result would be a burning of the 
tender leaves. To prevent this, a thorough watering 
is very essential. 
Well-fed grass withstands the inroads of weeds and 
also resists injury from the attack of certain diseases, 
and by regular feeding with an application of Vigoro 
or Milorganite will reduce the amount of reseeding 
necessary. The greater development of the root sys- 
tem and the ability to store up reserves of food ma- 
terial, make well-fed grass able to withstand the 
extremes of either winter or summer weather and to 
maintain a dense turf year after year. 
