Near cities loam of very inferior quality will cost at least $2 per cubic yard, and if one has a quant.i.ty of leaf-mould, made as suggested, and will mix it with this loam, a very desirable quality can be produced. The leaf-mould is the life of the soil and absolutely essential to satisfactory results.

SPRING TOP-DRESSING

A lawn that has been properly made will not suffer if it is not given a yearly dressing, for it will have sufficient food supply in the ground to keep it going for years.

Strange as it may seem, many good lawns have been ruined by being given a heavy application of manure year after year. When a top-dressing is necessary on soil that is good, Canada hardwood ashes and bone meal will supply all the nourishment that is necessary. Spread the ashes thickly on the lawn until they show white on the gra.s.s, and do the work preferably before a rain, so that the nourishment may be washed into the soil.

The Canada hardwood ashes, as usually found in the market, contain from one to five per cent. of potash, but to get the results you are looking for, the ashes should contain from seven to nine per cent. of potash. In purchasing this fertilizer in large quant.i.ties demand a guaranteed a.n.a.lysis, otherwise you are liable to get something little better than what you take out of your stove, and wholly useless for lawn purposes.

There are good ashes on the market and they can be had if one goes after them vigorously enough and gives some indication of a knowledge of what good ashes are.

When it is not possible to get what you are looking for, I would recommend mixing muriate of potash with finely sifted loam, and spreading it broadcast over the gra.s.s. This treatment is always efficacious, as you are absolutely sure of getting what is necessary for the land.

MANURE TOP-DRESSING

Many prefer to use a top-dressing of manure, regardless of conditions.

It is sure to bring more or less weeds. If you decide to use it, however, get the thoroughly decomposed kind, as this means a minimum of weeds. I do not want to create the impression that I am trying to belittle the fertilizing value of manure. I believe in having a liberal quant.i.ty of it incorporated with the soil when the lawn is made, and I also believe that on such a soil Canada ashes and bone meal are very much more suitable to keep it up to pitch than is a top-dressing of manure.

[Ill.u.s.tration: One of the most difficult places in which to make a lawn is under large shade trees. A combination of Kentucky Blue, Wood Meadow, Various-leaved Fescue and Crested Dog's-tail is usually successful]

When manure is used for a top-dressing, do not get it on too thick, and do not leave it too long on the gra.s.s in the spring. Nothing is to be gained by either of these mistakes and much killing out is apt to result.

There was a time, some years ago, when it was possible to buy sheep manure that was worth something, but at the present time it is sold in powder form, and invites a strong suspicion of adulteration and of containing very much more than what is being paid for. If it is possible for you to get good sheep manure, use that by all means. It is efficient, cleanly, and produces very few weeds. It is best used at the rate of about a ton to the acre.

Nitrate of soda is a very vigorous stimulant and produces quick results.

It is economical, requiring but small quant.i.ties to cover large areas.

Spread broadcast, about 175 lbs. to the acre; or, dissolved, 3 lbs. to every 100 gals. of water. The dry application should be made always before a rainstorm, otherwise much burning is apt to result to the gra.s.s. For an occasional application it is all right to use this, but for year-in-and-year-out fertilizer, it should be alternated with other things.

LAWN-MOWER, ROLLER, AND HOSE

After you have your ground made, your seed sown and germinated, your trouble is not all over, for it is a critical period through which to carry the tender gra.s.s to a hardy condition.

Young gra.s.s should not be cut before it is three inches high, and this means that a scythe should be used in preference to a lawn-mower, as it is difficult to get the blades high enough to allow this length. In cutting for the first time, try to do it on a cloudy day, as this will prevent any possibility of scorching or burning. After a few weeks the gra.s.s will have so toughened that it will be benefited by frequent cuttings--even twice a week.

The roller should be used after every cutting, and although it may seemingly be working injury by crushing down the tender gra.s.s, it is in reality making sure a solid and compact sod. In the middle of the summer when the weather is very hot, be careful not to crop too close, as the roots are liable to be killed out by the sun.

When cutting your gra.s.s you will find it a great saving to have some sort of a gra.s.s-catcher on your lawn-mower. One can be made easily, but very handy ones are sold at a small price. They prevent the wear and tear to a lawn that results from the hard raking necessary when not used.

There is a good gra.s.s-catcher that fits into the back of all machines; it is very effective and costs about fifty cents. It so effectively catches all the gra.s.s that comes from the machine that little raking is afterwards necessary. If you prefer the rake it is best to use a wooden one, as iron teeth do great damage to a heavy sod.

Where the gra.s.s is cut frequently the clippings may safely be left on the ground, but heavy gra.s.s should be always gathered up.

THE LAWN-MOWER

There are hundreds of makes of lawn-mowers on the market, but of these very few will stand the test of a season's hard usage. These few will be found to be the standard makes of good design, and costing a seemingly high price. When you can get a lawn-mower with a pound of tea you may be sure that it is time to be suspicious, regardless of the pretty paint and ornamentation that makes it a symphony of colors. A good mower means that your lawn will look well after being cut with it, and it also means that the first seemingly high cost will be all that you will be called upon to expend in years to come. Such a mower is practically indestructible.

Once or twice during the season, give it an overhauling. Gra.s.s and grit will creep in, and unless it is removed the efficiency of the machine will be greatly reduced.

It sounds like automobile parlance to say "Use good oil," but this really applies equally as strongly to a lawn-mower. Cheap oil is expensive in the long run, as it thickens up and clogs the bearings, and makes it impossible for the mower to do its best work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: It is surprising what a lot of gra.s.s and dirt finds its way into the lawn-mower. Take it apart once a season to clean and oil]

This may seem like straining a point to get down to such trivial details, but it is just these little things that go to make up the getting and keeping of a lawn.

THE ROLLER

Next to having good seed to sow, on properly prepared ground, the great essential in lawn-making is a proper kind of roller to use as occasion requires. Few people realize just how important a part a roller plays in the upkeep of any gra.s.s area, but it is no exaggeration to say that without one, successful results will be difficult if not impossible of achievement. Use a roller--a heavy roller--on your lawn early in the spring to repair the damage that the freezing and thawing has caused in the winter.

The early rolling levels the surface, packs the earth about the gra.s.s roots and makes it possible for them to draw the moisture from deep down in the ground. A roller is to be used often, not once each season. Its consistent use means that you will have fewer weeds, thicker and better colored gra.s.s; the disfiguring moles will find the ground too difficult to burrow through, moisture will be retained longer, and a noticeably better condition will be noted throughout the whole lawn.

The old-time stone roller was an instrument of torture, and almost wholly unsuited for lawn work as suggested. There are now on the market dozens of ball-bearing rollers that are very easily handled. The adjustable kind, in which there are compartments to hold either sand or water to vary the weight, is the kind that should be purchased. With it you have a roller light enough to use for seeding, or heavy enough for road work, and the prices are not prohibitive.

THE HOSE

The hose is a subject to which very little attention is given.

Paradoxical as it may seem, all rubber hose is not rubber hose, and because of this many lawns suffer from want of water, because the supposedly rubber hose has proved, when most needed, to be a combination of paper and sc.r.a.p. A first-quality hose will cost from twenty to thirty cents a foot--a frightful price when comparison is made to the bargain price of four cents a foot. The expensive kind will last for years, and even after it begins to show signs of wear it can be used many years longer by proper repairing. The cheap hose bursts once, and its usefulness is at an end, as the first burst is only a preliminary of total dissolution.

When a good hose bursts it is best repaired by cutting entirely through it and removing the damaged part, and then joining the ends with a little bra.s.s sleeve that is easily inserted into each of the severed ends and which has reversed p.r.o.ngs to prevent its slipping out. This is one of the best ready-made menders on the market, and it prolongs the life of a hose for years.

Keep your hose on a reel. Empty it of water before winding up, and never allow it to lie baking in the sun. This latter is a very common fault and is the cause of much good hose being spoiled.

Another seemingly trivial yet important thing is to caution against so fastening the hose to the tap that it pulls away from it at right-angles.

For ordinary purposes the half-inch size of hose is the best. It costs less in the first place, is more easily handled, and the wear and tear is much less than on the larger sizes.

You never see a gardener using any spraying contrivance on the end of a hose. In his thumb and forefinger, which he skillfully moves over the flowing stream, he has a combination of sprayers that can produce the heaviest stream or the finest mist at will. This is to be recommended, but few will care to follow the course of training necessary to acquire the efficiency of the gardener.

WEEDS AND OTHER PESTS

Even if you paid a thousand dollars a bushel for your gra.s.s seed, and then spent as much more on the preparation of your land, you could not, I am sorry to say, escape having weeds.

The thing to do when you have them is to get rid of them, and this is accomplished only by getting right after them with a persistence proportionate to the abundance of the weeds. The knife is the only real weapon for this. After digging out your weeds, sow in gra.s.s seed with the idea of making the gra.s.s grow so thick that there will be no place for the weeds to creep in. Dandelions and plantains are simple matters that can be handled easily, but where Crab Gra.s.s shows up, there is certainly work ahead to get the best of it. It is a destroyer of the first rank, a veritable pest. It is an annual that seeds itself each year and kills out under the first frost, leaving great bald s.p.a.ces in the lawn to show where it has been. Even after it has been killed by the frost its baneful influence is not ended, for it has spread broadcast its seeds for the next year's crop.

When you find it, dig it out. It means work and lots of it, but it is the only way to conquer it. Set the blades of the mower low, and after dragging the gra.s.s up with a rake, run the machine over it; and this should be done early in the year, before July. There is no weed to equal this as a nuisance.

On newly-made lawns the weeds are easily removed, and they should be carefully watched so as not to allow them to get too far ahead.

Chickweed is almost as bad as Crab Gra.s.s, and when you find the combination, Crab Gra.s.s and Chickweed, the simplest solution is to spade or plow the place up in the fall and leave it exposed for the winter.