The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1875-06-04
THE CARE OF LAWNS.

In response to the inquiries of a cor
respondent, the Country Gentleman
gives the following directions for the
preparation of lawn and keeping it in
order: |Ht
If the surface is rough, there are two
ways for making it smooth and even.
The first is by breaking up the whole
ground, working and reworking till fine
and mellow, and reseeding or returning,
If the ground is reseeded, SOW at the
rate of at least two bushels of grass seed
per acre, and roll or brush it in. Red
top, white clover and Kentucky blue
grass will give a good green carpet. If
returfed, make the bare surface per
fectly even and level; cut the. turf from
an old, even pasture, with straight
edges, by means Of a stretched line, and
then invert the pieces or blocks on a
broad board, and scrape the earth side
perfectly even by means of a sharp hoe.
They will thus form an even surface
when laid, and rolling will make the
whole as smooth as floor. The second
mode of making an even surface is to
apply sand or fine sandy loan to the
surface, and rake it level, by which it
will fill up all hollows or depressions,
and the grass will grow through the
sand. This is well adapted to lawns
which have but slight inequalities of
surface.
If the defect consists in the grass be-
ing too thin or sparse on the lawn the
whole surface may be 1oosened with a
sharp steel rake Cor a fine sharp har-
row on a larger scale) and grass seed
sown as already directed; and its ger
mination and growth will be greatly as
sisted if the whole surface is dressed
with fine compost before sowing and
raking. In some instances better
seeding will be effected by breaking up,
as already described.
If the lawn is defective from the
growth of coarse grass or weeds there
are two modes of treatment. One is to
pull up all the weeds Immediately after
a long rain, when the ground is soft, or
to cut them out with q spud; and the
other is to summer-fallow the whole
ground for one season, keeping the sur
face stirred and clean all the time, which
will kill nearly all weeds. This is to be
resorted to only in case the lawn is full
of weeds and in rather desperate con-
dition to warrant it. a.r
To keep lawn in good condition ap-
ply top-dressing of some fertilizer late
in autumn, spreading it perfectly even.
Coarse manure is Objectionable for two
reasons, namely: its repulsive character
all winter whenever the ground is bare
OF snow and the liability to scatter foul
seed in this way. But ir nothing better
can be had be careful to spread it per-
fectly even and not leave it in Jumps, as
well as to rake OFF all the fbrous material
left on the ground early in spring.
Finely pulverized compost answers well,
or compost made Of guano or of hen
The latter may be undiluted,
provided it is in fine powder, or it may
be made into fine compost with road
dust. On some soils superposphate an
swers well, on others it has no effect.
The manure or composts may be applied
in autumn, the more concentrated fer
tiizers early in spring.
The surface having been already made
perfectly even will require no more roll
ing than is givsn to it by the lawn-mow-
ers. When the whole lawn is not more
than an acre or so it may be kept cut
short in perfect condition by means of
hand machine and at a trifing expense.
In early summer, when the grass grows
rapidly, it should be cut as often as
every five days; later in the season not
so often. This will enable You always
10 tread on velvet"