Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-05-28
The Care of Lawns.

In response to the inquiries of cor
respondent, the Country Gentleman gives
| the following directions for the prepara-
| ton of a lawn and keeping it in order:
| 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. Ii re-
turfed, make the bare surface perfectly
even and level; cut the turf from an old,
even pasture, with straight edges, by
means of a stretched line, and then in
vert the pieces or blocks on a broad
board, and scrape the earth side perfect
ly even by means of sharp hoe. They
will thus form an even surface when
laid, and rolling will make the whole rs
smooth as floor. The second mode of
making an ever 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.
1t the defect consists in the grass being
too thin or sparse on the lawn the whole
surface may be loosened with sharp
steel rake Tor a fine sharp harrow on a
larger scale) and grass seed sown as al
ready directed; and its termination and
growth will be greatly assisted if the
whole surface is dressed with fine COM
post 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 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,
To keep a lawn in good condition
apply top-dressing of some fertil-
izer late in autumn, spreading it per-
fectly even. Coarse manure is OBJ.
iectionable for two reasons name
ly; its repulsive character all win
ter whenever the ground is bare of snow
and the liability to scatter foul seed in
this way. But if nothing better can
be had be careful to spread it perfectly
even and not leave it in Jumps, as well
as to rake off all the fibrous material left
on the ground early in spring Finely
pulverized compost answers well, or a
compost made of guano or OF hen ma
nure The latter may be undiluted, pro-
vided 1t is in fine powder, or it may be
made into fine compost with road dust
On some soils superphosphate answers
well, on others it has no effect. The
manure or -composts may be applied in
autumn, the more Concentrated fertilizers
early in spring.
The surface having been already made
perfectly even will require no more roll
ing than is given to it by the lawn-moY-
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 a
hand machine and at rifling expense. In
early summer, when the grass grows rap.
idly, it should he cut as often as every
five days; later in the season not so often.
Thiswlll enable you always to "tread on
WaIvat " .He rTN