Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-06-07
PRETTY LAWNS.
An English Expert Gives Some Valu-
able Pointers.

Lewis Rose, of 347 West Twenty
fifth street, is a practical gardener
who dresses lawns and prunes trees
for anybody who will employ him by
the day, says the New York Sun He
was James NJ. Waterbury'S gardener
until the failure of the cordage trust
! forced that gentleman to give up his
city house and retire to a more modest
establishment in tho country Mr.
! Rose came to this country ten years
ago from England, where he was a
farmer, and he trims and cuts accord,
ing to English rules.
You Americans do not know what
| good lawns are he said to a report
er recently. I'm England the houses
= Of the gentry are surrounded by acres
j of greensward that looks just like vel
vet. They NOW the grass with q ma
! chine every week, and after the mower
! comes a heavy stone roller that rolls
| it down as fiat as a piece of paper.
"It is just as smooth as that table
/ cover there stretched over the table.
| The roller is to press down and heal
any little break or tear in the turf
made by the machines If you break
the turf anywhere it is just like break
ing your skin. You must fix it di-
rectly, or there will be a sore place on
the lawn. Even if it gets we'll there
will always be scar there unless
you mend it carefully. You should see
the English lawns after a shower.
The green is beautiful, and every
blade of grass stands up straight; but
all the little blades are of exactly the
same length, and they look soft and
level The perfume of the new grass
is delightful. They have windows gen
orally that come down to the floor,
and on the walls outside the house
are climbing rose bushes all in full
bloom. The combined odOr of roses
and new mOwn grass is very pleasant
"You have to go at a lawn as if it
were a piece of embroidery you were
at work on. First, you must have
good, rich, decaying mold for the
grass to live on. Now is just the right
time of year to spread on the fertilizer
thick 1t will soak in. There will be
nothing left Of it but a few bits of
straw that you can gather up with
a garden rake when the grass comes
up. You cannot make grass grow in
sand. Then, as the grass comes up,
you must go over it step by step and
dig out all the coarse grass and weeds
and be sure to mend each place after
digging up the roots. Then you will
be gin to find patches where no grass
appears. You want to have the grass
seed handy and sow these places
will: it.
81 water my lawns twice a day, In
the morning before the sun gets fairly
up and at night after it goes down.
/ NOW the grass every week. After
you have good lawn you must watch
every inch of it. You have no idea
how easy it is to let a patch here
and there get poisoned to death. When
you find any foreign substance on a
lawn that is likely to poison the grass
you want to dig it up, put fresh soil
and fertilizer under it, and fit a new
and healthy bit of turf in the hole
you have made. Then keep an eye on
it afterward and water it well. The
rich decOmpOsed sweepings from the
stable make the best fertilizer.
''In pruning trees you want to cut
off every long shoot and make your
tree compact and bushy like a full
blown rose. Even wealthy Americans
let their trees get scrawny, and they
don't always cut them enough to pre-
vent decay in some of the branches.
1t is easy to trim trees if you under
stand this principle. And the only
reason [ have been successful with
my lawns is that I have been willing
to take pains with them ana do lot
of hard work"