, 1899-02-14

o. " S'CIlnS the sui 100 TlCn. L 10
not agree with many who think that it
Is necessary to bring into our yards
from six inches to a foot of soil from
some other place, unless 1t is for the
purpose of filling up a low yard and
then the soil nearest at hand is good
enough. The alkali soil from the river
bottom is no better than that already
at hand, merely because it looks black.
One half the expense of hauling soil.
put into the application of well rotted
stable manur will fit the land for the
sward and other paintings as well. The
surface should never be left hollow or
even perfectly level which gives the
appearance of hollowness. A rounding
slope gently rising toward the house is
always preferable to any other form.
If You have a terrace Cfor which of
course there is no need in Laramie), let
1t be very near the building or boun-
Diary, but never let it pass through the
central portion.
| know of nothing better than pure
Kentucky blue grass with which to
plant a lawn here. The ACCESSIBILITY of
mixing white clover with it is some
what doubtful. The clover either does
not do well or it does altogether too
well for a time, crowding out the blue
grass and then kills out in the winter,
leaving bare places which fill up with
weeds.
After a proper seed-bed has been pre-
pared it is a good plan to wet it down
thoroughly and let it stand until in
condition to work. This insures enough
moisture to terminate the seeds, and
weeds which have started are killed
when the grass seed is raked in. Sow
the seed thickly, at the rate of three
or four bushels to the acre, or one
pound for a lawn twenty-five or thirty
feet square. After the seed is raked in
the best practice is to roll or plank the
surface and then rake owe lightly to
break up the top and prevent evapora-
ton. In a lawn treated this way l
should expect the seed to come up be-
fore the application CT more water is
necessary. Moving often the first sum-
mer will kill all the annual weeds and
in fact most others, but for three or
four, chief among them the dandelion
and plantain, there is no better way
than the slow, tedious one of cutting
out each individual.
The old method of keeping up a lawn
was to cover it a part Of each year with
offensive. unsightly, bad smelling
mulch. The new, better and cheaper
way is TO give a top dressing each
spring of raw bone meal. Use one or
two pounds to the hundred square feet.
The lawn will do as well or better I'M
der this treatment and We have found
the cos to be about one-third that of
mulching.
NO doubt our usual method of irri-
eating lawns through sprinklers which
projects a fine spray into the air is most
Wasteful. Under our conditions enor-
mou amounts of water are lost
through the channel. A method of lot
ting the water run quietly over the
lawn would be more economical. There
Is little danger Of giving the lawn too
much water, though a few lawns in
town have doubtless been injured
where the owners have been especia1Iv
careful to get all the water the citv
would let them use.
TREES. SHRUBS AND VINES.
Among the trees the cottonwood and
silver spruce stand almost lone
though we may set willows, alders, ap-
pies, chokecherries and perhaps an oc-
casional boxelder or silver maple in
protected places. l strongly con
mend native plants, and among shrubs
at least, your friends who know them
in the wild will hardly recognize them
in your yard. Tame roses possess little
value as shrubs, but our common wild
rose has a merit of its own. We also
have two species of native currants. a
native gooseberry, a native sumac. a
native Buffalo berry, native dogwood,
native Rocky mountain dwarf cherry,
native potentilla, native Juneberry. a
beautiful native thimbleberry. and 9th