The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-05-23

9iNty losQs per acre IS not too mucn 10
apply.
The soil for lawns should be well sup
piled with the chief plant foods-nitro-
gen. potash and phosphoric acd. Most
Of the soils in the semi-arid regions are
naturally fertile. but many Of them are
aehclent in nitrogen. which IS espe-
cially necessary for the lawn. Nitro
gen increases the foliage growth, and
II is the leaves that are desired in the
case of lawn growing, If ether from
exhaustion or from newness the soil
for the prospective lawn is infeTtile.
the plant food can be restored in many
ways. The first Of these ways is by
the application to the land OF stable
manures preferably those that are
well rottedl. Manure contains a por-
ton OF the plant food which was fed TO
the farm animals. and is especially rich
in the element nitrogen. The two other
plant foods, when lacking. are supplied
in commercial fertilizers.
Establishing the Lawn.
When the grass comes Up, do not
clip it too soon; and after the first cut
ting allow the clipped grass TO remain
on the lawn. Work this grass into the
SOD; it is a good fertilizer and helps To
make the surface cushion Set the
mower 10 a height of two inches for
regular clippings. and cut so frequent
ly that a good part of the short cl D
may be left upon the lawn to protect
and nourish the grass roots. At first
the grass is a very shallow feeder and
the top layer of soil becomes poor be-
fore the grass is thoroughly estab-
lished. II the grass is all carried away
such weeds as the dandelion. shepherd :
purse AID storksbilT which have long,
deep roots from the first. obtain an i'm
mense advantage over the grass and
may displace It. 1t is OF little use to
cut off the tops and a small portion OF
the roots of dandelions. since that
operation merely multipl es them. The
better way IS to give the grass a good
start in the spring without moving
not. however. permitting IL to go To
seed; then to cut il While the dandelion
heads are erect and before they have
gone TO seed; then to dig them out and
SOW new grass seed in the holes thus
made. The lawn grass will vanquish
the weeds il IT is gwen good Oppor-
tunity to do So Only where the soil
is rich and the growth very luxuriant
Is il necessary TO rake off the clippings.
which are not detrimental on poor soils
unless in such quantity as to become
unsishtly.
Frequent and light clipping. rolling
I'm early spring. covering in late fail
with a mulch Of we'll decomposed stable
manure. which is so fine that 1t VIII
be carried beneath the surface of the
grass by the rains and SHOWS OF Winte~.
and finally a top dressing OF fs'o
ground bone in the spring-these are
the general directions for the main
tenance of the lawn.
The soddine of Banks.
Upon slop'ng banks sods should be
secured from other lawns and well
pressed or rolled upon 2 prepared he'd
so as to- unite the sod roots with the
under soil Where this is not practic-
able. the sods may be cut into small
pieces and rolled into the slOping soil
along with grass seed. Small tufts Of
grass or pieces Of turf may be planted
at intervals in the same way.
In order to cover the entire surface
Of the bank or terrace, q common
method Is to cut the sod into pieces a
foot square and about two or two and
one-half inches thick. This answers
well upon small areas If the sod is cut
to q uniform thickness and the surface
of the groud is made very smooth;
otherwise there is more or less difii-
Guilty in getting the squares of sod ad
iusted evenly so as TO produce. a
smooth surface, Considerable RAM
ming or pounding is necessary in order
to establish the desired smoothness,
unless great care is exercised IN cutting
the turf to a uniform thickness and IN
providing a smooth surface TO lay II 4
upon.
Corbett- suggests that upon steep
banks which are of a sandy nature. ahJ
under conditions where it is difficult to
use sod a pleasing appearance can be
produced by the use Of japanese
honeysuckle DOnicera japOnica). This
plant is capable Of establishing and
ma 'ntaining itself under adverse cOndi-
tons. and it makes good soil binder
and has the advantage of being ever
green
Places for Trees and Shrubs.
Trees or shrubs on lawns should be
upon its boundaries, near the building
and i'm the background. As one would
not desire the furniture in the parlor 10
take up three-fourths Of the room, so
the green carpet of the lawn should not
be covered with such furniture as trees
and flower beds. Paths and drives
across lawns are for utility. not Tor
beauty: they should be straight. unless
there should be a legitimate reason for
a curve. Sometimes there viii exist
naturally a small hill or clump of trees
and a curve is rightly made in order