The Meeker herald., 1913-04-26
BACK YARD farmer
Interesting Pointers on Garden
ing for the City Man o.
Suburbanite.
WHAT TO PLANT AND WHEN
Advice by m Expert on Agricultural
Mattsrs-Makino Good Lawn
Rules for Feeding Horsss-
Growing Dlaekbsrriss.

BY PROF. JOHN WILLARD Boil fE.
The custom Of covering the ground
about our homes with grass sod or
lawn In q very old one. Lawns are
mentioned In one way or other In the
histories of practically every nation
with which we are familiar. In early
days they were used only by the
mighty In the land. the reigning fam
ilies and the nobility, principally be-
cause NO one else possessed SUFFICIENT
land to grow grass or anything else
ON.
Probably these lawns were rather
rough In contour, and We imagine that
they were not Of very great extent,
a. they had to be clipped by means OF
sickles or hand shears. Later on In
England and France It became custom
ary to pasture q dock Of sheep on the
lawns and park grounds about the
country homes. and this charming pas
toral custom still maintains In many
places Quite = number OF our city
parks and clubs in this country follow
this practice to advantage.
The sheep eat the heritage close to
the ground, and they clean up grass
and weeds alike. Their droppings en-
rich the soil, they are not heavy
enough to gut up or pack the surface.
and their appearance and associations
cannot but give keen enjoyment to all
lovers of nature.
II your grass stand il thin. patchy
or weedy, 1t will be q good plan to
SOW some grass seed on the moist
ground n early as possible. having
drst raked It over and scratched mp
the surface. Sow the seed broadcast
aud SOW 1t thickly. A good CONNER
cial fertilizer sown at this time will
help the old sod and the new seed
lings. It 10 not advisable to use barn
yard manure In the spring under most
circumstances, but 1t will have an ex-
cellent effect on any lawn II spread on
thickly In the fall. When this has
been done, rake It OF ~ early ~ pos
sible in the spring and SOW your grass
seed over the bare spots a. soon ~
the manure has been raked OF. Horse
manure IL better than COW. manure
for almost any garden or lawn pur-
poser, because It II lighter and more
porous. warns up quicker and it, fer
tilizine elements arc mnch more
quickly available. u b careful abaut
the sources from which yon Sscuro ma
nure. ~ It may contain live weed seeds
which viii take possession Of your
lawn in = very short time. It IL an
excellent plan to roll the lawn thor
oughly from time to time, while 1t Is
In . reasonably moist condition. The
rough places will be leveled. the whole
sod will be smoothed, and better con-
nection will be formed between the
sod and the water contained in the
subsoil. d1a ~ q-ei 9A
As soon ~ the snow Is gone and the
sod 10 arm enough to walk on, 1t
should be raked thoroughly with an
Iron rake, to remove the dead grass
and leaves from the roots of the grass.
Be careful not to drive or walk ON the
lawn at any time when it II soft
enough to show the tracks. as an ir-
reparable amount of damage can be
done in this way.
The grass should not be cut until 1t
has secured = good lush growth. but
after the frst cutting and throughout
the spring months. It should be kept
trimmed short and the clippings should
be caught in q carrier Of your mower,
20 n to prevent them from covering
up the growing grass. After the
weather becomes hot. and particular
ly II 1t 10 dry. 1t 10 mot we'll to cut the
lawn 80 often, a. the sun 10 liable to
kill the roots II they are too much ex-