The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-05-03

time is necessary. How eagerly they
watch for the first tiny fingers reach
ing up for air and what a tragedy If
in their impatient and Jealous care,
they break off the sensitive sprout and
the baby plant dies. The plan of ma
tuer in bringing forth beautiful flow
ers from a tiny hard seed is an ever
interesting mystery to the young
mind and the boy or girl that has the
first flowers or the best garden is a
very proud person and never tires Of
telling just how it was done n how
quickly the sprout appeared: The
young people, also, enjoy spending
so fortunate as to possess n and as
long as there is the least danger OF
there being a weed, they prefer an
hour with mother nature rather than
a show or dancing party. There is a
fascination in tending a garden all of
your own that is found in no other oc-
cupation and when the fresh vegeta-
bles are ready for the table or the
beautiful flowers appear, there is a
wonderful satisfaction in having as
sisted nature in bringing forth these
Injuries. and there is no thought then
for the kinks in ones back or the stiff
limbs acquired in the early stage of
preparing the earth for the seed n
keeping the weeds from choking the
young plants. Beside beautiful shrub
berry. window boxes, ETC., there is
nothing which adds as much to a
home as a well kept lawn and it is a
difficult task and takes much time and
close attention to acquire a perfect
one. To those who are starting new
lawns the following advice of q we'll
known landscape gardener will no
doubt be interesting: The lawn Is
probably the most important feature
that deals with the impression of a
beautiful home. In making a lawn.
the first thing is grading. 1t should
be always graded before the surface is
prepared and the grass sown upon 1t.
for the grade can with difficulty be
changed in after years Inc must be
more or less permanent. If hardpan
or stiff clay lies rear the surface, it
should be removed. and only the best
top portions of the soil retained.
Drainage should be considered in con-
nection with grading. 1t is essential,
to have the lawn well drained. for
grass will not do we'll when there is
water standing at its roots. Sandy
loan soil will usually obviate any ne
cessity for detailed attention to drain
age; yet all lawns should have a good
drainage. After the grading and the
drainage are attended to, the surface
should have a top dressing of well
rotted manure, which should be turned
over with a plow or by spading. When
the blowing or spading has been COM.
pleted. the ground may be leveled and
thoroughly pulverized with a garden
rake. or with a harrow. liz seed is put
upon a lawn that is humpy and that
has not been thoroughly prepared, one
cannot expect good or quick results.
A good mixture of seed to use is com
posed of thirty pounds of extra re-
cleaned Kentucky blue grass and ten.
clover per acre. Thirty pounds of red
the mixture. Tor small lawns calcu-
late the area in square feet and divide
the result into 43,500, which is the.
number of square feet in an acre.
Further calculation will easily deter
mine the quantity of seed that will be
required. The blue grass is rather
slow in termination and to get quick
results timothy may be added at the
rate of ten pounds to the above mix
ture; or a peck of rye may be sown per
acre, in order to give al green appear
ance very quickly. 1t should be re-
memhered that in order to get good
results with lawn grass seeds they
should be soWn just as soon as the
ground can be worked up in the spring,
so that termination and early growth
may b secured while the weather is
vet cool. Most Of these seeds germin-
ate best in the daytime when the days,
and the nights are comparatively cool.
The usual practice is to SOW the seeds
and depend upon the showers to wash