The Washington herald., 1913-03-16

the surroundings of his abiding place"
says the bulletin. The great increase
of interest in suburban and rural life
has caused a corresponding increase OF
interest In matters pertaining to the
making and maintenance OF lawns. Sub
urban railways, the extension or eiec-
trio lines into the country, and the re-
turn OF man to natural ways OF living
are all factors contributing to the grow
ing interest in matters pertaining to
lawn making.
should BE Beautiful.
I'm general a lawn should be beautiful
and Il should be useful Its beauty de-
pends upon the contour of the land. the
color and texture Of the grass and the
uniformity of the turf. The use Of the
la wn is TO provide a suitable setting for
architectural adornment and landscape
planting Every device should be en-
pIoyed when working with small areas
Of ground TO give the lawn as great
extent as possible. The buildings should
be well back. the foundation not too
high and the grading Of the ground
should be slightly convex-that is. a
gently convex. rolling surface from the
base of the foundation to the street
line, rather than concave.
Bricks. fiat tins. boards. and other
coarse building debris found in nearly
all small lawns in the city are very
detrimental TO the proper movement of
soil nuid. The downward movement
of water is not seriously impeded by
such materials and probably is facili-
tated. The moisture moves downward
until il encounters a brick. for in
stance, at a distance of three or four
inches below the soil level. The
water meets with no difficulty in get
ting to the edge of the brick and then
goes nearly straight downward, thus
leaving the soil Immediately below the
brick unsupplied from this new water
influx Now. when the opposite move
ment of soil fluid begins the water
moves upward until il encounters the
brick and the soil Immediately above
the brick. which has in the meantime
dried out. remains unsupplied with
moisture so that the grass suffers and
dries out during a critical dry spell.
Bad spots in small city lawns are more
often than not found to be due to some
such impeachment to the movement Of
capillary water.
Needs Water supply.
"A lawn soil should have a good
supply of moisture at all times. 1t
should be able to take care Of excess
during the wet season by drainage,
and during the dry season be able to
supply stored-up moisture from its
depths. This adequate water supply
is the principal factor in grass growth
and the one most difficult to control
in poor soil. II is more important
than any added fertilizer, and cannot
be compensated for by. the addition of
any amount or kind of chemical plant
food All suggestions regarding lawn
soils. their texture. selection. and
manipulation. have been made with one
end in view-the creating and main
tanning Of an adequate water supply
in as natural a manner as possible.
II this water supply is maintained ef-
fectually by normal soil. the natural
processes which go hand in hand with
II, such as proper bacterial activity.
aeration and oxidation. soil sanitation,
and the supply of plant food generally.
are also suficient for a healthy growth
of good greensward."
A soil well adapted to lawns should
consist of clay, silt, very fine sand.
medium sand, course sand and fine
gravel. 1t is this difference in the size
of soil particles and in the proportions
in which tn, are present in soils that
has given rise to the different classes OF
agricultural soils. such as the clays, clay
loans, sands, and sandy loans. This