The Delta independent. [volume] (Delta, Colo.) 1886-19??, 1916-03-17
NOW is THE TIME TO APPLY
FERTILIZER TO YOUR LAWN

according to the lawn specialists of the
department. Too many people delay
giving any attention to their grass
plots until the weather becomes warm,
and thus lose an opportunity to take
advantage of melting snow and the
alternate night freezing and thawing
Of the ground.
If the lawn has not already been
fortified, some form Of commercial
fertilizer should be used at once.
Manure applied this late will not be
effective in most cases. Ground bone
is probably the best fertilizer to use,
some of which. however, have an I'M
pleasant smell, also give good results.
Prepared sheep manure is an excellent
fertilizer for use at this season. Cot
tonseed meal. where obtainable at q
low enough price. may be used to ad-
vantage. In connection with these fer
tilizers. however, 1t is desirable to use
some wood ashes or other fertilizer
containing potash. AS fertilizers with
this element are unusually high priced
this year, the natural inclination will
be to use minimum quantities. With
soils that have been well fortified I'm
the past. failure to use a normal
amount of potash will probably not af-
feet the lawn badly In one season.
These fertilizers should be applied at
the earliest possible moment.
Temptation to get on the lawn and
clean II up is strong as soon as the
snow is gone and the weather begins
to settle. Impotence. however.
should be curbed until the ground is
settled fairly well. so that footmarks
viii not show in the turf. Where a
lawn has been trampled down during
the winter or played upon when # was
soft in winter or early spring. tho
owner should take steps to compact its
surface at the earliest possible NOM
ent. This compacting. however. should
not be done until all trash has been
removed. AS soon as the ground IN
sufficiently settled so that n rake does
not dig into the turf. the owner should
rake II gently with a en-toothed
rake. Frequently. however. all that is
necessary is to pick off the litter. II
A lawn has been covered with manure
in the fall. II will be necessary TO
break the manure up with rake In
the spring and remove some OF the
coarser portions. wooden rake fs
best for this purpose, as II will leave
so much more OF the fine material
upon the ground. Do not rake off so
much OF the manure that the lawn will
have thoroughly clean appearance.
All OF the fine manure that the sum-
mer growth OF grass can possibly hide
should be left. II is surprising how
much litter the grass will obscure in
A lawn. as one or two heavy rains will
beat. down a quantity OF such material.
Before freezing weather is entirely
over. fresh grass seed should be sown.
Tor 1t must be remembered that only
by repeated applications of grass seed
can good lawn be produced. The
ordinary seeding OF grass on a new
lawn is l pound OF seed TO every 400
square feet-that is. to piece 20 feet
square. For resecding a lawn, one
tenth to one-half OF this amount should
be used. according to the condition OF
the lawn ut the time. For the northern
part of the United States Kentucky
blue grass and redtop are the standard
varieties. However. where Their are
many bare spaces II will be found well
10 use some white clover. About one
Tenth the quantity OF clover as of the
other grasses mentioned will be re-
puired.
Probably as good time as any to
apply grass seed will be some morn.
Ing when the ground is frozen, so that
when the ground thaws during tho
middle of the day the sown seed will
be covered sufficiently to terminate
we'll. The most successful seeding ia
that done while the ground is freezing
A little each night and thawing again
IN the day time. Many people have sue
cess In sowing grass seed upon light
snowfall at time when the snow is
likely soon to melt. with either of
'hesc methods. however, there is dan
ger that birds will eat some of the seed
before 1t is covered In the soil. In
spite of this, however. there is bet
Ter chance OF getting good lawn by
lhese methods than when the seed is
'own on land that will not quickly