East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1916-02-28
Now is the Time to
Begin to Care for
Lawns

WASHINGTON, Feb. 2S.-Home
owners who wish to get the best re-
suits from their lawns should begin
to work on them the last of February
or early in March, according to the
lawn specialists of the United States
Department Of Agriculture. Too many
people delay giving any attention to
their grass plots until the weather
becomes warm and thus lose an op-
portunity to take advantage of melt
ing snow and the alternate night
freezing and thawing of the ground
II the lawn has not already been
fertilized some form of commercial
fertilizer should be used at once.
Manure applied this late VII not be
effective in most cases. Ground bone
is probably the best fertilizer to use,
although tankage and fish scraps,
some Of which, however, have an un-
pleasant smell. also give good results.
Prepared sheep manure is an excel.
lent fertilizer for use at this season.
COttonseed meal where obtainable at
. low enough price may be used 10
advantage In connection with these
fertilizers. however it is desirable to
use some wood ashes or other ferti-
lizer containing potash. As fertilizers .
with this element are unusually high |
priced this year the natural inclina-
ton will he to use minimum quanu-
L rs With soils that have been we'll
fertiiized in the past failure to use a /
normal amount Of potash will prob /
ably not affect the lawn badly in one 1
season. These fertilizers should be
applied at the earliest moment.
Temptation to get on the lawn and |
clean it up is strong as soon as tho |
snow is gone and the weather begins /
t.. settle Impatience. however. !
should be curbed until the ground is
settled fairly we'll so that footmarks |
will not show in the turf. when a lawn
has been trampled down during the
vinter or played upon when it was
scft in winter or early spring. the
owner should take steps to compart
its surface at the earliest possible
moment This compacting, how
ever. should not be done until all
trash has been removed. As soon as
the ground is sufficiently settled so
that a rake does not dig into the turf,
the owner should rake it gently with
a wooden -tOOther rake. Frequently,
however all that is necessary is to
new lawn is l pound OF seed TO every
covered with manure in the fall, it will
be- necessary to break the manure up
with a rake in the spring, and remove
some Of the coarser portions. a
wooden rake Is best for this purpose,
as it Will leave SO much more Of the
finer material upon the ground.
DO not rake off so much Of the ma
nure that the lawn viii have thor
oEghly clean appearance. All Of the
fine manure that the summer growth
% grass can possibly hide should be
left u Ia surprising how much lit
Ter the grass wiIl obscure in q lawn, as
one 9r tH0 heavy rains will beat down
quantity Of such material.
Before freezing weather is entirely
over. fresh grass seed should be
sown. FOR it must be remembered that
only by repeated applications Of grass
seed can a good lawn be produced
The ordinary seeding of grass on
new iawn pound Of seed to every
400 square feet-that is. to a piece q
feet square For reseedlng lawn
onc-tauth 10 oue-half of this amount
should Dc used. according to the con-
diuon Of the lawn al the time. For
the northern part of the United states
Kentucky blue grass and redtop are
the standard varieties. However /
v here there are many bare spaces It I
VIII be found well to use some whit,
clover About one-tenth the quantity
Of clover as Of the other grasses men, /
toned will be required
Probably as good a time as any %
apply grass seed will be some morning /
when the ground is frozen. 50 that 4
when the ground thawS during the
middle Of the day the sown seed will I
be- covered sufficiently to germinate I
we'll The most successful seeding is 4
that done while the ground is freez-
ing a little each night and thawing |
again In the day time. Many people I
have success IN sowing grass seed up
on light snowfall a. n time when
the snow Is likely soon 10 melt With