The Liberal democrat. [volume] (Liberal, Kan.) 1911-1924, 1916-03-17


with these fertilizers, however, it is
desirable to use some wood ashes or
other fertilizer containing potash.
AS fertilizers with this element are
unusually high priced this year, the
material inclination will be to use
minimum quantities. With soils that
have been well fortified in the past,
failure to use a normal amount of
potash will probably not affect the
lawn badly in one season. These fer
tilizers should be applied at the earli-
est possible moment.
Temptation to get ON the lawn and
clean it up is stong as soon as the
snow is gone and the weather begins
to settle. Impatience, however,
should be curbed until the ground is
settled fairly well, so that footmarks
will not show in the turf. When a
lawn has been trampled down dur
ing the winter or played upon when
it was soft in winter or early spring,
the owner should take steps to COM
pact it's surface at the earliest pos
sible moment. This compacting,
however, should not be done until all
trash has been removed. AS soon as
the ground is sufficiently settled so
that rake does not dig into the turf,
the owner should rake it gently with
wooden-toothed rake. Frequently,
however, all that is necessary is to
pick off the litter. If a lawn has
been covered with manure in the
fall, it will be necessary to break the
manure up with rake in the spring
and remove some of the coarser por-
tions. A wooden rake is best for
this purpose, as it 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. 1t is surprising
how much litter the grass will OBJ
scure in 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, for it must be remembered
that only by repeated applications of
grass seed can good lawn be pro-
duced. The ordinary seeding of
grass on a new lawn is one pound of
seed to every 400 square feet-that
is, to a piece 90 feet square. For re-
seeding a lawn, one-tenth to one-half
of this amount should be used, &C
cording to the condition of the lawn
at the time. For the northern part
of the United States Kentucky blue
grass and redtop are the standard
varieties. However, where there are
many bare spaces it will be found
well to use some white clover. About
one-thenth the quantity of clover as
of the other grasses mentioned will
be required.
Probably as good a time as any
to apply grass seed will be some
morning when the ground is frozen
so that when the ground thaws dur
ing the middle of the day the sown
seed will be covered sufficiently to
terminate we'll. The most success
full seeding is that done while the
ground is freezing little each night
| and thawing again in the daytime.
Many people have success in sowing
grass seed upon light snowfall at
time when the snow is likely soon
to melt. With either of these meth
DDS, however, there is danger that
birds will eat some of the seed be-
fore it is covered in the soil. In
spite of this, however, there is a bet
ter chance of getting a good lawn by
these methods than when the seed is
sown on land that will not quickly
cover it.
The last operation in the prelim-
mary spring care of lawn is to
give it good rolling. This rolling,
which should be done with as heavy
a roller as can be handled, should not
be begun, however, until after the
lawn is dry enough so that the roller
passes over it without sinking at any
point below the general level. II
the land is too wet the roller will
leave depressions. This rolling should
be done just as soon as the land Is
dry enough to permit it, as rolling
compacts the soil about the roots
of the plants, brings them into closer
contact with the soil, and gives them
a better opportunity to make a quick
start as soon as weather conditions
are favorable.
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