French Broad hustler and Western Carolina Democrat. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1915-1916, 1916-03-16
EXPERT ADVICE ON Lawn
UP-KEEP AND GRASS SEED
Now is the Time to Apply Fertilizer;
Grass Se&l Should be SoWn Before
Warm Weathr for Good Results

Home owners in H~endersonville VINO
wish to get the best results from their
lawns should begin to work on them
early in March, according to the lawn
specialists. Too many of our people
delay giving any attention to their
grass plots until the weather becomes
warm, and thus lose an opportunity
to take advantage of melting INC
and the alternate night freezing and
thawing of the ground.
Apply Fertilizer at Once.
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,
although tankage and fish scrap, some
of which, however, have an unpleas-
ant smell, also give good results. Pre-
pared sheep is an excellent
fertilizer for use at this season. Cot
tonseed meal, where obtainable at a
low enough price, may be used to adj
Vantage. In connection with these
fertilizers, however, it is desirable to
use some wood ashes or other fertI-
liZer containing potash.
Temptation to get on the lawn and
clean it up is strong as soon as the
snow is gone and the weather begins
to settle. If a lawn has been covered
with manure in the fall, it will be
necessary to break the manure up with
a. rake in the spring and remove ONE
OF the coarser portions. A wooden
rake is best for this purpose, as it will
leave so much more of the fine mate
rial upon the ground. Do not rake
off so much OF the ant that the
lawn will have a thoroughly clean
appearance.
When to Sow Grass Seed.
Before freezing weather is entirely
over, fresh grass seed should be sown,
70? it must be remembered that only
by repeated applications of grass can
a good lawn be produced. The ordi-
nary seeding of grass on a new lawn
is l pound of seed to every 400 square |
feGC-that is, to a piece 20 feet square.
For reseeding a lawn, one-tenth 20 !
one-half of this amount should be
used, according to the conditions of the
lawn at the time. For this ~sesctton of
the State Kentucky blue grass and
redtop are the standard varieties.
- "AOAO NAAO4O o1O q "a 9
spaces it will lbe found we'll to use
some white clover. About one-tentn
the quantity of clover as of the other
grasses mentioned will be required.
Probably as good q time as any to
apply grass seed will be some morn
ing when the ground is frozen, 80 that !
when the ground thaws during the
middle of the day the sown seed Will
be covered sufficiently to terminate
well. The most successful seeding is
that done while the ground is freezing
a little each night and thawing again
in the daytime. Many people have
ucces in sowing grass seed upon a.
light snowfall at a time when the
Snow is likely soon to melt. With
either of these methods, however, |
there is, danger that birds will eat |
some of the seed before it is covered !
in the soil. In spite of this, however, |
there is a better 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 prelimi- |
nary spring m of a lawn is to give |
it a good rolling. This rolling, which |
should be done with as heavy a roller
as can be handled, should not be be-
gun however, until after the lawn is
dry enough so that the roller passes
over it without sinking at any point
below the general level. If the land
is too wet the roller will leave depres-
Sions. This rolling should be done
just as Don as the land is dry enough |
to permit it,as rolling compacts tho
soil about the roots of the plan,s, brings |
them into closer contact with the soil
and gives them a better opportunity
make a quick start as soon as
weather conditions are favorable.
Grass cutting should begin just as
soon as the lawn mower can get a
good hold. The very early cutting
may be made with the Town mower
set close to the ground. As soon as
the growth becomes a little less Wig
orcus, the mower should be set just
as high as possible. This high cut
ting should be done as frequently as
though the grass were being cut
shorter. l