The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1916-03-17
SPRING CARE OF LAWNS.
Now Is the Time to Apply Fertilizer
Grass Seed Should Be Sown Be-
fore Warm Weather.

IOIe WARM WtdtucI.
Home owners who wish to get the
best results from their lawns should
begin to work on them early in March,
according to the lawn specialists of
the Agricultural department. Too
many people delay giving any atten-
ton 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.
Apply Fertilizer at Once.
If the lawn has not already been
f-rtilized, some form of commercial
fertilizer should be used at once. Ma
nure applied this late will not be eff
fective in most cases. Ground bohe>i is
probably the best fertilizer to use, al.
though tankage and fish scraps, some
of which, however, have an unpleas-
ant smell, also give good results. Pre-
pared sheep manure is an excellent
fertilizer for use at this season. Cot
tonseed meal, where obtainable at a
low enough price, may be used to ad-
vantage. 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-
tion will be to use minimum quaint
ties. With soils that have been well
fortified in the past, failure to use
normal amount of potash will prob
ably not affect the lawn badly in one
season. These fertilizers should be
applied at the earliest possible mo-
ment.
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. Impatience, however,
should be curbed until the ground is
settled fairly well, so that footmarks
will not show in the turf. Where
lawn has been trampled down during
the winter or played upon when it
was soft in winter or early spring, the
owner should take steps to compact
its surface at the earliest possible mo-
.ment. This cOmpacting, however,
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
toothed rake. Frequently, however,
all that is necessary is to pick off the
litter. If lawn has been covered
with manure in the fall, it will be
necessary to break the manure ND
with rake in the spring and remove
some of the coarser portions. A
wooden rake is best for this purpose
Jas 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 a thoroughly
clean appearance. All of the fine
manure that the summer growth of
grass can possibly hide should be left.
1t is surprising how much litter the
grass will obscure in a lawn, as one
or two heavy rains will beat down
quantity of such material.
When to Sow Grass Seed.
Before freezing weather is entirely
over, fresh grass seed should be sown,
for it must be remembered that only
by repeated applications of grass can
a good lawn be produced. The ordi-
nary seeding of grass on new lawn
as l pound of seed to every 400
square feet-that is, to a piece 20