Evening star., 1932-04-25
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

Wild onions, as some people call
them. are the prevailing bane of lawns.
Each Spring, it would seem, brings its
particular nuisance in the form of some
weed to poster the legitimate and much
desired grass.
This season it is the So-called wild
onion, which has sprung up luxuriantly
in all sections of Washington and
vicinity, owing to the very dry Autumn
of last year.
The full force Of that small drought
Is only beginning to be appreciated by
many home gardeners. Complaints are
beginning to pour in from all sections,
writers speaking In unison about poor
lawn conditions, due to the rabtd
growth Of weeds.
For tricks that are peculiar, there
is nothing in Nature more perplexing,
at times, than a cultivated lawn.
Here it is, one season, thick and
green; before the year is out it may
be dull and brown, or even reduced to
a grayish hue.
The perplexed home-owner calls upon
high Heaven to witness that he did
everything for that particular piece OF
ground which money, time, labor and
intelligence could achieve.
But did he?
That is the question, and in most
instances it must be answered in the
negative. One man made the mistake
last Fall of thinking that his lawn, ex-
posed to full Southern sun all day
long, could take care of itself.
Feeling that outdoor gardening was
over for the year, he gave the lawn one
final cutting with the mower and called
it quits"
And right there he made his mistake.
What he should have done-he sees 1t
now, but it took him all Winter to make
up his mind to do twas to go in
for extensive watering and re-Seedlng
last September, instead of sitting
around saying that Spring is the best
time to plant grass seed"
Surely. Spring is a fine time to make
a lawn, either to patch an old one or
build up an entire. new sward, but there
can be little doubt that Fall sowing has
many good points in its favor, especial
ly when it is followed by such q mild
Winter as that just ended. There is
good and bad fortune in lawn making,
too.
The particular homeowner instanced
spent the Winter watching the develop
ment of lawns and grounds in all parts
of the District of Columbia and nearby
Maryland, particularly those which were
re-Seeded in the Fall.
These turned into fine plots without
exception; even lawns which had looked
bad all Summer seemed to pick up, in
many cases, in late Autumn and re-
manned green and thriving all during
the colder months.
In the majority of such cases, however,
the grass had the benefit Of shade as a
protection against the afternoon sun.
One thing borne in upon the observer
was that there is much more danger tc
be feared for a good lawn in dry
Autumn than he had commonly sup
posed. 1t is very easy to feel, after
thriving Summer. that Nature means
for flowers. as well as gardeners, to
quit their labors.
If the Autumn is reasonably open,
as 1t Is called, and the weather unusually
dry 1t will be good garden practice to
keep on at the work of lawnmaking as
If nothing had happened in the seasonal
line.
That is, moving and watering and fer
tilizing can be kept up clear till freezing
sets 1t. 1t should be combined evidently.
with a determined effort to grow new
grass, so that these newer plants may
take the place, Nature willing, of such
Of the Older grass plants as may have
lost their vigor for one reason or an
ether.
The growth of weeds of all kinds, it is
beginning to be realized quite generally,