Evening star., 1932-04-25

| is dependent upon the thickness, or
rather lack of thickness, of the grass
itself. Thick grass chokes out weeds,
whereas thin grass permits them to get
toehold. In the case OF killing out
Of much grass surface, practically an
entire lawn may be turned over as so
much virgin soil to the weeds.
Where grass was permitted to die out
during the dry spell OF last Autumn,
there have sprung up a multitude OF
weeds of all kinds. Prominent among
them is the wild onion, as it is called.
These pernicious plants are sure sign
of sparse grass growth.
Sending their bright green shoots
into the air from their bulb far down,
these weeds stand up like so many
slender spikes. A lawn mower, far from
cutting them off merely stimulates their
growth, by mashing them fat, after
which they rise again in all their
glory.
Even the harassed lawnmaker Will
admit the sheer force of the wild onion.
as most interesting specimen OF
naturalistic planting. Many q lawn,
both in the city and ouside it. looks as
II some one has stuck 1t full OF green
plumes of a sort.
If one attempts to pull the onions
out, bulb, roots and all, he IS very
| likely to leave an ugly, gaping hole,
even If he can do 1t. Probably a better
line of attack is to seize the recalcitrant
weed in the left hand, as the Indians
must have done scalp, and decapltate
1t with pair of grass shears.
This means to cut the odiferous spikes
| as close to the ground as possible. This
cutting is one of the two great master
| strokes against weeds in the home
grounds. No plant, not even weed,
can live without leaves. 1t may send
up new ones, Immediately. thereby fool
ing the gardener into believing that 1t
can thrive though deprived of It's
greenery above ground. But it can't.
What the gardener must do Is to
keep on cutting of the tops, as fast as
they get a few inches high. The
toughest weed will give up trying after
awhile
The second master stroke against
weeds-and We speak now particularly
Of weeds in the lawns to smother
them out with grass. This means that
when the weed leaves are cut off, fresh
grass seed must be planted Immediately
all around the weed base. A full hand
full, at the very least, should be put in
for every weed.
The sprouting time for grass seed
varies from three to seven or eight days,
depending upon weather and water.
Grass will germinate even under weed
leaves. These should be pulled of
again, and yet again: and II the grass
has not grown as it should, change
your brand of seed and put in more
of the new.
1t will be realized that this pro-
cedure is practicable only on compare
lively limited areas, but the best thing
about 1t is that it actually works. It is
practical and that is a great deal in a
world where one gets much advice, most
Of which Is valueless.
II it should be answered that this
is a great deal of work and bids fair
to be a nuisance, the reply must be
made that eternal vigilance Is the price
of good lawn, or even of q mediumly
fair lawn
There is nothing which causes the
average homesteader more concern than
his lawn, and no feature OF gardening
which is more discussed when two or
more amateurs get together.
1t is worth it.
There is nothing about the home
grounds. aside from the house ITSELF
which is quite as important as the
grass. We long ago got over the idea
OF perfect grass. There amt no sich
animule! All that we ask now is a good
lawn, or even a fairly good lawn, and
we will give thanks to all the gods of
the garden at once