Evening star., 1933-07-30
THINK Of LAWNS
NOV, Says EXPERT
Time to Prepare Soil for Next
Year In Order to Grow
Fine Grass.
Dy the Associated Press.

~ ths Associated Press.
Every year about this time. many
parsons take . sad look 1T their ragged
and dried out lawns, and then make A
solemn resolution to do better next
year. It's . good idea, however. to
start preparing for next year nov-in
other ways than Just resolution-mak-
ng-advise Department Of Agriculture
experts.
Many would-be lawns are handi-
capped rom the beginning by poor
SOILS. especially In big cities, the soil
iounoatlon frequently consists of heavy
Is to improve the soil.
w. n. Beattie, senior horticulturist
o. the Department Of ARriculture,s
bureau OF Plant Industry, saws that
tne owners Of such lawn sites might
piane . crop Of COW peas or soy beans
Ilgnt now to cleanse the soil and to
Aoo needed organic matter and nitro
Sen. Two busheb Of COW peas or SOW
Dean seed are more than enough for
IN entire acre-and an acre (l.Sl0
square ysrds) Is many times the Size
OF the average home lawn. To stimu-
lAte the growth Of the COW peas or
10y neans, the ground should be weN
Piow Cow Peas Under.
II such planting Is done in July the
nrst week In September will find the
gardener ready to plow the COW neas
under to . depth Of about Q inches
some bone meal or q mixture of bone
mea! and cottonseed meal should then
e ooe1ned. and should be worked into
sne eosi 70 q similar depth.
II n = not feasible to plant 4 crop
~ eov peae In July. the hone meal ap-
0ould be started then. In
os Hgtef case, the soil should be re-
otteo!y spaded or plowed until mid
nA TO use . lot Of bone meal-st least
Or 9 pounds per 100 square feet Of
tnere should be at least two weeks
1nteryal between the applying of the
1ertll1zer or the turning under of the
coWpeas, on the one hand, and the
sowing OF the lawn seed. Composted
manure, II 1t can be obtained, can al
ways be used to advantage, provided it
Is Well worked into the soil.
a, Wltn these preparations completed.
tne middle OF September will be the
time to settle and firm the soil. The
SOL must be well settled, and it must
ne deeply settled, Federal experts say.
a eood rain would be desirable for this,
Dut, there Is no rain, thorough water
ing with the hose Will have to be sub
stituted. AL underground lumps to the
depth OF about or 10 inches should
he broken up-otherwise the surface Of
the later lawn will be uneven.
Soil Must BE Cultivated.
There Is another point about the ad-
vance cultivation that should be kept in
mind. No matter what else is done. the
soil must be worked to an adequate
depth. II plenty Of plant food has been
worked deeply into the ground, as deep
Is 10 inches If necessary, the future
grass will be able to send its roots far
down into the soil.
The advantage Of having a deep
rooted grass Is that the roots can then
obtain moisture in the soil depths even
during drought periods. Shallow-rooted
grass on the other hand, burns out in
even q moderate drought.
As final word of warning. the home
gardener should remember that lawn
seed must be sown early enough to per-
NIT the grass to get established before
frost sets in.
Quick-growing grass, such as redtop
and white clover, usually take from six
to nine weeks to get established. Blue
grass requires from nine months to two
years. BY sowing q lawn mixture, the
gardener can see the redtop and white
clover come on quickly to give his lawn
Q good appearance in Q short time,
while the bluegrass, backbone Of his fu-
ture good lawn, will grov slowly to
crowd out and replace the other grasses
at some later time.