Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 May 1876 — Lawns—How to Make and Keep Them. [ARTICLE]

Lawns—How to Make and Keep Them.

One of the most beautiful features about a country residence is a well cultivated and well kept lawn. It is also the most difficult spot about a place to keep in order, unless one has the facilities for keeping it irrigated; for the very time of the year when it is most desired that it should look tbe freshest is, in most parts of our northern and western regions, the driest period of the season. We present herewith some suggestions for the laying out, seeding and care of a lawn, the result of our own experience and that of others, which we believe will be interesting and useful to a great number of our readers. In preparing ground for lawns, where the expense is not of so much consequence as the good results, a good subsoiling is preferable, because in such soils the roots go down deep, and in this way get moisture when the weather is dry. Very good lawns can, however, be haa by ordinary plowing, as for any good crop. It is best, however, to have the ground plowed np and leveled a year before the grass is sown, or it will sink in places, and then the surface becomes uneven. Where the lawn has been made in this way, and inequalities of the surface exist, earth may be brought in the spring, and spread smoothly over the lawn, and rolled down firm. The grass will grow through this, and make a solid, even lawn. As soon as tbe frost is gone, and before the ground is hard, the lawn should be rolled. From various causes, there is generally left an inequality of surface after tbe winter is over, and this the rolling is to remedv. In spite of all the care to keep weeds out of lawns, they will often get in, especially on lawns that are newly, made. The best thing is to have the lawn hand-weeded for the first few years. Early in the season the lawn-mower should be set going, but experience is against setting the knives too low. Close cutting we have found to be an injury to the grass. It leaves the roots exposed, and the sun is apt to dry and kill the graaa. A lawn requires an occasional top-dress-ing of manure; but there is no necessity of applying it every year, and it should not be used too green. Well-rotted stable manure, mixed with soil, makes an excellent dressing, and should be spread over the lawn at least two or three inches in thickness early ih the spring. Borne prefer putting it on the fall, ana leaving It to protect the roots through the winter. There is a diversity of opinion as to the use of manure for this purpose, from the fact of its liability to introduce seeds of weeds, which the use of artificial fertilizer* obviates; but we have never experienced any ill effect from the use of the former. The kind of seed to be sown, to make a lawn, depends upon the climate, condition of the land, and composition of the soil. In the Northern States, the English mixed lawn grass seed, with an excess of white

clover and red-top, are considerably used'; and in the Middle States the Kentucky blue grass does well. Red-top does the beat in clayey, and the others in lighter, soils. Grasses and clovers are gross feeders, and demand good food, else they will not present a good appearance. The white daisy will often show itself In fields and lawns that are too poor to nourish grasses; and to get rid ot this pest, it is needful to make the soil richer. The truly practical man, says an agricultural writer, will dress his worn-out grounds with either am' perphosphate of lhne or Peruvian guatfo, or Home other good fertilizer. They will soon show that the grasses can drive out the daisies or mosses, if they are only properly fed. A surface dressing of superphosphate of lime will also cause an abundant growth of clover, and often it will occur where the clover has not before been seen; and even nitrate of soda will give to the new crop a deep richness of color, and thicken the turf rapidly. The constant cutting and carrying away of the grass produces exhaustion of the soil, until at length it becomes so poor that the trasses die out in a great degree, and the aisles and mosses take their places, until fresh plant food is given and their growth strengthened. There are some strong, deep soils upon which time seems to make little impression, and no manure is required ; but they are only the exceptions. —Scientific American. —lndignantly the New England Journal of Education declares: “The problem is not how to reach the teacher, but how to educate the committee man that is over the teacher. One other problem —what shall we do with that village or town that elects the thick-headed committee man?” The London Sporting Timet offers a reward of five shillings to the man who will send the worst joke, and when it is awarded claim it.