20th Year No. 92 PUBLISHED FIVE TIMES YEARLY FOR LAWNTHUSIASTS S E T T IN G T H E LAW N S T A G E IN THE production of any theatrical success it is important to assemble certain supporting props. To help your lawn put on a good spring show and bring it public acclaim the right props are needed, too. Seventy-five years ago, when there were few if any good lawns, their lack was partly due to scalping mowers and possibly a gouging hay rake. Certainly there were no catchers, and none of the efficient broom type rakes in common use today. Since then lawn staging has made great strides and for two reasons: Bet­ ter and more efficient tools have been developed along with improved prop­ erties in the way of grass seed and soil nutrients. With the use of a properly built spreader, the spring lawn program can be carried out with little effort. The two most beneficial lawn treatments, seeding and feeding, can best be done mechanically. A lawn spreader ought to be a pre­ cision machine—not just a hopper with a crude shutoff arrangement at the bottom. The machine needs to be well built so it is easily changed to sow as little as 2 pounds of grass seed per 1000 square feet or as much as 20 pounds of grass food—quite a variation. Applica­ tion must be uniform, which is possible only with good agitation and proper calibration. Fingertip control of rate of flow as well as stop and start are most important. The new lawn spreader need not take up extra room in the garage as it is light enough to hang up. You will have plenty of wall room for now you can discard weeding gadgets and elimi­ nate weeds (See page 3.) There has been quite some advance in wheelbarrow type equipment, too. Some folks have found the new style two wheeled low carts, like the Handi- Cart, an excellent piece of equipment for hauling dirt, leaves, and other mate­ rial. Those who prefer the orthodox wheelbarrow should the new light weight model made of Dow- metal. This rubber tired machine is almost feather weight, so more of a payload can be transported. the modern way. investigate Spring Materials three seasons LIME—Few lawns need lime every year. Except in the limestone country of the mid-west and some other iso­ lated spots, lime is probably needed on most lawns every two or three years. Some lawns, especially in New Eng­ land, on Long Island and other eastern spots, are so extremely acid that several limings are needed over a period of two or to partially counter-act the acidity. Late winter or early spring is a good time to apply lime. The raw ground agricultural lime is the best form. The maximum application at one time is 50 to 75 pounds per 1000 square feet. If hydrated lime is used, reduce to 35 to 50 pounds. In case of doubt as to the need for lime, make a trial application on 1000 square feet, observe the effect through a growing season. If beneficial, lime entire lawn. FEED.—A good time to get the feeding job done is while the ground is frozen but a later application is all right. The important thing is to put on the proper nutrients to stimulate growth and color, and force deeper root penetration. Fortunately there is enough Turf Builder available for generous feeding at 10 to 20 pounds per 1000 square feet. If feeding is delayed until warmer weather, be sure the grass is dry. SEED—Frequent freezing and thaw­ ing with little snow protection has caused considerable heaving of grass plants with their consequent destruc­ tion. This will result in some thin, bare places. They should be fortified with new seed to get grass plants, rather than weeds or crabgrass, started. As explained in L awn C are N o. 90, good seed is scarce and expensive be­ cause of several successive near crop failures. In order to help stretch short supplies, L awn C are readers are urged Cleaning Up Debris to be economical in their seedings and order only what they will need this season. If that is done, every lawn can be taken care of. It is all right to sow Scotts Seed im­ mediately after applying Turf Builder. Both jobs can be done while the ground is frozen—or even on top of a light snow if possible. As the ground thaws, the food will be carried down to the roots while the seed will be lightly buried, ready to germinate as soon as the soil warms. If leaves have accumulated on the lawn over winter, they should be raked or swept off as soon as the surface thaws. It is all right to do this after feeding and seeding. During the rak­ ing, patches of dead crabgrass should be removed. As soon as the frost is out of the ground, the lawn should be rolled. It is better if the seeding is completed before rolling and when the surface is dry so the roller does not pick up mud. A water ballast roller is best and only enough water should be placed in it to firm the soil. One-fourth full should be sufficient on heavy clay soils, three- fourths on light sandy soils. In brief the spring lawn program evolves around these steps: 1. Check up on the tools needed: rake, spreader, and lawn mower with catcher. 2. Lime if it seems necessary. 3. Apply Turf Builder at 10 pounds per 1000 square feet or 20 if a new lawn is being made. 4. Set the spreader to sow your se­ lection of seed at the desired rate—2, 4 or 6 lbs. per 1000 sq. ft. 5. Rake or sweep up leaves and other debris, either before or after seed­ ing. 6. Roll to firm the seed and heaved plants into the ground. 7. Start mowing as soon as grass is NUMBER 92 in active growth. Long, toppled grass will smother new seedlings. No Weed Worry The pesky dandelion, usual bane of lawn lovers in the spring, is now easily banished. In fact, practically all broad leaved weeds wither away after one application of the new chemical weed control, Scotts 4-X. L awn C are 88 and 89 dwell upon this subject in detail and further new developments will be reported in an early issue. They prom­ ise to be most interesting. Sirs: It is with a great deal of pleasure that I re­ port to you on the results obtained in using 4-X Weed Control. I presume, too, that this letter is just one more of many thousands you have received testifying to its marvelous effi­ ciency. I have used it on the usual run of lawn weeds—dandelion, plantain, etc.—and also gave a small patch of poison ivy a “going over” and in every case it wiped out the offenders completely. Needless to say, I have praised it in glowing terms to all my friends and acquaintances. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. E. L. D. Weed Spraying a Boon to Health Now it is easily possible to free pub­ lic parks, recreation fields, vacant lots and undeveloped areas of poisonous weeds and nose ticklers. Many aggres­ sive city and suburban communities have demonstrated the feasibility of eliminating such public menaces as poison ivy and ragweed. They just spray them away at little cost, with no poison or fire hazard. Where such areas have desirable grasses they are unharmed if the proper materials are used. Scotts have helped in many of these campaigns with suggestions and as a source of needed materials. 3 In some cases city authorities have first asked owners to spray away the rank weed growth on their own vacant lots. Where co-operation lags or where the owner requests, the city service department is authorized to spray un­ attended weed patches and the cost of the material—which is nominal—is added to the tax bill. In this manner the entire job may be handled at the most effective time and all citizens enjoy the advantage of the concerted effort to eliminate ragweed, the main cause for hay fever, and poison ivy, source of itching from which no one is totally immune. The cost of spraying away weeds during the year is largely saved because of a lesser number of times such places need to be mowed or scythed. It would be well for the city fathers and interested tax payers to investigate this ultra-modern method of erasing the ragweed and poison ivy menace and get civic beautification at the same time. As always, L awn C are will welcome further comments from its readers on this subject. the painful Sirs: Your products certainly have given our lawn a new lease on life. I am so thankful I have your “Lawn Care” to direct me in mak­ ing our lawn beautiful. Lebanon, 111. W. C. P. Sirs: Our lawn has always been more or less a poor one, but the suggestions that we have received from you have made us realize that our lawn care from now on can be much more of a pleasure. It is our intention to feed and care for our lawn in the Scott manner. Cleveland, Ohio. It is said that green is the vital color and that grass is more vitally green than anything else in the whole wide world. L. C. S. Cumulative Index to Lawn Care No. Acid Soils 484184 AlgaeAnts 44 Beetle Grub 41 Brown Patch 82,88 Buckhorn 51 Burlap, Mulch 54 Chamomile Chemical Weed 88,89 Control 53,88 Chickweed 80 Chinch Bugs 46 Clay Soils 68,88 Clover 46 Compost 70,91 Crabgrass 86 Crawfish Creeping 56,88 Buttercup 41 Cutworms 41 Damping-off 49,88 Dandelions Devil’s Paint Brush 72 Digger Wasps 82 Dogs, Repellents 76 Dollarspot 41 Drainage 40 5241 Earwig Excess Moisture Fall Program 81, 90 Feeding Lawns 64 69 Feeding Trees 42 Foxtail Goose Grass 70 Gophers 86 Grass Substitutes 54 40 Ground Covers Ground Ivy 55 44,86 Grubs Heal-All 565546 Henbit Humus Ivy, Poison 57, 88 No. Jap Beetle 44 Knawel 7171 Knotweed Lawn Pennywort 75, 88 44 Lead Arsenate 41, 90 Leaf Spot Liming Soils 48, 87 Mallow 67 Manures 46 44 May Beetle 41 Mildew Moles 86 Moneywort 65 Moss 47 Mouse-Ear 53 Chickweed 54 Mowing Mulch 46 Mulching with Burlap 51 Mushroom Soil 46 Nimble-Wili 61 Nutgrass (Sedge) 73 Orange Hawkw’d 72, 88 Orchard Grass 45 46 Organic Matter 54 Pearlwort Peat 46 Pennywort 75,88 Pepper-Grass 50 74,88 Pigweed Plantain 82,88 Poa Annua 62 Poison Ivy 57, 88 Purslane (Pusley) 74, 88 63 Quackgrass 77 Salting Sidewalks Sandwort 54 Sandy Soils 46 Sedge 73 46 Sewage Sludge Shade Problems 40 Sheep Sorrel 59, 88 No. Shepherd’s Purse 50, 88 Silver Crabgrass 70 (Goosegrass) Skunks 44 Slime Mold 41 77 Snowmold 41 Sod Web worms 46 Soils Sorrel 59,88 Speedwell 65,88 Spiking 46 Spotted Spurge 71, 88 Spraying 89 Equipment Spring Care 83, 87 Sprinkling Lawns 60 71,88 Spurge Summer Problems 41 Terrace Problem 43 Termites 84 Thyme-Leaved Speedwell 65, 88 Tile Drainage 40 Toadstools 41 Topdressing 46 Tree Feeding 69 Trefoil 58, 88 Turf Diseases 41 Turfing Daisy 54 Vitamins 64 Wasps 82 Watergrass (Crabgrass) 70 Watering Lawns 60 Web worms 41 Weed Control 88, 89 Wild Garlic (Wild Onion) 52, 88 Winter Damage 77 Winter Mulch 77 Wiregrass (Crabgrass) 70 Wood Sorrel 58, 88 Yarrow 66, 88 Yellow Jackets 47 Yellow Trefoil 58, 88 41 Zonate Eyespot 82 Zoysia Grasses O. M. SCOTT & S O N S CO. :Y S V I L L E - - O H I O