23rd Year No 108 PUBLISHED FIVE TIMES YEARLY FOR LAWNTHUSIASTS receive professional or home care. Spade work for the stories is done by a staff of a dozen or more men who work with grass as a pediatrician nur- tures the development of a child. They test new ideas in the field, observe grass growing under all conditions, study and chart the results. The basic work tempered with ob- servations reported by readers provides the source of material for the early spring maintenance program herein outlined. One of the major objectives in Scotts Lawn Research is to find ways of build- ing and keeping lawns with the least possible expense to the owner. The right way is the most economical of time and materials. LAWNS IN THE SPOTLIGHT ACQUIRING an attractive lawn is the aim of more and more people. An ever increasing lawn-consciousness is evident throughout the country. The techniques of growing grass vary somewhat between Tulsa and Trenton, Dallas and Detroit, Syracuse and Seattle. But generally speaking, the same fundamentals apply. The points at issue are how to make condi- tions most favorable for growing grass considering soil and climatic conditions and availability of supplementary mois- ture, then adopting and following the most reasonable maintenance program. L A WN CARE strives to assemble ideas applicable to all parts of the country and to all types of lawns whether they L A WN D I V I D E ND reproduction lawn feeding of Dramatic evidence of the in value of a this colorphoto the editors by Stewart D. Ran- dall, Milford, Iowa, who writes: sent to "I recently purchased a home on Lake Okaboji and not having a healthy lawn, a feeding with TURF BUILDER w as made. This in December picture taken shows exactly where I made the application/' A greener lawn during more months of the year is the reward of regular grass feeding. hydrated lime is satisfactory especially for cool weather use. The maximum amount of lime per application is 50 pounds per 1000 square feet. FEED. Very few lawns are fed often enough. Any fair soil will keep grass alive almost indefinitely but without feeding the growth becomes steadily more spindly. In contrast proper feed- ing develops vigorous growth for good deep color. The minimum feeding pro- gram is (1) once in early spring, (2) repeated in late spring or early summer and (3) again in early fall. More and more folks are using the combination of fertilizer with weed control. This can replace one of the feedings, in fact it should be used at least once each year. Since the weed control action is through the leaves of growing weeds, it should be applied when the broad-leaved weeds are in active growth. GRUB CONTROL. The Japanese beetle as well as the more recent arri- val, the Asiatic garden beetle, continue their destructive activities in the east and in scattered localities of the mid- west. The beetles themselves do not harm turf but their grubs or larvae do. Modern pest controls can be applied to grub-proof a lawn. Late winter or early spring is a good time for application as alternate freezing and thawing carries the material into the root zone where it is needed. SEEDING. It is possible to overdo the matter of seeding by using too much seed. Here is one place where economy can be effected. It is a mis- take to sow seed by hand. This is waste- ful because few people are skilled in scattering evenly the relatively small amount of seed that should be used. If hand broadcasting is used, the seed should be mixed with two or three times its bulk of inert material such as to show Soil surface magnified the so- called honey-combed condition. This occurs during periods of alternate freezing and thawing. An especially good time for seed- ing as most of it falls into the cracks and is buried so in condition to sprout is it when the soil warms. EARLY START in Several spring lawn jobs can be got- ten out of the way late winter. Freezing cold does not harm the action of lime, grass food or the growing ability of good seed. It is all right to get started ahead of the first robin ex- cept on areas subject to severe washing. LIME. Fortunately few lawns receive the annual "whitewash" or light dust- ing of lime that was as much a spring ritual as sulphur and molasses a genera- tion or two ago. A generous application of lime is needed every two or three years on those lawns with quite acid soils or where there is a deficiency of calcium and magnesium. This condition is more apt to exist in the New England and Atlantic States south into Georgia and westward to and including the Alle- gheny mountain country. It is a good idea to get a soil test if there is any question about the need for lime. Raw, ground agricultural lime is probably the preferred form. However, NUMBER 108 sand or screened soil. The preferred method is to use a modern precision spreader. This should be of a type that will evenly sow as little seed as 2 pounds per 1000 square feet. This, by the way, is an adequate rate for good seed when reseeding a lawn. Some lawns are so thick they do not require a general reseeding. How- ever, if there are many bare spots, it will probably be less wasteful to make an overall light seeding rather than to try to hand seed the bare spots. SPREADER. A precision spreader, like the one illustrated here, makes it easy to apply lawn materials accurately and speedily. The Scotts Spreader is quickly adjusted to proper rates for: seeding, feeding, pest control and weed control. The model No. 50 is equipped with a baffle plate in the hopper which is easily adjusted the spreader into a carrying cart for trans- porting dirt and other materials. to transform CLEAN UP DEBRIS. It is good to rake or sweep the lawn once or twice in the early spring, particularly dur- ing periods of freezing and thawing. Leaves should be removed lest they mat and smother small patches of grass. Discretion is necessary as it is not advisable to walk over a lawn when the grass is frozen or when the ground is so soft that footprints are left. 3 Scotts Soil Testing for the eastern the country has been section of transferred from Yonkers, New York, to Ridgefield, New Jersey. Samples originating east of Ohio or in any of the Japanese Beetle quar- antine zones should be addressed: O. M. Scott & Sons Co. Ridgefield, New Jersey All other samples are to be sent to the company at Marysville, Ohio. SIRS: The water shortage here has started a talk in our neighborhood: How will lot of it affect our lawns if we can't water them this summer? I believe the answer is to apply Turf Builder in late winter, preferably while a light snow is on the ground. I have done this in previous years and noted that besides giving an extra head start, it promoted deep root growth which helped my lawn to stand up during the hot dry spells we get on Long Island. Turf Builder is easier to apply with a light snow on the ground. The wheel tracks of my Scotts Spreader help to mark the area covered. The ground is hard so you don't mark up lawn. And what's more, it's fun to get your the lawn program started on a bright day before the big spring "push" is on you. Flushing, N. Y. A. D. it was reported that Last year two truckloads of Scotts Seed and Turf Builder were stolen from a midwest dealer's warehouse. Later itinerant door-to-door peddlers were feverishly selling Scotts products in towns about a hundred miles away at ridiculously low prices. While it was not possible to relate these two incidents directly, it seems likely that this is how the "hot goods" were disposed of. In addition to previous LAWN CARE warnings against strange Black Dirt Peddlers, the lawn enthusiast is also cautioned to buy his other lawn needs from known reputable sources. Serious Lime Burn DEAR SCOTT CO: The first warm Saturday lime and a spreader When you print your early spring "LAWN CARE" please do me a favor and warn igno- rant folks like me to be careful in using lime. in March, I or- local from dered hardware store. feet wet as I wore tennis sneakers and socks. The lime sifted down inside my shoes and gave me second degree burns on my feet. It was two hours before I could locate a doctor and nobody knew what to do. The burns healed up the In applying I got my five weeks and then followed four more weeks of a secondary infection. So you see I am 'way behind in my gardening now and I think it would be wise to warn people. The lime sent me by the hardware store was marked "Hydrated Lime." in Newark, New Jersey. HELEN WALLACE. The term lime is loosely applied to the various forms of calcium and mag- nesium oxide, hydroxide and carbonate. In pure state the oxides of calcium or magnesium, commonly referred to as burned lime, are most caustic. This type of lime should never be used for lawn purposes and is dangerous to have around the household. The building industry commonly uses slaked lime, sometimes called builders' lime and incorrectly termed "hydrated lime." In its pure state, it is slightly caustic when in contact with the skin and while it has sometimes been used for lawn purposes, it is not generally recommended. lime The commercial preparation of hydrated leaves a considerable amount of impurities in the final prod- uct. These include burned lime which by its very nature is quite caustic and unstable. When finely ground and mixed in with build- ers' lime, it tends to unite chemically impurities may with water. Even the moisture of per- spiration would be sufficient to bring about a rather violent reaction causing considerable heat and the blistering of the skin, especially the tender skin on top of the foot and in the vicinity of the ankle. Carbonated lime or ground raw lime- stone is not caustic. That is one rea- son why it is recommended for lawn use. Another is that it is slow to neu- tralize an acid soil condition, bringing about the needed change at a rate more satisfactory for the improvement of the lawn grasses. Each spring various people advise the plant- ing of White Clover to control Crabgrass. Un- timid. fortunately Crabgrass More drastic measures have to be taken to keep it under subjugation in most lawns. is seldom that Wild Garlic or Wild Onion is tough to kill but many users have reported good results from one application of Scotts Weed & Feed when the first shoots appear, another after the plants are fairly well grown. LAWN CARE BOOKS p e r m a n e nt in a sturdy loose-leaf ring binder with room for many additional issues is one dollar, postpaid. The digest and current issues in a heavy paper cover is twenty-five cents, postpaid. O M SCOTT & S O NS C O. Seem) M A R Y S V I L LE - - O H IO EVERY PACKAGE OF SCOTTS LAWN CARE PRODUCTS BEARS THIS TRADE - MARK AND IS SEALED FOR YOUR PROTECTION