Around the House
FERTILIZING THE LAWN .- In cities it is very customary for people owning small pieces of grass to cover the whole area in late autumn or early winter with a heavy coat of stable manure. It makes no difference if the grass extends on every side of the house, and if the manure has the vilest appearance and odor imaginable, the lawn must be manured, and this is the way to do it. Now, I wish to disabuse the minds of people who think this the only way to maintain a good turf. It is not even the best of many ways. It is not at all necessary that one sacrifice the beauty of the green turf or that one endure the vile odor of fermenting manure in order to keep up the fertility of the lawn. Plain ground bone, and Mr. Wilde says it may be quite coarsely ground, scattered over the surface at the rate of five pounds to the square rod, will disappear so as not to be observed and makes an excellent manure. I have used ordinary wood ashes with excellent results. A compost made of the droppings from the poultry house mixed with road dust or sifted coal ashes, pulverized and sown broadcast, does not in the least disfigure the lawn and produces immediate and excellent results. Mrs. Winans, of Benton Harbor, says that tobacco stems broken up finely and sown upon the lawn will produce a very dark green verdure. Use any of these plans rather than spoil the appearance of the grass half the year, that it may be beautiful the remainder. The sacrifice is entirely uncalled for.  S. Q. L

LAWN EMBELLISHMENTS. - Shrubs are valued for their bloom as well as for form and foliage. Each variety will serve some special end. As a rule plant in irregular groups, as directed for trees. At projecting points in shrub masses, plant some hardy herbaceous perennials. Use vines for porches or for covering a half dead tree-top or rubbish pile. Plant flowers mostly at the side of the house in irregular but gracefully-shaped beds, and about the trunks of trees when they are young, perhaps. No special paths are needed about flower or shrub groups. Rock work is seldom satisfactory, and is only appropriate in a retired portion of the grounds. A pile of shells, rocks and scoria in the front yard is sadly out of place. Heap them in some back and shady corner and you will find great delight in transplanting from the woods and meadows an assortment of hepaticas, spring beauties, blood-root, trilliums, bellworts, phloxes and ferns. If you have a pond near by, introduce some water lilies, cat-tail flags, pickerel weed, arrow-head, and near by set some weeping willows and birches and ashes. Do not despise flower, shrub or tree because it is native or "common." As a rule the best known is better than the imported variety. Give thought and attention to all the details of making a pleasant home. It is a worthy work. You will be surprised to find how much beauty can be attained at little cost, and how rapidly everything hastens forward to the completed plan in your own mind. You will have a constant comfort and a fresh hope realized every year as the trees grow, and transformation follows transformation toward the fulfillment of your original design.
PROF. W. J. BEAL.

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