shall be so many pounds to the bushel. It will cost you a high price, but it will be far cheaper in the end than to buy something inexpensive that has more than a third of sweepings and useless bulk. You certainly lose nothing by buying the very best seed that your dealer can offer you.
Do not be ashamed to ask for samples before buying, and also get samples from a number of places and compare the different seeds. Spread them out in your hand and see if they are clean and without chaff. A seed with a large proportion of dust and chaff is not worth buying. It should be your consideration to see whether you are getting what you pay for. If you show evidences of knowing the proper seeds you will receive a most respectful hearing from the tradesman. Do not balk at the price of re-cleaned seed.
It means that you are going to get something for your money. It is worth much more than the seed sold in bulk that is not re-cleaned.
SOWING THE SEED
THE nearest thing, by way of comparison, to a lawn is a bed of plants that you set out in your garden every spring. When you think it is planting time you go to this bed with spade or fork and turn the earth up from the deep bottom, putting in plenty of well-rotted manure, thus ministering to the soil according to its needs. Then you set out the plants, and if weeds grow up you dig them out, after which you water the spot intelligently. For this labor your reward comes to you in the shape of an abundance of bloom and foliage.
Just as truly is a lawn a bed of plants needing an equal amount of treatment. Grass is nothing but a collection of thou
sands of little plants crowded together, which must have nourishment, and from which the weeds must be taken. Likewise the soil must be given water as it is needed and the earth must be made mellow for the roots, to a good depth. It makes no difference how much you pay for your grass seed, how good or bad it is, or what kind of fertilizers you use, if the bed is not properly prepared in the first place. Without this fundamental preparation, grass plants will not grow, or if they do, will not thrive.
It is quite a trick to sow grass seed evenly so that it will germinate without giving the plot a spotty effect. It should be spread at the rate of about three bushels to the acre, and this sowing can be successfully done only on a quiet day. Even a very light wind is liable to pile up your seed on your neighbor's lot or on
your own in places not wanted. Keep the seed in a pail while sowing, and, after taking a handful, bend close to the soil and let the seed feed through the fingers as the arm swings back and forth in a semicircle. This is very much easier to say than to do, but a little experience will make one quite proficient. To help still more, sow the seed two ways, one at right angles to the other. After sowing, rake lightly and then finish the work by putting a heavy roller over it.