Better Lawns

Title: Better Lawns
Subtitle: “This booklet sold only through authorized Bolens dealers”
Genre: Home & Garden
Author: John Bradshaw
Illustrator: Unknown
Publisher: Bolens division, FMC Corporation
Year: 1965
Pages: 48
Format: Softcover booklet, staple-bound.
Provenance: Stamp from Schumacher's Hardware & Garden on front cover.
Chapter Title Examples: The new lawn; Sod or seed; When to sow or sod; Watering the new lawn; Early spring care of lawns; Selection of a lawn mower; Separate sprayer for 2,4-D; Chickweed and clover; Aerifying the lawn; Control of lawn pests and insects; Gasses for shady lawns.
Opening Sentence: “One of the first objectives of a home owner should be to strive for a smooth and thick green lawn.”
Random Passage: “Unfortunately there is no way of preventing weeds from your neighbor’s garden or nearby fields from reinfecting your lawn. This means that spraying with 2,4-D will be an annual job. Make the spraying in the month of May when the leaves are growing vigorously.”
Notes: The quintessentially 20th-century pursuit of maintaining a lush, green and grassy lawn is laid out in this promotional booklet, sold at stores which sold Bolens products (a purveyor of lawn mowers, still in business today). Although the text is somewhat dry, it's enlivened by perky, stylish spot illustrations by an unknown artist — all of which are included below.