103 

 156.-CRICKET AND TENNIS LAWNS IN TRINIDAD. 



Europeans who come to the tropics generally bring their ideas on 

 such things as the management of the tennis lawn with them. Unfor- 

 tunately the solid rolled turf so easily obtained in a temperate climate 

 is not to be found here ; and the grasses of which the sward is com- 

 posed are essentially distinct from the species which produce an 

 English tennis lawn. That is to say, the difference between the 

 grasses is as much marked as is the distinction between a goat and a 

 cow. With the grasses of the tropics and the grasses of the tem- 

 perate zones, likenesses can be pointed out, but when these are accu- 

 rately noted, the enquirer finds that in some cases likeness or affinity 

 disappears, and that many dissimilarities are to be found. With 

 tropical grasses it is almost impossible to obtain what is known 

 in England as leathery turf, for the simple reason that they are 

 with perhaps one or two exceptions incapable of producing it. 

 Hence, when a lawn has to be prepared in Trinidad, we have 

 either to take the grass of the pasture and use it, or to plant 

 grasses which will answer our purpose. Throughout the West Indies 

 there are, however, many species of gramina; or grasses which are 

 dwarf in habit, and when prop'^rly managed will produce good lawns. 

 First and foremost among these is Cynodon dacti/lou, the " Bahama" 

 or " Bermuda grass," " Indian Couch grass," " Doub" or " Doorva." 

 This grass can be propagated by planting small tufts at short dis- 

 tances, and will cover a lawn in a short space of time. Another- 

 method of planting is to chop up the rhizomes or succulent under- 

 ground stems into small lengths, mix them to the consistency 

 of mortar with fine soil, and then spread it over the surface of 

 prepared ground with a trowel, and in a few days grass will spring 

 up with great regularity over the plot.''^ In some soils, however, this 

 grass is overgrown by other species. In some parts of Jamaica this 

 grass is overgrown by Sjyoroholus Indicus, R. Br., the tufted "wire 

 grass" of that Colony. In Trinidad, "wire grass" gives little 

 trouble, is readily cut with the scythe, and does not spread to any 

 great extent. In some districts in Jamaica the " wire grass" grows 

 very rapidly and becomes quite a nuisance, and moreover the stem 

 contains such a large amount of Silica as to make it utterly impos- 

 sible to use the scythe for cutting it. In Trinidad on the contrary, 

 the scythe is in constant use, and the grass is a useful one for making 



* Kew Bulletin, p. 378. 



