Grass Laivns and Croquet Grounds 



^7 



their coarser growing companions, such as the 

 foxtail grass (Alopecurus pratensis), cocks- 

 foot grass (DactyUs glomerata), and the 

 Timothy grass (Phleum pratense), are wholly 

 inadmissible ; and no turf wherein they na- 

 turally exist should be chosen. 



In one or other of the different lists of 

 mixed seeds for short grass, published by re- 

 cognised authorities, all the following twenty- 

 two kinds of true grasses and other plants are 

 enumerated : — 



I — TRUE GRASSES. 



1. Antlioxanthum odoratum — sweet vernal gi-ass. 



2. Alopecurus pratensis — meadow foxtail grass. 



3. Cynosurus cristatus — crested dogstail grass. 



4. iJactylis glomerata — rough cocksfoot grass. 



5. Festuca duriuscula — hard fescue grass. 



6. Festuca heterophylla — various-leaved fescue grass. 



7. F"estuca ovina — sheep's fescue grass. 



S. Festuca pratensis — meadow fescue grass. 



9. Festuca rubra — red or creeping fescue grass. 



10. Festuca tenuifolia — fine-leaved fescue grass. 



1 1. Lolium perenne — perennial ryegrass in several 



varieties. 



12. Phleum pratense — Timothy or cat's tail grass. 

 Ij. Poa annua — annual meadow grass. 



14. Poa nemoralis — wood or grove meadow grass. 



15. Poa nemoralis sempervirens — evergreen wood 



meadow grass. 



1 6. Poa pratensis — smooth-stalked meadow grass. 



17. Poa trivialis — rough-stalked meadow grass. 

 I S. Trisetum flavescens — yellowish oat grass. 



1 1 — OTHER PLANTS THAN GRASSES. 



19. Achillea .Millefolium — Yarrow or milfoil. 



20. Medicago lupulina — yellow trefoil. 



21. Trifoliumfiliforme (minus) — yellow suckling clover. 



22. Trifolium repens — white clover. 



Of the preceding, Nos. 2, 4, and 1 2 are, as 

 before stated, wholly inadmissible, as their 

 coarse and rapid growth places them among 

 the most unsightly of lawn weeds. Although 

 Nos. I, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 20, and 22 are scarcely 

 so objectionable as the last, they had better 

 be almost invariably left out. The sheep's 

 fescue, No. 7, has, no doubt, the requisite 

 properties of hardness and fineness in its 

 foliage, but its small tufted or round brush- 

 like growth renders it unsighdy. And 

 although the white clover, No. 22, was a 

 universal favourite before the invention of 

 mowing machines, in consequence of its 

 gready facilitating the operation of scythe- 

 cutting, by its softness and its long retention 

 of moisture, it should now be generally 

 discarded wherever the mowing machine is to 

 be used, and dryness of surface desiderated. 



Nos. 10, 13, 14, 15, and 18 are all admis- 

 sible under particular circumstances — thus, 

 that troublesome weed, the Poa annua. No. 13, 

 yields good verdure in overshaded city greens, 

 where no other grasses will grow, and the 

 wood meadow grasses, Nos. 14 and 15, sur- 

 pass all the others in the closeness of their 

 growth in groves, or under the thick shade 

 of large trees. With these deductions, the 

 list of really generally useful grasses and other 

 plants for lawns or greens, becomes reduced 

 from the before-named twenty-two kinds, to 

 the following six, viz. : — 



1. Cynosurus cristatus — crested dogstail grass. 



2. Festuca duriuscula — hard fescue gi-ass. 



3. Lolium perenne — perennial ryegrass. 



4. Poa trivialis— rough stalked meadow gi^ass. 



5. Achillea Millefolium — Yarrow or milfoil. 



6. Trifolium tiliforme — yellow suckling clover. 



The Cynosurus cristatus, is one of the 

 commonest and least variable of our 

 native grasses ; hence improved varieties 

 of it, either for horticultural or agricultural 

 purposes, need not be looked for. It is very 

 different, however, with the Festuca duriuscula, 

 which is the most variable of grasses in its 

 size, habit, form, and colour. And while a 

 little has already been done in selecting and 

 cultivating superior hay and pasture varieties 

 of it, yet nothing has been accomplished in 

 doing the same with those that are best 

 adapted for short grass, although some of 

 these hold out much encouragement to 

 growers, by their pleasant as well as perma- 

 nent greenness, combined with the other 

 mentioned requisite essentials for short grass, 

 which all its varieties possess, as is further 

 shewn by their abundant presence in the turf 

 of all the best cricket and other play-greens ; 

 and their powers of resistance is particularly 

 conspicuous in those which are subjected to 

 much trampling. The so-called evergreen 

 and fine-leaved ryegrasses, together with other 

 varieties of Lolium perenne, generally in- 

 cluded in short-grass seed mixtures, are less 

 leafy and more seed-producing than most 

 of those which appear in old pasture lands ; 

 and were some of our enterprising seed 

 dealers to take the trouble of selecting and 

 cultivating the best of these last to seed 

 from, they would doubdessly be well remu- 



