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The Country GcntlanaiUs Magazine 



nerated by the increased demand for their 

 inTi^roved lawn grass seed, as well as by 

 the prestige which never fails to attach to the 

 originators of any meritorious article. All 

 the ryegrasses are, however, deficient in 

 that firmness of foliage and persistency of 

 root which are essential in grasses for much 

 frequented play-greens; and they are, there- 

 fore, only admissible into such mixtures in 

 consequence of the rapid growth of their 

 young plants, which give an early appearance 

 of finish to the surface, and by which the 

 more enduring but slower-growing kinds are 

 protected or nursed in their early stages — 

 purposes for which the so-called annual rye- 

 grass would be still better suited, could a 

 variety of it be got with sufficient fineness of 

 foliage. The thickly-spreading leaf-shoots of 

 the Poa trivialis are well fitted for covering the 

 ground surface under and between other 

 plants, and the objection urged against it in 

 scythe-cutting times, of these shoots becoming 

 raised up by the after operations of sweeping 

 and raking, no longer hold, now that the cut 

 grass is gathered by the mowing machine. 

 Yarrow, unlike the white clover, is neither a 

 dew-attracting nor moisture-retaining plant, 

 and a proper mixture of it adds much to the 

 closeness and elasticity of the turf ; and 

 the suckling clover forms a closer sur- 

 face, is smaller in leaves, slower in growth, as 

 well as drier, than the white clover, to which 

 it should therefore be invariably preferred. 



]\Iuchofthe ground in the vicinity of towns 

 which has recentlybeenconverted into gardens, 

 was previously overgrown for shorter or longer 

 periods with noxious weeds, and the seeds 

 of these are frequently blown to it from 

 neighbouring places ; even in more rural 

 localities, ground which is intended to be 

 sown down for short grass, is scarcely less 

 foul and unsuitable. Hence, along with the 

 young grass there comes up in greens 

 and lawns a thick growth of coarse grasses, 

 and other pernicious weeds also appear, for 

 which the seedsman, from whom the mixed 

 grass seeds were procured, is almost in- 

 variably blamed. Great powers of dis- 

 crimination are not required to detect 

 the identity of six kinds of seeds in a 

 mixture, and purchasers should possess small 

 samples, collected if possible by themselves, 

 to compare their purchases with ; while 

 dealers would also do well by keeping correct 

 samples separately of the different kinds, for 

 examination and comparison by themselves 

 and customers. Were this generally practised, 

 with the grass as well as other seeds, 

 much misunderstanding, as well as expensive 

 litigation would be prevented; and customers 

 would have themselves to blame, who sub- 

 mitted to be imposed upon by unfair 

 dealers supplying them with kinds and 

 proportions different from those ordered 

 and invoiced. 



PEAS AND THEIR PESTS. 



OF pea-destroying pests belonging to the 

 animal kingdom the worst are mice, 

 slugs and snails, beetles or weevils, and birds. 

 The mice are easily overcome by a little well- 

 tmied perseverance in trapping ; and for out- 

 door use, no mouse-trap is so easily applied 

 and eftectual as that familiariy known to gar- 

 deners as the fourth-figure trap. Poisoning 

 of mice is always objectionable from the 

 liability of its being transferred to cats and 

 dogs, as well as from their escaping into places 

 where their decomposition becomes an in- 



tolerable nuisance. Snails and slugs may 

 either be overcome by trapping with cabbage 

 or lettuce leaves, by allowing young ducks 

 to have the occasional run of the garden in 

 the evenings and mornings, and by frequently 

 dusting the ground at those times with quick- 

 lime. Beetles seldom appear in very destruc- 

 tive numbers, although instances do some- 

 times occur in which their ravages are 

 very disastrous to the young plants, more 

 especially of dwarf or slow-growing varieties. 

 Picking them off the leaves and shaking 



