THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



155 



at a tremendous rate, and after tlie roller 

 has been over, it lies as close and smooth 

 as pile velvet. But there is another reason 

 why it was most unreasonable of me to 

 complain. In December last I moved 

 the roses from the thirteen feet circular 

 bed in the centre of the Spergula, took 

 out the stuff eighteen inches deep, carted 

 in peat from Wanstead, and planted the 

 bed with rhododendron species. I put 

 down planks, and made a speech on the 

 inviolability of Spergula pilifera, yet in 

 spite of me the fellows trampled it in some 

 places almost to a paste, and had it been 

 a miffy sort of thing it would have va- 

 nished altogether. Yet in spite of the 

 crushing of feet and wheelbarrows during 

 a drenching December week, every scrap 

 that was crushed has started up again 

 like so many vegetable Phoenixes, and 

 every mite of a seedling from self-sown 

 seeds last autumn has survived the winter 

 — and what a winter! — and is now spread- 

 ing, and the bare earth is scarcely visible 

 between them. Last year's original patches 

 are now a foot across, and the whole 

 circle will soon be densely turfed, and 

 then — what then ? Why, it will begin to 

 live on itself like a true moss, and the 

 days of its swan-down luxury will begin. 

 I saw by a piece of the Spergula, which 

 Mr. Summers cut with his knife, that the 

 stuff makes a fibrous felt by the decay 

 of its procumbent stems while a fresh 

 growth goes on above. Thus the felt 

 holds moisture in the driest and hottest 

 weather, and when - pressed by the foot 

 sinks with just enough resistance to be 

 pleasant, and make a tired man forget for 

 the time the weight of his body. 



To have brought my piece to perfection 

 quickly I should have used established 

 tufts instead of seeds, and it should have 

 had plenty of water the first season. If 

 I am satisfied after having given it so 

 severe a trial, I suppose others will be 

 who are inclined to pet and humour it, 

 and it deserves humouring as much as 

 any plant in cultivation. 



I can understand why some hard 

 things have been said about it. The sam- 

 ple at Messrs. Henderson's is no credit 

 to them, and cannot benefit the plant 

 much. This is not said to their discredit, 

 for it is rare that at nurseries time can be 

 given to make a special feature of such a 

 thing, especially if it has to be done on 

 a sudden. Besides, Messrs. Henderson 

 grow it for sale, and the sample is per- 

 petually being cut at, and how can it show 

 its beauties under such circumstances? 

 Mr, Cutbush has a good piece round his 



fine plant of Wellingtonia gigantea, and 

 some clay the Crystal Palace gardens will 

 show it in sufficient perfection to set 

 people crazy after it. 



From eighteen months' constant obser- 

 vation, and having taken the care of my 

 piece into my own hands, prohibiting any 

 other hand from tending it, I can safely 

 fay that in one season it will prove itself 

 to be a right good thing; and after that 

 it will begin to assume its high character, 

 as it does at Forest Hdl after a growth of 

 six or seven years. This too is just the 

 proper time to plant or sow. Self-sown 

 plants of last July in my piece are now 

 good tufts, therefore seed sown now, 

 pricked out, and left in the kitchen 

 garden on a reserve plot will be fine for 

 the making of a lawn next spring. It 

 grows quickest in a loose soil ; but to 

 make a lasting turf is best on clay, and 

 the more roller and trampling the better. 

 Tufts put in now and kept safe in case of 

 drought will have the benefit of all the 

 autumn rains, and get their roots deep 

 before the winter comes. But let no one 

 imagine that a perfect lawn can be obtained 

 the first season. Like good claret or 

 Scotch ale it acquires nobility with age, 

 and if I stay here till I am gray-headed I 

 suppose I may sleep in the summer time 

 on my sample of emerald swan's-down. 

 Let those who doubt all this go first to 

 Forest Hill and see what has been done 

 by the master of Spergula, Mr. Summers. 

 Then let them get a pinch of seed or a 

 single tuft of plant and grow it in a pot 

 or in a nook of a rockery and wait. Its 

 continuous lateral growth and exquisite 

 freshness of colour will convince them that 

 here is a plant that may be put to fifty 

 different uses and be good and profitable 

 in all. 



If I were laying out a geometric garden, 

 and especially if in sunk panels, the ground- 

 work should be Spergula. If I wanted a 

 close verge to run away in soft lines, neat 

 and close, and easily kept to its proper 

 boundary, I would not have grass if 

 Spergula cost a shilling an inch. To sur- 

 face the ground in a rootery or a rockery, 

 or on a turf terrace, Spergula and patience, 

 and then no fear of summer drought to 

 spoil the greenness, for it sends its roots 

 down aa if it knew the shortest route to 

 New Zealand through the centre of the 

 earth, and if you take up a year-old tuft 

 you may dig deep to find the lowest of 

 its spongioles. Where the roots of Mr. 

 Mongredien's piece are gone to might 

 help us to some conclusions respecting 

 the internal heat of the earth. 



