THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 333 



mixtures adapted to particular kinds of soil. The best time in the 

 year to sow seeds is the month ol* August. If the work cannot then 

 be completed, the sowing may be continued through September and 

 October, but not later ; but may be resumed in February and 

 March. Grass seeds may be sown indeed on auy day in the year, 

 provided the weather is favourable to the operation, and the ground 

 in a fit state ; but the month of August is the best time to insure a 

 good plant before winter, and a long period of growth before the 

 summer heat returns. 



There is yet a third mode of forming a lawn, now rarely prac- 

 tised, but in days when grass seeds were comparatively unknown, 

 frequently resorted to. It is termed " inoculating " and consists in 

 planting pieces of grass turf at regular distances over the plot. 

 In districts where good turf is obtainable only in small quanti- 

 ties, this method may be recommended, for if the turves are torn 

 into small pieces and planted at a foot apart in September or 

 February, they will extend rapidly, and form a pretty good sward 

 the first season. 



In the after management, the principal operations consist of 

 rolling, mowing, and weeding. Grass seeds must be constantly 

 weeded, until the turf thickens sufficiently to kill out the weeds, and 

 newly-laid turf must be kept clean of thistles, docks, and other rank 

 weeds, by spudding them out, or by a simpler process which we 

 have long practised with the most agreeable results, that of deposit- 

 ing in the heart of the plant a small quantity of phospho-guano, 

 which kills it at once, and promotes the growth of clover in its 

 stead. If this operation is carelessly performed, and the guano 

 thrown about wastefully, the immediate result is a dotting of the 

 lawn with unsightly brown patches, which however, soon disappear 

 after the occurrence of rainy weather. 



Many as are the kinds of mowing machines, they may all be classed 

 under two heads — those that cut and carry, and those that cut and 

 scatter. A carrying-machine may be made to scatter by removing 

 the box, but not so well as the machine that is intended for scatter- 

 ing, as in each case the cutter is formed expressly for the work it is 

 intended to perform. If the question be asked, which is the best 

 form of machine, our reply is that they are of equal value, and the 

 intending purchaser must be guided by a consideration of circum- 

 stances. In the excessively hot and dry summers of 1868 and 1870 

 we constantly employed the "Archimedean," which scatters the 

 grass, and our lawns were as green through all the burning drought 

 as in the cooler days of spring. In the moist summer of 1871, it 

 would have been necessary to sweep up the grass, had the scattering 

 machine been employed on our strong land, and therefore we kept 

 our trusty " Shanks " at work, cutting and carrying, and had to 

 mow twice a week through the whole of June and July, to keep the 

 grass down. Nevertheless, in that same moist summer, we saw the 

 "Archimedean " employed on a tract of chalk land, which is pecu- 

 liarly exposed to the influence of the sun, and the result was a fresh 

 green turf, where in the height of summer nothing better than a 

 dusty door mat had ever been seen before. When the grass is 



