NOTES AND QUERIES ON LAWNS. 



271 



NOTES AND QUERIES ON LAWNS. 



BY A NEW-BEDFORD SUBSCRIBER. 



Dear Sir — I read your editorial in the last 

 Horticulturist, upon lawns, with much inte- 

 rest, and notice you recommend a mixture 

 of Red Top and White Clover, without re- 

 ference to the soil, whether it is wet or dry. 



Loudon, in a little work upon "Gardening- 

 for Ladies," published 1841, recommends 

 the Crested Dog's-tail Grass, Cynosurus 

 cristalus, as the best for sustaining drouth 

 and heat, as its roots penetrate so deeply 

 into the ground as to keep its blades green, 

 while all grasses around it are quite brown 

 from being dried up. 



" The Hard Fescue Grass, Festuca duri- 

 uscula, is another kind which stands drouth 

 well, and is a fine dwarf grass, and springs 

 early." 



" The Fox-tail Meadow Grass, Alopecu- 

 rus pratensis, one of the principal grasses in 

 rich natural pastures, should always form 

 one-fourth part of seeds for a lawn." 



" The Sweet-scented Spring Grass, or 

 Anthoxaydhum odoratum, grows best in deep 

 moist soil ; but it is worth sowing in all 

 situations for its fineness, its dwarf growth, 

 and for its habit of continuing to vegetate 

 and throw up fresh stalks nearly all the year 

 — very fragrant in new hay." 



" The Common Meadow Grass, Poa pra- 

 tensis, is good for Lawns, as, though of slow 

 growth, it has creeping, permanent roots." 



" The Short Blue Meadow Grass, Poa 

 cendea, may be added, for its deep blue 

 tint, which gives a richness to the general 

 color of the turf, and it sustains no injury 

 from drouth." 



Loudon goes on to say, the Meadow Fox- 

 tail is very often bad, only one-third of the 

 seed germinating. " Sow of the mixed 

 grasses about four bushels per acre, but if 



an immediate effect is wanted, add one and 

 a half bushels of the common White Clo- 

 ver." These directions are intended for an 

 English climate, and what would stand an 

 an English drouth well, might perhaps be 

 burnt to a cinder here, exposed to our un- 

 clouded sun. As my grounds suffer from 

 drouth, being on a light sand and gravel 

 subsoil, I wish to ask if you think the White 

 Clover and Red Top more suitable for dry 

 places, than the above grasses, recommend- 

 ed as particularly adapted for their proper- 

 ties of standing drouth in England. I am 

 subsoiling and trenching my ground, and 

 intended to let it lie for a year before lay- 

 ing it down, to kill, if possible, the grub, 

 which has destroyed the roots of the grass. 

 Can you recommend any application to the 

 surface for the latter purpose ? 



Is there no danger in subsoiling and 

 trenching a soil already too dry, that it will 

 increase the difficulty, by allowing the mois- 

 ture and liquid manure to pass below the 

 reach of the roots ? Perhaps, if not asking 

 too much, you will favor your readers with 

 a few simple directions for the best mode 

 of treating an acre or two of ground about 

 a house in grass, with clumps of trees, etc., 

 the grass wir}', scraggy, coarse, surface un- 

 even and full of grub-worms, now just 

 ploughed and subsoiled — a fine velvety lawn 

 required. Very truly yours. 



A Subscriber. 



P. S. If the above grasses are, in your 

 opinion, desirable, do you think they can be 

 had at our- nurseries? Loudon says the 

 best place is at Cormack''s Nursery, in New 

 Cross, London. In Boston, I could not find 

 that our nurserymen knew any thing of the 

 Fescue or Crested Dog's-tail Grass. 



