189 



JOUBNAL OF HOETICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GADDENEfi. 



[ September 4, 1966 



for single specimens, or other features. All these being deter- 

 mined, and the position of each roughly marked out before the 

 spade is put in, it will be necessary to consider how the ma- 

 terials on the spot can be worked in to the best advantage. 

 The best soil must be appropriated to the beds and borders, 

 or for specimen trees, while all rough useless stones, brick- 

 bats, pieces of dried mortar, chippings of slato, &c, may 

 be used in making the walks, and the remainder levelled 

 for the turf ; and as it often happens that such work has to be 

 done at a season unfavourable for obtaining a good lawn from 

 seed, or without waiting so long for it, and there may be some 

 difficulty in procuring the necessary quantity of old turf to lay 

 down, some homely expedient has to be resorted to in order to 

 obtain the requisite sward. Some of the means which I have 

 been at times obliged to adopt are homely enough, and likely 

 to be derided by the advocates of exact mixtures of certain 

 grass seeds, very careful preparation of the ground, and other 

 niceties in the operation which make a lawn a costly affair. 

 Assuming, therefore, that it is midwinter when such work is 

 in hand, and that there is a little turfy grass on the spot, this, 

 however long, coarse, and neglected, I would take care of, and 

 turn to account. If it be long and ragged at top, mow it first 

 and then pare it up, and piok out docks, dandelions, and other 

 Ttry coarse weeds ; lay the patches so obtained in a heap on 

 some spot not likely to be interfered with until the last, and 

 the stones and other rubbish being placed contiguous to where 

 the walks are to be, let the surface soil be removed from the 

 intended walk to whatever depth will receive all the rubbish 

 which is to be disposed of, and lay such soil on some place 

 where wanted, so contriving the work as to have as little of the 

 materials as possible to move twice. Some forethought, with 

 a knowledge of what is ultimately intended, will enable the 

 operator to do this with less difficulty than is imagined, by be- 

 ginning at the right place, and avoiding as far as possible 

 confusion. No directions can be of much service in assisting 

 the beginner in this matter, as the requirements of places 

 differ so much, and without being on the spot it is impossible 

 to say where the first barrowful of material should be taken to. 

 Generally, however, it is customary to trench or dig plots 

 intended for beds, borders, or shrubberies, and such useless 

 material as may be found there may be removed to where a 

 less valuable soil is wanted, and the stones to the site of the 

 intended walks, but do not by any means remove all the stones 

 from such borders, for be assnred they are of great use where 

 they are. The removal, however, of any portion of the ma- 

 terial will necessitate additions being made at some places, and 

 to replace it the good soil from the walks may be made available 

 at once. Perhaps some beds or borders want raising into 

 mound-like forms ; if so, this may be done at once, and, if 

 necessary, the transplanting of any large shrub or tree may 

 be accomplished before the rest of the ground work, which I 

 expect to be laying down in grass, is proceeded with. 



Progress thus far having been made, and the sites for all 

 beds and borders prepared with the necessary materials, then 

 arrange about the walks, the site for which is supposed to have 

 been excavated some G or 8 inches or more as material to fill 

 it up may happen to be plentiful or otherwise, but I would not 

 advise less than 6 inches, although I have as a matter of 

 necessity made many walks only half that thickness. Here it 

 is necessary to remark that if the subsoil be wet, a drain may 

 be necessary — in fact it ought to have been mentioned at the 

 commencement of this article, that draining the ground in a 

 proper manner ought to be the first of all operations if it is 

 required; but expecting that to have been already done, I 

 may say that a drain along the centre of each walk will be of 

 service, supposing the substratum to be a sound hard clay. 

 Let the part excavated for the walk be made smooth at the 

 bottom and slightly falling to the centre, where a drain a foot 

 or more deep may be cut, and ordinary drain-tiles leading to 

 Borne suitable outlet put in. Let the top of the pipes be care- 

 fully covered over with stones, as well as the whole of the ex- 

 cavated portion, taking care that no large ones project upwards 

 so as to be within 1 or 2 inches of the surface of the walk. In 

 filling in this foundation reserve all the finer materials to go 

 on the top, and if such cannot be had, a little more care in 

 placing them will much assist in giving the bed of the walk a 

 finish, which may be still farther improved by breaking with a 

 hammer all stones that show too large at top, and finally a 

 good rolling or ramming down will be required before the finer 

 material is put on. This, however, is a subject more especially 

 appertaining to walk-making, while here we are only advising 

 how the materials at hand can be best disposed of. 



The next duty is to arrange for the edgings of the walks, and 

 assuming these to be grass, soma old turf ought to be obtained 

 to lay the edge with, even if only as much as to cover a space 

 of 6 inches wide ; try and obtain that, although a foot in 

 width is not too much. Level the edge for this turf, and be 

 sure to sink it deep enough, so that in the after-levelling of the 

 ground the upper edge of the turf may be no higher, but even 

 a trifle lower, than the surface of the ground to be operated on. 

 Do not depend on forcing the turf edging down by beating it as 

 has often enough been attempted, such beating only results in 

 its springing up again after heavy rain or frosts, but lay it 

 rather under the flush level as it is called, and when the 

 whole becomes of one piece it will not stand up as it often does 

 when laid down by unpractised hands. The edgings of beds 

 and borders may be treated in like manner, taking care in 

 laying such turf both here and by the sides of walks that a little 

 of it overlap the bed or walk, so as to allow of its being cut 

 more exactly when fairly established. To make this plain I 

 shall suppose a walk 10 feet wide to be wanted, therefore in 

 laying down the turf let the two edgings be 2 inches less than 

 this width apart, so that when the turf shall have fairly taken 

 hold of the soil a clean-cut edge may be made by taking off 

 1 inch from each side ; the same plan may be adopted in the 

 beds or borders, or wherever there is a margin of grass. At- 

 tention to this is more important in the dry spring months if 

 the turf be laid at such a time, as it is more likely to shrink 

 at that period than in midwinter, and, consequently, will not 

 extend to the place wanted to cut to. 



Presuming the work above mentioned to be done, the uext 

 operation is that of preparing the remainder of the ground for 

 plain turf. As it is desirable to do the work with as much 

 economy as possible, it is expected that a few sorts not men- 

 tioned in the usual lists of mixtures for lawn grasses may be 

 excused (for, in fact, they or some other will be sure to force 

 themselves among those in the more select list), and as we- 

 have advised whatever semblance there might be of turf on 

 the ground before operations commenced to be saved, it may 

 now be brought into use. First of all, let the ground be dug 

 over and properly levelled, taking care as far as possible to 

 have the surface soil a3 nearly of one kind as may be, and 

 although stones in moderate quantity are no detriment to the 

 shrubbery border, or even the flower-beds, all above the size of 

 a marble ought to be removed from the surface as the work 

 proceeds. Raking, however, need not be adopted unless the 

 soil be a sandy one and it is easily done. 



A moderately level surface having been obtained by using all 

 the material at hand, and contriving to make it do, the next 

 proceeding is to obtain a sward. In order to accomplish this 

 object, sow in the first place a little grass seed over the ground, 

 but only very little, then take the reserved turf or grassy sodf 

 that were taken off the ground at first, and tear them into 

 pieces as small as you like — observe, pulling in pieces is better 

 than cutting them — and the pieces may either be 3 inches 

 across, or only 1 inch. When large they ought to be laid care- 

 fully over the ground with the right side up, when very Bmall 

 they may be scattered over the plot as in spreading manure ; 

 and although many of the pieces will he in any position but 

 that in which they were before, yet if it be moist weather, 

 which may be expected in winter, they will in most cases attach 

 themselves to the ground and grow. When the growing season 

 arrives a tolerably well-covered surface will be the result, cer- 

 tainly not so good as when good old turf is laid down all over 

 the ground, but sufficient with a little patience, and the use 

 of a little Clover and Grass seed, to make a good sward in a 

 reasonable time, and that from materials anything but pro- 

 mising. Later in the season, or when it is dry, it would be 

 better only to tear up the turf into largerpieces, and carefully lay 

 these pieces with their proper side upwards all over the ground, 

 more or less thickly as they are plentiful or otherwise, but 

 assuming them to be about 3 inches wide then they might be 

 9 inches from centre to centre ; take care to press each well 

 into the soft ground, which is best done by only walking on the 

 part planted instead of on the naked ground. Of course, seeds 

 must be sown as well, and the whole well rolled, or otherwise 

 smoothed, which rolling must be repeated on favourable occa- 

 sions afterwards, especially after the patches begin to grow, or 

 after rain, if the ground will allow of its being done at that 

 time. 



In recommending the above simple plan, I by no means 

 assert that it is so good as using good sound turf from an old 

 lawn or pasture ; but as such is not always to be had, and there 

 being some uncertainty with seeds, it is worth trying, W* 



