AND GENERAL HORTICULTURE. 



219 



LAV 



able only for backgrounds to other plants. 

 The seed need only be sown where wanted to 

 grow. 



Lavender. See Lavandula. 

 Cotton. See Santolina. 



La-wn. Is the name given to the open grass 

 space surrounding a dwelling. The prepara- 

 tion of the lawn should be preliminary to the 

 laying out of flower-beds in grounds having 

 pretensions to what is called Landscape Gar- 

 dening. The formation of the lawn is too 

 often hastily and imperfectly done ; it is the 

 foundation of all subsequent operations, and 

 if badly done at first, the fault can never be 

 remedied afterwards. The first thing to be 

 done is to get the gi'ound shaped to the 

 desired grade, taking care in grading that 

 when hills or rocks are removed, sufficient 

 subsoil is also removed to be replaced with 

 top soil ; so that at least five inches of good 

 soil will overlay the whole in all places. When 

 the grading is finished, if the nature of the 

 ground requires it, drains should be laid 

 wherever necessary (see Draining) ; then the 

 whole should be thoroughly plowed, a sub- 

 soil following in the wake of the common 

 plow, until it is completely pulverized. A 

 heavy harrow should then be applied until the 

 surface is thoroughly fined down ; all stones, 

 roots, etc., should be removed, so that a 

 smooth surface may be obtained. The lawn 

 is now ready to be sown. When the seed is 

 sown, a light hari'ow should again be applied, 

 and after that a thorough rolling given, so 

 that the surface is made as smooth and firm 

 as possible. In the latitude of New York, the 

 seed maj' be sown any time during the months 

 of April and May, and will form a good lawn 

 by August, if the preparation has been good. 

 If sown in the hot months of June or July, a 

 sprinkling of oats should be sown at the same 

 time, so that the shade given by the oats will 

 protect the young grass from the sun. Lawns 

 are also sometimes sown during the early fall 

 months (September being the best) with excel- 

 lent results. The formula for seed for lawn 

 grass now known in New York as Central 

 Park Mixture, is as follows : Eight quarts 

 Rhode Island Bent Grass ; three quarts 

 Creeping Bent Grass ; ten quarts Red Top 

 Grass ; ten quarts Kentucky Blue Grass ; one 

 quart White Clover. For small plots, of 

 course digging, trenching, and raking must 

 be done, instead of plowing, sub-soiling, and 

 harrowing. Wherever the extent of the lawn 

 does not exceed 2,500 square feet^ and where 

 sods can be obtained from a suitable pasture 

 near at hand without much cost, the quickest 

 way to make the lawn is to sod it; but before 

 doing so, the ground should be rolled or beaten 

 down, particularly if any portion of it has 

 been filled in, so that there maybe no "set- 

 tling " to form hollows or inequalities. A con- 

 venient size of sod to lay down is twelve by 

 eighteen inches, and of a thickness of two 

 inches. In laying, see that the edges are 

 neatly laid together, and the whole firmly 

 beaten down with the back of a spade. If it is 

 di*y weather when the work is done, it maj' be 

 necessary to thoroughly drench the newly- 

 laid god for a week or so after, every other 

 evening. 



To keep the lawn in proper condition, it 

 should be mowed over once every week, if the 



LAW 



weather is moist, and not less than once in 

 two weeks, even in dry weather; for if the 

 lawn has been properly made in the first place, 

 and " top-dressed " with a good coat of well- 

 rotted manure in fall, and the rough part's 

 raked off in spring, the weather must be dry 

 and hot indeed lo prevent its growth. 



On sloping banks it is often necessary to use 

 sod, as the rains wash the soil off before the 

 grass-seed has time to germinate. It is some- 

 times even necessary, in sodding very steep 

 banks, to use pins eight or ten inches in 

 length, to pin the sods to place, to prevent 

 them from being washed down by excessive 

 rains before the grass-roots have had time to 

 fasten in the soil. 



Lawns that have been worn out by neglect 

 or other causes, or where it is not convenient 

 or desirable to renew them by plowing up, 

 will be greatly benefited by running a light 

 harrow over them if the surface is large, or by 

 a sharp steel rake for smaller areas. After 

 stirring the surface by such means, judiciously, 

 so as not to injure the roots too severely, 

 lawn grass should be sown over the surface, 

 using about half the quantity of seed required 

 for new lawns, and over this for each acre, or 

 in the same proportions for lesser areas, sow 

 500 pounds of some good "lawn enricher;" 

 again harrow or rake, and roll down firmly. 



Weeds in lawns, such as thistles, dande- 

 lions, dock-roots, etc., can only be removed 

 by cutting them out with a knife. Thistle 

 and dock roots should be removed as far as 

 possible ; but as to others, there is no neces- 

 sity for cutting the whole root out. If cut 

 below the crown, the root will not start again. 



Ants on lawns are a pest that we are almost 

 powerless to cope with. Nothing seems to 

 poison them, as either their instinct teaches 

 them to avoid the ordinary insect poisons, or 

 their constitutions are proof against them. 

 Eveiything we have tried has failed, except 

 Pyrethrum or Persian insect powder. This 

 applied by a bellows quickly suffocates them ; 

 but every insect needs to be struck by it, or it 

 is useless, as it only kills them by suffocation. 

 They can also be captured by placing fresh 

 bones or molasses in plates around their 

 haunts ; they attack these before anything 

 else. By persistently thus catching and 

 destroying them two or three times a day, 

 they may be permanently got rid of. 



La"wso'nia. Henna Plant. Named after Dr. 

 Isaac Lawson, a botanical traveler. Nat. Ord. 

 LythracecB. 



L. Alba, the only species, the celebrated 

 Henna of the East and is a dwarf shrub, eight 

 to ten feet high, bearing smooth, oval, lance- 

 shaped, entire leaves, and panicles of small, 

 white, sweet-smelling fiowers, which are used 

 by Buddhists as offerings to their deities. 

 This shrub is grown, throughout India, Persia, 

 Egypt, and the north of Africa, and the use 

 of the powdered leaves as a cosmetic is very 

 general in all these countries, the practice 

 having descended from very remote ages, as 

 is proved by the evidence of Egyptian 

 Mummies, the parts dyed being usually the 

 finger and toe nails, the tips of the fingers, 

 the palms of the hands, and the soles of the 

 feet, to all of which it imparts a reddish- 

 orange color, which is considered by the Orien- 

 tal fair sex, greatly to enhance their beauty. 



