TIIE FLORAL WORLD AND GAKDEN GUIDE. 259 



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

 we have long practised with the most agreeable results, that of 

 depositing 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 scattering, 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 

 circumstances. 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 sum- 

 mer 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 carry- 

 ing, 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 peculiarly 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 cut by cutters adapted for the scattering system, it falls on 

 the ground in a form more resembling dust than fibres, and acts as 

 a " mulch," both to nourish the growth and arrest evaporation from 

 the soil ; hence the importance of the scattering system on chalk 

 and sand, and other hungry stuff, and on any soil in such a hot 

 season as that of 1870. 



In the keeping of an old lawn it is of the utmost importance 

 to remember that grasses and clovers require for their well-doing 

 a highly-nourishing soil. Now it matters not how good the soil 

 may be in the first instance, if we cut and carry, we labour con- 

 stantly to impoverish the top-crust. In every barrowful of grass 

 removed, there will be a certain quantity of alkalies, phosphate-', 

 and other constituents of vegetation, abstracted from the soil. To 

 be always taking off and putting nothing on, must result in the 

 starvation of the grass ; and we shall find that as the grasses and 

 clovers disappear through the exhaustion of the soil, daisies, plan- 

 tains, knotgrass, self-heal, and other weeds, will take their place. 

 The simple remedy for this state of things is manuring, and the 

 best mode of manuring is to scatter over the turf a succession of 

 thin dressings of guano and fine mould mixed together. This should 

 be done in autumn and spring, at times when there is not much 

 truflic on the grass, and there is a likelihood of rain to follow. If 



September. 



