140 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



proper way is now to be described. Early in the autumn, as early 

 indeed as possession of the turf can be obtained without imposing 

 any check on garden games, the lawn should be covered with a 

 mixture of fine earth and guano, and at once sown with a mixture of 

 seeds of the finest lawn grasses. Any kind of earth will do if fine, 

 and guano should be in the proportion of four or five pounds to the 

 squai-e rod. Iq the absence of guano, Amies's patent manure will 

 answer admirably. If there is plenty of rotten hotbed manure to 

 spare, it may be used instead of the mixture recommended above, 

 but it will be more unsightly. Generally speaking, families leave 

 home in the autumn, and that is the time to top-dress the croquet 

 lawn. In many gardens, worn-out turf is dressed with grass seeds 

 and fine earth in spring, and the result is that improvement is 

 scarcely discernible. The time for such work is the autumn, and it 

 should always be accompanied with manurial matters of some kind 

 or other, for the exhaustion of the soil is quite as much the cause of 

 the perishing of the grass as the traffic of little feet upon it. 



But we want water on those lawns that are hard-worked all the 

 summer. On Saturday night a heavy flood should be turned on, 

 and by Monday the ground would be dry again for the play. A 

 lawn made with ramps and water-pipe, as advised for a skating rink, 

 might be flooded regularly all the summer, and by this kept as 

 green as emerald, and as soft to the foot as a Persian carpet. 



S. H. 



NEW BEDDING LOBELIAS. 



BY J. E. SAUNDEUS, ESQ. 



jjOBELTAS of the Speciosa and Pumila types are of such 

 immense value in the embellishment of the flower 

 garden, that really meritorious novelties are well de- 

 serving all the attention it is possible to give them. 

 Within the past two or three years some really fine 

 varieties have been introduced ; and as I have grown them all, with 

 but two exceptions, I will, with the permission of the Editor, point 

 out the newer sorts, which are well deserving of the most extended 

 cultivation. I do so now because the plants may be obtained at a 

 cheap rate, and a few of each planted in good soil will, provided 

 they have the flowers removed early in August, supply sufficient 

 cuttings for raising a stock for next year. 



Abundant opportunities will also be enjoyed for becoming 

 acquainted with the style of growth and the colour of the flowers of 

 each, and it will be possible to employ them with better effect than 

 would be the case were they to be purchased just before they are 

 required for the flower garden. The saving in the cost of the plants 

 will of course be immense. 



A most valuable addition to the Speciosa section has been made 

 in Blue Stone, which has a neater habit, and flowers of a much 

 deeper colour than Speciosa. The flowers are produced in such pro- 



