252 MANAGEMENT OF [CHAP. IX. 



square foot of fine turf. Some of the grasses 

 are coarse, and grow high and widely apart; 

 and others are very fine and slender, and grow 

 closely together. This being the case, it is 

 obvious that, when a fine smooth turf is 

 required, the finer kinds of grasses should be 

 chosen, and the coarser ones not only rejected 

 from among the grass seeds sown, but, if pos- 

 sible, destroyed whenever they appear, if they 

 should chance to come up accidentally. 



Botanists have distinguished and arranged 

 nearly fifteen hundred different species of 

 grasses; and of these, -probably, more than 

 three hundred kinds are now cultivated in 

 England. These grasses differ widely in their 

 appearance, habits of growth, &c. ; and, to 

 ascertain their different qualities exactly, a 

 series of experiments was instituted some years 

 ago by the late Duke of Bedford, the results 

 of which were published in the Hortus Gra- 

 mineus Woburnensis. The qualities of the dif- 

 ferent kinds of grasses having been ascertained, 

 the next thing to be considered is, which kinds 

 are most suitable for sowing on a lawn; and 

 to discover this, it must be remembered that 

 the proprietor of a lawn does not want a crop 

 of hay, but a fine, smooth, level turf, the grass 

 on which shall entirely conceal the earth. For 

 this purpose it is evident that slow-growing 

 grasses, the roots of which will retain perma- 

 nent possession of the soil, and which are 

 sufficiently succulent not to be burnt up when 

 closely mown in hot weather, are preferable to 

 those which grow rapidly and produce an 

 abundant crop of herbage, particularly as the 



