APPENDIX. 527 



a.id all Utile holes and irregularities filled up, and the same should be 

 looked over at any annual top-dressing that may take place. The 

 occasional use of a heavy roller, after rain, will also greatly tend to 

 remedy all defects of this nature. 



Where a piece of land is long kept in lawn, it must have an occa- 

 sional top-dressing every two or three years, if the soil is rich, or every 

 season, if it is poor. As early as possible in the spring is the best 

 time to apply such a top-dressing, which may be a compost of any 

 decayed vegetable or animal matter — heavier and more abounding with 

 marsh mud, etc., just in proportion to the natural lightness of the soil. 

 Indeed almost every season the lawn should be looked over, all weeds 

 taken out, and any poor or impoverished spots plentifully top-dressed, 

 and, if necessary, sprinkled with a little fresh seed. Wood ashes, 

 either fresh or leached, is also one of the most efficient fertilizers of a 

 lawn. 



We can already, especially in the finer places on /he Hudson, and 

 about Boston, boast of many finely kept lawns, and we hope every 

 day, as the better class of country residences increases, to see this 

 indispensable feature in tasteful grounds becoming better understood 

 and more universal. 



IV. 



Note on professional quackery. 



Landscape Gardening, like all other arts, is not free from ignoraiu 

 pretenders to knowledge, who, without a spark of appreciation for the 

 beautiful in nature, boldly undertake to remodel, in what they consider 

 a tasteful and fashionable style, every piece of natural landscape, 

 whether of a simple or highly picturesque character. They succeed in 

 leaving behind them, on the places they attempt to improve, indubita- 

 ble marks of their footsteps, in a sort of labored case, and stilF 

 striving after grace ; but they are pretty certain, also, to mar or 

 cbliterate in a great degree, the natural charm of any fine situation. 

 We have seen one or two examples lately where a foreign soi-disant 

 landscape gardener has completely spoiled the simple grand beauty of 



