24 VILLA. GARDENING pakt i 



before the machine is used. And where seeds have been used for 

 forming the lawn the machine should at first be set to cut rather 

 high. I need hardly say the roller will be a most useful imple- 

 ment to thicken and form the turf For small subm-bau lawns, 

 instead of employing turf, the small-leaved or the large-leaved 

 Irish Ivy would make a pleasant green patch. Of course it woidd 

 not bear the pressure of much tratfic, but it woidd look well and 

 woidd make a nice base for Daffodils and other bulbs in spring. 

 It woidd bear cutting to any extent in order to keep it close to 

 the ground. The expense of forming an Ia^ lawn woidd be small, 

 as cuttings planted in autumn would do ; pegged down close to 

 the ground, the bare earth would be covered in one season. 

 There are other substitutes for Grass perhaps as useful as Ivy. 

 A well-known town plant called Creeping Jenny I have seen em- 

 ployed with considerable eftect. And it might be used even where 

 Ivy was employed to form contrasting patches or to fill in 

 recesses. The Creeping Jenny is otherwise known as the Money- 

 wort, or Lysimachia Nummularia, and is a common British plant. 

 But wherever a lawn is required for traffic it must be formed of 

 turf The advantages of planting the open spaces usually turfed 

 over with one or more green creeping plants are very considerable 

 in point of expense, as a well-kejit grass plot involves a good deal 

 of laboiu-, and unless it is well kept the Ivy or the Moneywort will 

 look better. 



Management of Water. — If a natural river fiows ^\•ithin 

 view of the windows of the house, one of the chief features of a 

 beautiful landscape is for ever present without cost. There are 

 places in rural districts where a little streandet can have its coiu'se 

 so altered and expanded by labour and fashioned by ai-t as to be- 

 come a charming artificial lake. Not far from where I am writing 

 there is a country rectory with an exceedingly pretty miniature lake 

 attached to its grounds. Many years ago a former proprietor led 

 a little stream away from the meadow near, and caused it to wind 

 about in a picturesque manner through the margins of the lawn. 

 Just opposite the windows it opens out into a rather broad sheet 

 of water, where it ripples and sparkles in the sunlight in a delight- 

 ful manner. Trees of various kinds, including those of weeping 

 habit, were planted on the ])anks, their branches drooping down to 

 the water in which they are reflected. Openings and vistas are 

 left in the trees, and over the lake to the country beyond the view 

 extends for some distance, making as charming a landscape as one 

 would ^^^sh for. A rustic bridge and a tree and shnib-clad island 

 are among the accessories which add to the effect. The lawn dips 

 down to the water without any formal or sharply defined edge, and 



