A Chapter on Lawns 305 



or Ariosto, in his Orlando - 



"The approaching night, not knowing where to pass, 

 She checks her reins, and on the velvet grass, 

 Beneath the umbrageous trees, her form she throws, 

 To cheat the tedious hours with brief repose." 



In short, the ideal of grass is a lawn, which is, to a meadow, 

 what "Bishop's lawn" is to homespun Irish linen. 



With such a lawn, and large and massive trees, one has 

 indeed the most enduring sources of beauty in a country 

 residence. Perpetual neatness, freshness and verdure in the 

 one; ever expanding beauty, variety and grandeur in the 

 other - - what more does a reasonable man desire of the 

 beautiful about him in the country? Must we add flowers, 

 exotic plants, fruits? Perhaps so, but they are all, in an 

 ornamental light, secondary to trees and grass, where these 

 can be had in perfection. Only one other grand element is 

 needed to make our landscape garden complete - - water. 

 A river, or a lake, in which the skies and the "tufted trees" 

 may see themselves reflected, is ever an indispensable fea- 

 ture to a perfect landscape. 



How to obtain a fine lawn is a question which has no 

 doubt already puzzled many of our readers. They have 

 thought, perhaps, that it would be quite sufficient to sow 

 with grass seeds, or lay down neatly with sods, any plat of 

 common soil, to mow it occasionally, to be repaid by the 

 perpetual softness and verdure of an "English lawn." 



They have found, however, after a patient trial in several 

 seasons, that an American summer, so bright and sunny as 

 to give us, in our fruits, almost the ripeness and prodigality 

 of the tropics, does not, like that of Britain, ever moist and 

 humid, naturally favor the condition of fine lawns. 



Beautiful as our lawns usually are in May, June, Sep- 

 tember, and October, yet in July and August, they too often 

 lose that freshness and verdure which is for them what the 

 rose-bloom of youth is to a beauty of seventeen- their 

 most captivating feature. 



There are not wanting admirers of fine lawns, who, wit- 



