Treatment of Lawns 311 



soil - - marsh mud - - swamp muck, or the like. Should it 

 fortunately be the case (which is very rare) that the sub- 

 stratum is loamy, deep, ploughing, or trenching, by bring- 

 ing up and mixing with the light surface soil some of the 

 heavier earth from below, will speedily tend to remedy the 

 evil. 



In almost all cases where the soil is of good strength, a 

 permanent lawn may be secured by preparing the soil 

 deeply before finally laying it down. This may be done 

 readily, at but little outlay, by deep ploughing - - a good 

 and cheap substitute for trenching - - that is to say making 

 the plough follow three times in the same furrow. This, 

 with manure, if necessary, will secure a depth of soil suffi- 

 cient to allow the roots of plants to strike below the effects 

 of a surface drought. 



In sowing a lawn, the best mixture of grasses that we can 

 recommend for this climate, is a mixture of red-top and 

 white clover - - two natural grasses found by almost every 

 roadside - - in the proportion of three fourths of the former 

 to one of the latter. 



There is a common and very absurd notion current (which 

 we have several times practically disproved), that, in order 

 to lay down a lawn well, it is better to sow the seed along 

 with that of some grain; thus, starving the growth of a 

 small plant by forcing it to grow with a larger and coarser 

 one. A whole year is always lost by this process - - in- 

 deed more frequently two. Many trials have convinced us 

 that the proper mode is to sow a heavy crop of grass at 

 once, and we advise him who desires to have speedily a 

 handsome turf, to follow the English practice, and sow 

 three to four bushels of seed to the acre. If this is done 

 early in the spring, he will have a lawn-like surface by mid- 

 summer, and a fine close turf the next season. 



After this, the whole beauty of a lawn depends on fre- 

 quent mowing. Once a fortnight at the furthest, is the 

 rule for all portions of the lawn in the neighborhood of the 

 house, or near the principal walks. A longer growth than 

 this will leave yellow and coarser stubble after mowing, 



