LAWNS AND TENNIS GROUNDS 



FROM SEED 



A SMOOTH and verdant lawn is a constant source of pleasure, and it 

 enhances the charm of every flower and shrub in the garden. Lawns 

 also contribute to healthy recreation in the popular games of tennis, 

 croquet, and bowls, and they afford the most delightful meeting- 

 places for social gatherings in high summer. Here, however, we are 

 not concerned with questions of beauty or utility. Our present 

 object is to suggest the best and least expensive method of pro- 

 ducing a fine, dense, elastic sward, and the means by which the 

 grass may be maintained in good condition. 



Lawns are made by either laying turf or sowing seed. In favour 

 of laying turf it may be claimed that the ground is at once covered 

 with grass, and under favourable circumstances the lawn is some- 

 times ready for use in rather less time than when seed is sown. 



The labour involved in levelling the land and preparing a suitable 

 surface is substantially the same for both methods. 



Objections to turf are so numerous and important that experienced 

 men generally regard the use of it as obsolete, except under specially 

 favourable conditions. Very seldom is it possible to obtain at any 

 price turf that is at all fit for the purpose. The herbage of meadows 

 or pastures generally consists of strong-growing grasses and clovers 

 entirely unsuited for the formation of a fine ornamental sward. And 

 too often the turf from fields is infested with a large proportion 

 of weeds which grow with increased vigour when transferred to 

 well-prepared soil. By persistent attention it is possible to eradi- 

 cate most of the weeds, but the only remedy for coarse grasses is 

 cutting out. 



The experiment has often been made of cutting fine turf from 



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