Lawns and Tennis Grounds from Seed 



condemned when the weeds have had their origin entirely in the soil. 1 

 Delay in sowing offers the further advantage that the soil will become 

 thoroughly consolidated a condition which is highly favourable to 

 grasses, and very difficult of attainment under hurried preparation. 



Enriching the Soil. In preparing the seed-bed for a lawn, the 

 condition of the soil is too often disregarded. Luxuriant Peas, Beans, 

 Broccoli, and Lettuce are not expected from poor land ; but any 

 soil, however exhausted, is supposed to be good enough for a lawn, 

 although grass is quite as easily starved as any other crop. After 

 the sward is established the enrichment of the soil has to be effected 

 under disadvantages to which other crops are not subject. Vege- 

 tables in a well-ordered garden are in successive seasons changed 

 from plot to plot in order to tax the soil for different constituents. 

 The ground is also frequently manured, broken up, and exposed to 

 atmospheric influences which increase its fertility. Grass is a fixed 

 crop, chiefly deriving its nourishment from a few inches near the 

 surface, and the only way of refreshing it is by raking or harrow- 

 ing and top-dressing. Hence there are obvious reasons for putting 

 the land into good heart before sowing grass seeds. Well-rotted 

 stable manure is always beneficial, but fresh manure should be 

 avoided, because of its tendency to make the soil hollow. From 

 twenty to thirty cartloads of decayed manure per acre will probably 

 suffice. 



Where artificials are more convenient, two cwt. of superphosphate 

 of lime, one cwt. of Peruvian guano, and from two to four cwt. of bone 

 dust, mixed together, make an excellent dressing. The quantities 

 named are usually sufficient for an acre, and the mixture can be 

 evenly spread and worked into the soil while the preparation af the 

 seed-bed is in progress. Button's Ai Lawn Manure also contains all 

 the constituents essential to the luxuriant growth of fine grasses and 

 clovers. This is a highly concentrated artificial, and as a rule not 



1 Our attention has been called to an extremely interesting case, showing the 

 length of time that seeds will lie dormant in the soil and germinate when brought 

 to the surface. For the Yeomanry manoeuvres in 1901 a large rabbit warren 

 on the Oxfordshire hills was dug and levelled. No other soil was used, nor were 

 seeds of any kind sown. In 1902 the whole surface produced a dense plant of 

 yellow charlock. In the following year the charlock died down and was succeeded 

 by a mass of white campion (Lychnis vespertind). The seeds of both plants must 

 have been buried in the earth for an unknown number of years, and the disturbance 

 of the soil enabled them to germinate. Had grass seeds been sown, it might have 

 been erroneously assumed that the seeds of charlock and campion were included in 

 the mixture of grasses. 



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