12 FLOWERS AND THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



loam rather inclining to sanely. The earth should be not 

 less than a foot deep ; it should be drained if necessary, 

 and the draining should be regular, so as to avoid swain py 

 spots. Laying down cut turf is the best way of making 

 a grass plot, for two reasons: first, as it is generally 

 taken in the neighbourhood, it introduces the kinds of 

 grass which do best in the locality; and secondly, it 

 becomes a green surface sooner than the produce of seed, 

 supposing, of course, that it gets sufficient watering and 

 care. The season for laying turf is any time from Sep- 

 tember to April. The turfs are cut a foot wide, a yard 

 long, and as nearly as possible an inch in thickness. 

 Before cutting them the ground should be marked out, 

 and cut downwards with a racer or rutter a thin sharp 

 instrument with a rounded edge, like a cheese-cutter, 

 fixed to a handle about four feet long. They should then 

 be raised with a turfing-iron an implement with a flat 

 arrow-shaped blade, for cutting up the turf, fixed to a 

 handle which goes straight from the blade for several 

 inches, then turns at an angle and turns again at a 

 second angle, so that the handle is above the ground, 

 while the blade is at work beneath it. As one man cuts 

 the turfs, another should roll and remove them. They 

 are unrolled as they are laid, placing edge to edge with 

 great exactness, and mending and filling in the broken 

 parts as they are laid. As soon as the grass is laid, it 

 should be beaten flat, rolled repeatedly, and watered if 

 the weather be dry. 



If it be thought better to sow seed than to lay turf, 

 the following will be found good sorts : yellowish oat 

 grass (Avena flavescens), crested dog's tail (Cynosurus 

 cristatus), fine rye grass (ILolium perenne tenue), wood 

 meadow grass (Poa nemoralis), evergreen ditto (Poa ne^ 

 moralis sempervirens), rough -stalked meadow grass {Poa 

 trivialis), white clover (Trifolium repens), smaller yellow 

 clover {Trifolium minus), fox-tail meadow grass (Alopecu- 

 ruspratensis),$\\ r eet-$cented spring grass (Anthoxanthum 

 odoratum), meadow grass (Poa pratensis). A mixture 

 may be made, according to circumstances, and sown early 

 in spring. 



