i66 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



June, 



4. Italian Rye Grass (LoUum Italieum). 



5. Kentucky Blue Grass (Poa pratcnsui). 

 tj. Meadow Fescue (Festuca pratensis). 

 1. Orchard Grass IDactylis gliimcrata). 



8. Red Top Grass (A grostU imlgaris). 



9. Rhode Island Bent Grass (Aiirustis canina). 



10. Sheep's Fesque (FcMitca oriim). 



11. Timothy or Herd Grass (Pldcum pratensUi). 



12. Grasses .5 and 8 mixed half and halt 



13 to 18. " Central Park " or other " superior " 

 or " Hne " mixtures offered as the very best hy 



it has never made a reputation for lawn purposes. 

 Sowed thickly, at the rate of five bushels to the 

 acre, this has formed a handsome, close, even 

 turf, hard to excel. The color is darker than Red 

 Top, the blades coarser than Blue grass. It starts 

 into growth among the earliest iu the spring and 

 continues to gi-ow late in the season. It also 

 keeps in good color during drouth on unwatered 

 lawn. If future tests on alarger scale and under 

 more varied circumstances shall confirm its 

 excellence during two years past, we will be dis. 



their advantage, while certain ones have more 

 White Clover than others. 



We would not for a moment charge that the 

 reputable seedsmen, whose mixtures we have 

 tested, have knowingly sold their customers a 

 formula of seed inferior to that of our No. 13. 

 The trade in lawn grasses, extensive as it has be- 

 come, is of comparatively recent development, 

 and the seedsmen themselves may not be as well 

 informed on the respective merits of different 

 grasses as they should be. If they choose to 



i,O0CiP^^<^a^^^\ 



A LONG NARROW SEVEN-ACRE PLAT LAID OUT AS A 



six of the foremost seed houses in the country. 



Of the respective plats of lawn now growing 

 as a result of these tests, that sowed with lot 13, 

 consisting of half and half Kentucky Blue Grass 

 and Red Top has, all things considered, been the 

 finest plat, and steadily so from a month after 

 sowingin the spring of leSfl to the present hour. 

 The grass is fine, thick, even, of good color, with 

 no signs of coarseness. It is an ideal coat of 

 grass for any lawn that is to receive mere ordin- 

 ary attention. The growth is strong and close 

 enough that weeds seem to have no chance to 

 get a footing, and White Clover does not spread 

 through it objectionably. 



Next to 12 we place the plat sown with lot 5, 

 Blue Grass alone for fine quality and appearance. 

 This grass has the narrowest and finest leaves of 

 all the reliable hardy grasses. The growth is 

 even, the color a rich, dark green. If a single 

 objection can be found to this kind, as growing 

 here, it is that it forms so close a mat that 

 some dead leaves appear near the ground as if 

 smothered. We conclude that for a lawn kept 

 with considerable labor, or to be very dwarf, 

 say never above an inch in height, this species 

 alone must always stand unexcelled For aver- 

 age purposes, and where a height of two inches 

 or perhaps even more is sometimes allowed, un- 

 doubtedly amixture of an equal quantity of the 

 coarser Red Top, as in lot 13, is a decided improve- 

 ment. It tends to secure a degree of openness in 

 the mass of grass that is favorable to the condi- 

 tion of the lower leaves of the finer Blue Grass. 



Third in order of quality comes lots. Red Top 

 alone. This species has the merit of forming a 



Emerald Gem Musk Melon.— See iirceeiHiia pcme. 



sward much sooner after sowing, than does the 

 Blue Grass which is rather slow to germinate 

 and become established. It is a coarser growing 

 grass than that kind. It is also of a paler color, 

 but few could for a moment think it unsatisfac- 

 tory on this account. So able a landsiape gar- 

 dener as Wm. McMillan, Superintendent of the 

 extensive Buffalo parks, sows this \uriety ex- 

 clusively for park purposes. While its robust^ 

 ness is no i)ossible objection for a park sward, 

 the same might not be equally true of a small 

 grass plot about the home, hence it is, that we 

 advise for average use, the mixing with it, of the 

 Blue Grass of finer habit. 



After the two superior lawn varieties named, 

 and their mixture, we find lot 7 Orchard Glass 

 alone about the most pleasing, notwithstanding 



posed to class it for general purposes along with 

 the two species first named. We think it should 

 mix well with Blue Grass. 



Lot 11, consisting of Timothy alone, sown very 

 thickly, is a fair coarse lawn, being almost equal 

 to the Red Top alone. 



The six other species grown separately in the 

 remaining lots down to 11, we can see no reason 

 for recommending so long as we have the better 

 kinds first described to depend upon. Every 

 one of them is lacking in some important respect 

 for lawn purposes, without compensating 

 merits so far as we have been able to discover. 

 Should we find reason with further trial to change 

 this conclusion, it will gladly be done. 



Sekdsmen's Mixtures. Now we come to the 

 lawn mixtures sold by seedsmen, and here our 

 experience has not been very favorable, as com- 

 pared with that of the kinds described. Not one 

 of the mixtures growing on our grounds, how- 

 ever lauded as combining the finest grasses for 

 lawn, can fully equal in beauty and fineness the 

 simple mixture ofRedTopahd Blue Grass which 

 we place first. The reason tor this is not hard to 

 find, if we may take as a sample mixture one of 

 the lots sowed, the formula of which was frankly 

 revealed to us, at the same time that it was 

 highly recommended as a mixture extensively 

 sold for permanent lawn. This mixture consisted 

 of equal parts of 

 Crested Dog Tail (I'ynosurus cristata). 

 English Rye Grass (Lolium perenne). 

 Kentucky Blue Grass (PaaprateiisU). 

 Red Top Grass (Agrostis vulgaris). 

 Timothy or Herd Grass (Phlcum jn-atcn^is). 

 A Fescue Grass {Festuca cluriuscula). 

 After two years the plat occupied by the same, 

 although entirely covered with plants, yet these 

 lack uniformity of strength to a degree that 

 causes the surface to present a rough and uneven 

 appeai'ance. The reason for this is apparent in 

 view of our other tests. The Crested Dog's Tail 

 for one, as shown by our separate plat, is a grass 

 of very fine foliage, and the Kentucky Blue is 

 almost equally so. On the other hand, the Tim- 

 othy is of coarse growth and when scattered to 

 the extent of but one-si.\th among the finer sorts 

 it forms large, coarse stools, and tends to crowd 

 down the finer growers. The English Rye Grass 

 is another strong grower, with spreading wiry 

 stems that present a rough a|ipearanee when it 

 has a chance to crowd down finer kinds. While 

 both of these coarse grasses make fair lawn 

 when sown alone and thickly to cause dwarf ness, 

 they are, in our judgment utterly unfit to mix 

 thinly with the finer kinds named. 



It is not claimed that this is a fair e.vample of 

 all the mixtures sown. The fact is the plat of 

 this formula is two years old, while our other 

 mixture plats are one year old. But the two 

 year old plat described is rougher the present 

 season than it was a year ago. The year-old 

 mixture plats look very fair at tliis date, but 

 not for fine lawn equal to our plat sowed with 

 number 12 (Blue Grass and Red Top). There 

 is but little variation in the general appearance 

 of the mixtures from six different seedsmen ex- 

 cept that some seem to contain a little more Red 

 Top and Blue Grass than others, of course to 



profit by the careful tests which we are con- 

 ducting, they are most welcome. We are but 

 too glad to serve them, and through them 

 their garden patrons the country over, in the 

 matter of throwing light on a subject of such 

 wide interest. 



Lawn Grass Prices. One of the most satis- 

 factory results of our tests has been to show 

 that people may save much money in buying 

 lawn seeds. This is because it happens that in 

 these seeds, whether as used separately or in 

 mixture, the better kinds are, as a rule, the 

 cheapest. Take the Crested Dog's Tail Grass, 

 which heads the formula given above; it is quoted 

 at $7.50 per bushel, in the same catalogue that 

 quotes Red Top at $1.25 per bushel. And every 

 other variety is considerably higer priced than 

 Red Top: Now it necessarily follows that for a 

 seedsman to use of these higher priced kinds, 

 inferior that they prove to be, in his mixtures, 

 is to increase the cost to the consumer, and that, 

 as is now clear, for an inferior article. 



The fact is clearly shown by the seedsman's 

 catalogue quotations Taking the mean prices 

 between extremes quoted by the six seedsmen 

 we have patronized in these tests, the seed 

 would cost any buyer as follows: 

 Red Top Grass, ■ - - * .98 per bushel. 



Kentucky Blue Grass, • 2.35 " " 



Cost of above mixed half and half . - 1.67 ■• " 



The mean prices between extremes quoted by 

 the same seedsmen for their " best Lawn mix- 

 turs " is $4.00 per bushel, or considerably more 

 than double the cost of the best mixture. 



Taste and Tact In Arranging Home 

 and Other Grounds.* 



EIGHTH PAPER. 



The design which forms the subject of the 

 present paper shows an arrangement more 

 elaborate than has heretofore been offered 

 in this serial. It is a plan for laying otit the 

 seven acre grounds of a resident of the State 

 of Connecticut. 



The desire of the owner was to have as 

 complete a private park as the area would 

 be capable of affording, with almost no 

 space devoted to fruit and vegetable culture. 

 It is presented here to show how much taste 

 may be displayed in arranging a long, nar- 

 now lot, somewhat elaborately, and that 

 with relying almost entirely upon materials 

 that must be brought into the garden, for 

 the place is in the main unembellished by 

 natural growths. Fortunately there is 

 present a spring of clear water, which can 

 be used tor securing some most desirable 



*CopyriKht, IftHi. Popular Gahdenino Publishing Co.- 

 NoTK : It Is designed to reuiler the present serial widely 

 useful through Imparting Ideas on ta.'itefully arrang- 

 ing groumis of every kind, basing the- same on actual 

 examples. To this end sketelies of home plats, rxxral 

 cemeteries, town Rquures, school yards, et^*., are cor- 

 dially Invited from readers, with a view tt> our sub- 

 mitting suggestions for Improving the same, Iu 

 futiu-e articles. Should more plans be received than 

 are needed for this purpose, such will be chosen, as In 

 our .ludgnient, will afford the best subjects for con- 

 veying information to the largest number of readers. 



