LAWN BEAUTIFICATION 267 



tion if a path is made directly over them; their 

 appearance is actually improved thereby. 



With some species occasional runners may 

 grow above the main mass of foliage and 

 become unsightly, but these are readily cut away, 

 leaving a smooth velvety surface. 



The real difficulty that stands in the way of 

 the general introduction of the lippias as lawn 

 plants of altogether exceptional quality, how- 

 ever, is their relative tenderness to frost. If 

 selections should result in producing a hardy lip- 

 pia, the plant will be welcomed everywhere, as it 

 is already coming to be welcomed in the warmer 

 regions as one that at least partly solves the 

 problem of a lawn that will require practically- no 

 attention, and yet maintain its greenness even 

 in long periods of summer drought. It must be 

 added, however, that during the wintertime it 

 turns brownish, and at that season it is not quite 

 as ornamental as a blue-grass lawn. 



Until the lippia is further developed for har- 

 diness, however, it could not be used except in 

 the milder climates, and in the cold regions the 

 blue grass and other allied grasses and the 

 clovers must be depended on for making lawns. 



Meantime one of these new lippias has been in- 

 troduced, and named Dixie. This makes a most 

 beautiful dark green, close-growing lawn. 



