40 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



CLIPPING THE LAWN. 



Frequent clipping of the lawn, especially during the cool 

 weather of spring and early fall, is necessary to make a fine 

 close turf. The lawn-mower should be run at least once 

 each week, and in case of very warm moist weather it may 

 be necessary to run it twice or more. If the grass becomes 

 so tall and heavy that the clippings do not settle down at 

 once among the growing blades, it should be caught in the 

 basket attached to the mower or be raked up and carried 

 away; for if allowed to lie on the ground the roots under 

 the close masses are often destroyed during hot moist 

 weather, and weeds will be prompt to start in their place. 

 The modern improvements in lawn-mowers leave but little 

 to be desired in the line of perfection, but which of the 

 many machines is the best is a question I shall not attempt 

 to settle here. The horse-mower is a great labor-saving 

 machine where large areas are to be cut, though it is not 

 always possible to do as good work as is done by the hand- 

 mowers, and the tracks made by the horse, unless lawn- 

 shoes are worn, seriously disfigure a soft or newly made 

 lawn. To enable the mower to run up close to shrubbery 

 to cut the grass so that no hand-clipping need be done, 

 we have practised taking out a circle of turf about one foot 

 from the trunk of trees or the edge of a clump of shrubs. 

 This enables the machine to take all of the grass clean and 

 leaves nothing for the grass-hook to cut. 



DRESSING AND RENEWING THE LAWN. 



Frequent dressings of fine compost or special fertilizers 

 in the fall or spring are necessary to keep any lawn in good 



