LAWNS AND PLAYGROUNDS. 359 



the good soil you have laid on one side from the surface. If you have 

 no good soil, fill up with loam mixed with coarse gravel, brick rubbish, 

 and burnt ballast. Tread all over again as before, making it level with 

 a spade, pressing in any lump or stone that appears level with the 

 ground. No rake should be used. You have now 2 feet of trenched 

 earth. Do not dig down deeper in one place than another. A stick 

 cut 2 feet long by the worker's side is the best. He can, with the stick, 

 test his depth from time to time. 



In laying the turf keep the joints of each piece half-an-inch apart. 

 When it is all laid down pat it gently all over with a turf-beater. It 

 is better to take up the turf that is a little higher than the rest and 

 take out a little of the soil than to beat it down to the level. Then 

 spread some burnt ballast, ashes from the burnt refuse of the garden, 

 and the top 2 inches of soil from the wood, sifted through a half- 

 inch mesh sieve, mixed well together, all over the grass. Move it about 

 until all the joints in the turf are level. Wait for rain, then go over 

 the lawn and take out all weeds. Give another dressing of the soil as 

 before, adding to this a little road grit and old mortar. If no old 

 mortar is available, slaked lime will answer. Move this about until 

 all is level again. In the month of March or the first week in April, 

 if the weather is fine, sow all over the lawn some of the best lawn 

 grass seed. Get some fine Thorn bushes and lace them together in the 

 shape of a fan heavy enough for two men to drag about the lawn in 

 various ways. Roll with a light roller, and keep off the lawn until 

 the grass has grown 3 inches, then cut it with a scythe. Roll 

 with a light roller the first season, and when mowing with the machine 

 is commenced, see that the knives are not set too close to the ground. 



Should the ground selected for turf not contain clay, so much the 

 better. Dig holes here and there 2 feet deep in the winter months. 

 If no water lies at the bottom of the holes, this shows it will not want 

 artificial draining ; if there is water drain as on heavy soil. In 

 trenching the ground, if the subsoil be bad, take 3 inches of this 

 away, filling up to the level with good soil, to which have been added 

 half-inch crushed bones in the proportion of four tons to the acre, 

 fine brick rubbish and burnt ballast in the same proportions as for 

 the heavy soil. Turf and treat as on heavy soil. If you have a good 

 grass field, take the turf for your lawn, also top spit away, replace 

 with rough soil, and place 3 inches of the loam that has been dug 

 out upon the rough soil you have put in, then sow, bush harrow, and 

 lightly roll. 



TREATMENT OF OLD LAWNS. Weeds, moss, and bare places on 

 lawns show that they are worn out. To remedy this, take off the turf 

 in rolls 3 feet long, i foot wide, and I inch thick. If the turf cannot 



