Encyclopaedia of Gardening 127 



of the large firms that specialise grass seeds, even if the price is 

 rather high, because these dealers select and clean their seeds with 

 great care. And the soil must be well prepared. It is a good thing 

 to do the work in September, digging, manuring, crumbling, and 

 treading the soil, thus making it quite fine, and sowing half a 

 pound to the square rod. Ask the seedsman to add a little clover 

 to the mixture (he will know how much to put), and mix the whole 

 well up before sowing. Cover lightly with fine, sifted soil, and put 

 black threads or some other protection over it to keep off birds. If 

 the work cannot be done in September do it in April. The lawn is- 

 likely to be good or bad according to the thoroughness with which 

 the soil is prepared. Tennis and croquet lawns are playable from 

 turf the same season, but not always from seed. There ought to be 

 a good, thick, springy mat of turf before tennis begins; otherwise 

 the ground is soon worn bare. It is desirable to get a perfectly 

 firm piece of ground for turf at all times, and particularly so for 

 tennis, otherwise it will soon fall into hollows. A full-sized tennis 

 lawn is 78 ft. long and 36 ft. wide, but it is well to allow extra space 

 when making a lawn for this purpose. 



Special features. The flower garden should be as varied as- 

 possible, so that there is no bareness, deaclness, heaviness, and 

 formality about it. Consequently when the main things, such as- 

 shrubberies, herbaceous borders, lawns, and flower-beds, have been 

 provided for, the owner should consider a few special features.. 

 Here are a few suggestions for such : a Rose garden, an Iris garden, 

 a Sweet Pea garden, a summer-house, a set of arches, a scented 

 garden, a pergola, a rockery garden, a water garden. If the place 

 is quite small it may not be possible to get all of them in, in which 

 case a selection should be made. 



Summer-houses and garden-rooms. In this age of gardening we 

 are not left without practical help from horticultural builders and 

 makers of rustic-work in adding a pleasant outdoor room to our 

 flower gardens. They show us structures of the most tempting 

 description, bright, airy, and alluringly decorated with flowers. It 

 is certainly a " short cut " to the possession of a suitable structure 

 to make a deal with some special tradesman, whose wares are 

 offered in the country and gardening papers. The summer-house 

 may be a simple erection of " rustic " woodwork, with a boarded 

 floor and a weather-boarded roof, costing from ^10 to 20; or it 

 may be an ornate building, painted and glazed, costing from ^30 to- 

 ^50. But a handy amateur will often put up his own summer- 

 house, building it of timber which he has bought of the nearest 

 forester. The building is not likely to cost less than ^5 even then, 

 if it is of fair size and is built to last; and that modest sum will be 

 exceeded by more or less according to the amount of material put 

 in. Split larch, the rounded side outward, looks very well, but will 

 not keep out wet quite so thoroughly as weather-boarding. The 

 latter need not be condemned on the score of plainness, as it will be 

 covered speedily if good plants are put into fertile soil and trained 

 on the house. Roses Dorothy Perkins, Carmine Pillar, and Alister 

 Stella Gray; Clematis Jackmanii and C. montana, are well suited 

 for covering summer-houses. 



