338 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



yard fence of structure as elaborate as the figures 

 on a blackboard made by the first class in trigo- 

 nometry, and many a man can aff'ord to pay a car- 

 penter for building a white pine, white painted 

 summer-house of boards and laths, whose means 

 some how completely give out, before he can get a 

 single evergreen tree, or a single vine, to cover the 

 nakedness of his land. 



There is a limit to every man's means. Even 

 Queen Victoria, whose establishment, including 

 husband and children, is economically managed at 

 the annual cost of about five millions of dollars, is 

 obhged to call on Parliament for occasional extra 

 allowances, so that, with rich or poor, the question 

 is how can limited means be made to afibrd the 

 most of the necessaries, comforts and luxuries of 

 life. I commenced, with the intention now, when 

 we all, by opening our eyes, can at once test the 

 matter, of suggesting what are the cheapest as well 

 as most beautiful surroundings of our country 

 houses. 



And at the head of the catalogue, first, second 

 and third, like action in oratorj', I place Green 

 Grass. Surround your house with grass, or a 

 lawTi in front, at the sides, any where there is 

 room. No matter whether the space be acres or 

 feet, nothing is so beautiful, from the opening spring 

 to the close of Autumn, as the green grass. But 

 cheap and common as is the grass, it is seldom that 

 we see even a small enclosure kept green through 

 the season. 



In England, beautiful lawns are easily preserved, 

 for the climate is moist and equable. There, where 

 the climate is, on the whole, milder than here, the 

 Indian Corn will not ripen for want of the burning 

 summer heat of the sun. Here, the same clear 

 sun that ripens the corn, at the same time shrivels 

 the grass, unless some care is bestowed upon the 

 preparation of the soil, as well as the keeping ot 

 the lawn. Still, as I said, a lawn is our cheapest 

 luxury. Two things are essential to a beautiful 

 lawn. The first is deep culture of the soil, so that 

 the roots may strike down, where they can, in the 

 dryest time, find moisture. On my own place I 

 subsoiled the land, which is sandy, to the depth of 

 sixteen inches, and planted it with potatoes, the 

 year before sowing it. It has in the. six years 

 since it was sowed, once or twice been dried in 

 spots in August. Had it been spaded thoroughly 

 to the depth of eighteen inches, it would never 

 have changed its verdant hue. Every man must 

 judge for himself, according to the nature of his 

 land, as to the depth of tillage required. Deep 

 tillage is the one thing needful at the start. The 

 soil need not be very rich, but it should be thor- 

 oughly pulverized, cleared of all noxious grasses, 

 and perennial weeds, such as white weed and other 

 cumberers of the soil. 



Then sow in spring or fall with grass seed, and 



nothing else. The idea, which is common, of sow- 

 ing a few oats or other grain, just to shade the 

 grass, is entirely erroneous. It would be almost as 

 rational to let your neighbors turn into your pas- 

 ture a few large oxen, just to shade your calves, in 

 hot weather; as to sow these rank feeding grains, to 

 shelter your lawTi grass. 



I sow nothing but what we call here red top, (in 

 Botany Jlgrostis Vidgaris,) and white clover, for 

 lawns. All the seed stores have laiim grass seed 

 for sale. I never knew any of it to come up, oth- 

 er than that composed of a mixtui-e of our common 

 grasses. The ground should be rolled, and the 

 lawn is then finished. 



The other essential to a beautiful lawn is fre- 

 quent and close cutting. Cut the grass as soon in 

 the spring as the sharpest scythe will clip it, long 

 before it begins to head, and keep it as short as 

 possible through the season. I have found four 

 cuttings in the season to be sufficient for mine, but 

 in most places, perhaps it might require more. 



We occasionally see, in travelling, some spot be- 

 fore an old house, where sheep or horses have 

 grazed at their pleasure, which presents the best 

 idea of a nicely shaven lawn, that we find. To keep 

 the lawn perfectly even, it should be rolled with a 

 hea%7 roller after each cutting, but at least, it 

 should have a thorough rolling once or t'W'ice in the 

 spring, to crush down any irregularities made by 

 the frost, or small stones, or other objects which 

 may be in the way of the scythe. 



An occasional to])-dressing in the fall, and in 

 two or three years with fine compost, or superphos- 

 phate of lime, or ashes, vAM be sufficient to pre- 

 serve the fertihty of the soil. 



Having laid out the lawn, be careful not to crowd 

 it with trees, a few fine specimens of the elm, the 

 Scotch larch, an occasional group of white pine, a 

 hemlock now and then, or a group of them, a trellis 

 with a rose or honeysuckle, a few flowering shrubs, 

 according to the extent of the ground, may be added, 

 but not so as to interfere with each other, or the 

 open impression of breadth and space, which is es- 

 sential to the true idea of a lawn. 



Then, with a well-kept hedge of Buckthorn or 

 Privet, and walks neatly kept and evenly cut 

 through the turf in graceful curves, we have, at the 

 smallest possible cost, a perfect "thing of beauty," 

 in its way, which Solomon in all his glory could 

 not equal. 



In the March number of the Farmer for 1852, 1 

 wrote of hedges. My Buckthorn hedge, about 

 twenty rods in extent, which is there named, plant- 

 ed in 1849 and 'oO, has now arrived at the dignity 

 of a fence. This spring, the boards which had pro- 

 tected it were removed, and the hedge, about three 

 feet high, cut square and even, I am not ashamed 

 of. A single invisible wire runs along the top of it, 

 for protection against cattle in the street, and thus 



