28 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



a large number of horses, one ounce per day, or, 

 lialf a pound per week, is sufficient for a horse. 

 Some feed salt daily, but the general piactice is to 

 give it weekly, on Saturday night. For, as it is 

 slightly physical, it is best for it to operate when the 

 animal is at rest, and the operation of the salt tends 

 to prevent any injurious effects from liberal feeding 

 while the animals are at rest. In some cases, high 

 feeding, for only one or two days, when horses are 

 at rest, will have a bad effect. 



As great improvements have been made by new 

 inventions, and in the manufacture of hay cutters, 

 they may now be had of excellent construction, 

 and of durable materials, at moderate prices. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ON THE FORMATION OF LAWNS. 



Mr. Cole; — The unaccountable disparity of 

 opinions respecting the most suitable grasses for 

 laying down fine lauds, and the extraordinary 

 difference in the quality of the grasses as well as 

 in the quantity of seeds used by the various individ- 

 uals for this purpose, has led me to give this mat- 

 ter particular attention. 



We are accustomed to hear a great deal said in 

 praise of the "velvet turf of English gardens, and 

 from the difficulty of securing a similar velvet turf 

 in gardens here, many people look despairingly up- 

 on their coarse Brachypodeum and cat's tail mead- 

 ows, and their rough cocks-foot lawns, and fancy 

 it one of the impossibilities of nature to make them 

 better than they are. 



Now, if we will just consider how much pains is 

 taken by the people in England in making their 

 lawns and selecting the proper seeds, and how lit- 

 tle the same matters are attended to here, a consid- 

 erable portion of the cause which creates the differ- 

 ence becomes apparent. My attention was first di- 

 rected to the ignorance or neglect of lawn making 

 by some specimens of the general methods per- 

 formed at New Haven, in Connecticut. A few- 

 years ago, a new square (I forget its name) was 

 sown with the varieties of agroslis, commonly 

 called red top, and the Trifolium Pratense or 

 common red clover. The result of this mixture was 

 precisely what any one would expect. The red 

 clover usur{)ed the ground the first season, and 

 smothered the young Agrostis. The second year, 

 nothing was to be seen but the Trifolium, with 

 here and there a coarse tuft of grass; a fi)rm, I 

 may remark, which all grasses will quickly assume 

 whenvery thin,orthe plants standing separately, on 

 ground moderately fertile, a.s was probably the case 

 with the ground in question. 



Another instance came under my observation in 

 the same neighborhood, and one probably more 

 common than the one described. In this instance 

 also the object was to form a lawn to be kept mown 

 with the scythe, and her^ the ground was sown with 

 liolium Perenne (common rje gra:5S,) Dactylis 

 Gloinerata (orchard grass) the red top, and white 

 fclover, a notable mixture, truly, to form a lawn, 

 aiid a mixture which no man who knows the nature 

 of th^se gra.sses would ever think of sowing for 

 such a purpose. For meadows or pasture land per- 

 haps this is the beat mixture that can be procured, 

 and a good mixtuie it is even if a better were M 

 hand. But for a smooth lawn no mixture oould be 



worse. The coarse roots of the orchard grass and 

 the clover secures possession of the ground. The 

 rye grass appears only the first season, and the red 

 top never appears at all, and after three years noth- 

 ing remains but the rough tufts of the cocks foot, 

 and the other course, indigenous gsasses that chance 

 to spring up amongst it. 



While speaking of methods, I might as well 

 mention another, which in the earlier days of orna- 

 mental gardening in America, was borrowed from 

 the farmers, hut which is still practised by some 

 ignorant gardeners, and others, who do not know 

 one grass from another, and consists in sowing the 

 Phleum pratense, (Timothy or herds grass) along 

 with the red top and clover, and sowing along with 

 it a crop of rye, barley, or oats, under the pretext 

 of shading it from the sun. 



It requires very little skill or judgment to per- 

 ceive that neither of these methods can succeed in 

 forming a turf for lawn of shrubbery, or flower gar- 

 den, and we sometimes find mixtures even more 

 unsuitable than these, sown to form the velvet 

 sward of a pleasure ground. So very little is this 

 considered that a person who has got to sow a piece 

 of lawn around a snug little villa, will go to a seed 

 store, and buy a quantity of grass seeds, no matter 

 what the sorts be, providing only they are grass 

 seeds, without considering the nature and habits of 

 the grasses — their periods of verdancy — or the na- 

 ture of the soil on which they are to be sown. 



There are various considerations to be kept in 

 viewinlayingdown a smooth lawn to be kept mown 

 with the scythe. 



1 . Some grasses from their coarseness and luxu- 

 riance of growth, are inadmissible, as they not on- 

 ly rise up in coarse tufts after the lawn is mown, 

 but also destroy the finer grass-^s, and rob them of 

 nourishment — such as the Cocks foot or orchard 

 grass (Uactylis Clomerata) and Timothy or herds 

 grass (Phleum pratense.) 



2. Some are objectionable on account of their in- 

 ability to stand our dry summers, and the tendency 

 with which they spring up after having been mown 

 — such as the sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum 

 Odoratum) and the common rye grass (Lolium 

 perenne,) though both of these grasses in small 

 quantities may be sown with the others. 



3. Some are objectionable on account of their 

 creeping roots, which soon exterminate the other 

 grasses from the turf, — of these I might name the 

 creeping couch grass (IIolcus Mollis,) and the 

 creeping dog's-tooth grass, (Cynodon Dactylon) 

 which are common on land, and should be extermi- 

 nated before the ground is sown down. 



All the above mentioned grasses are common in 

 our pastures and fields, and are to be distinguished 

 from the following which are most suitable for 

 lawns, and may be had of any respectable seeds- 

 man. 



Cynosurus Cristatus — crested dog's-tail grass, is 

 one of the best gra.sses for making lawns, its .slow 

 growth and its dislike of dry, sandy land render it 

 unsuitable for our hot stimmera. It is also difficult 

 io procure good seed. It should always form a 

 concomitant of lawn grass. 



Festuca duriuscula (hard fescue grass) and th«t 

 Festuca Ovina (sheep's fescue) should always form 

 a part of the mixture for alawn, as they bear mow- 

 ing well; they also withstand the drought, arid 

 maintain their verdure throughout the year. 



The Agrostis Vulgaris (common bent grass, or 



