Grass Spaces 121 



01 that can be placed elsewhere, should usurp any part 

 of this stretch of green. If the ancients worshipped 

 trees and groves, surely, in the landscape scheme, it 

 should be considered desecration, a treading on holy 

 ground, to unnecessarily destroy greensward that 

 flourishes in a favoured and fitting spot. 



The illustration is taken from Central Park and its 

 value lies in its open character. The eye revels in 

 the rich green turf, passes with pleasure over the hill 

 into the unknown with few trees, some of them just 

 peering over the hill and thus disclosing a considerable 

 declivity on the other side. To make these grass spaces 

 illustrations of excellence the art of the skilful gardener 

 needs employment for grading, and the principles of 

 this art will be considered later. But for the benefit 

 of those who may wish some general instructions con- 

 cerning the establishment of a lawn it should be said 

 that high culture is as necessary for grass space as for 

 any other kind of vegetation natural to this climate. 

 It is the fine pulverizing of the first two or three inches 

 of the soil intended for a lawn that counts most. Deep 

 ploughing or trenching and drainage are indispensable, 

 but the aim should be to treat the cultivation of the 

 top surface of the lawn very much as an onion patch. 



Next comes the establishment of the proper mechani- 

 cal condition and the fertility of the soil, possibly the 

 most important of all in the attainment of final success. 

 It is not necessary in a book of this character to indicate 

 in detail peculiarities of soil, but only to point out that 

 grass spaces need for their most perfect development 



