Orass Spaces 129 



"For the construction of lawns I can recommend 

 the following rules, which the experience of several 

 years in my neighbourhood has confirmed : 



" (i) Whether in a meadow or for a park or pleasure 

 ground it is of no avail to sow only one kind of grass 

 seed. With only one kind of grass, perennial or not, 

 it is not possible to secure a close grass texture. 



" (2) For the first two, namely meadows and park, 

 I consider the richest mixture to be the best, but 

 with this proviso, that the particular kind of grass 

 which experience has found to be the most suitable 

 to the special soil should dominate, to the extent 

 of a third to a half of the mixture. In wet ground 

 the greater part timothy; for heavy soil, rye grass; 

 for loam, yellow clover and French rye grass; for 

 light soil, honey or velvet grass (Holcus lanatus); 

 for high ground, white clover, etc. 



11 (3) If the plot that is to be sown is dry, it is 

 advisable to trench it twelve to eighteen inches first, 

 whatever the soil may be, but the top soil must be 

 spread over the surface again if the soil below is 

 inferior, and a sandy soil must of course be improved 

 by muck (humus), compost, or field soil. 



"If the expense of digging trenches is too costly, 

 then one must plough to at least the usual depth, 

 and in most cases still deeper with a subsoil plough. 

 The field so prepared should be sown (here from the 

 middle of August to the middle of September) in 

 rather moist weather and very thickly, and the seed 

 at once well rolled in. On heavy soil it is best to 



