358 BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS 



for sowing, but September is also a suitable month. Sowing 

 should be avoided in windy weather, because the seed cannot be 

 evenly spread, but is blown into heaps in places, while others 

 go bare. 



If the soil is lightly raked over after the sowing the seeds 

 will be sufficiently covered, but it is a good plan to finish with 

 a rolling. If the soil is in the right state for moisture it will 

 not pick up on the roller. It should be neither quite dry nor 

 saturated with moisture. 



Birds must be thought of and circumvented, or the chances of 

 getting a good sward will be reduced to a minimum. The seeds 

 will disappear, and in place of grass will spring a network of 

 various kinds of weeds. Covering with fish netting, or stringing 

 black threads a few inches apart on short sticks, will suffice for pro- 

 tection. Whatever is used can be removed when the grass is an 

 inch high, provided that it has come through evenly all over the 

 ground ; if not, the protection should remain on longer. As soon 

 as the threads have been taken away the roller should be put over 

 the plot again. It will crush down the young grasses, but that 

 will do no harm whatever, and by pressing the soil round the roots 

 it will encourage the emission of new fibres, from which fresh 

 blades of grass will spring quickly. When there is a thick mat 

 of grass from three to four inches high, the tops should be clipped 

 off, preferably with shears or scythe, as this will encourage a 

 further break of grass from the base. The lawn is now secure, 

 and regular rolling and mowing will steadily improve it. Rolling 

 is best done soon after rain, and is most effectual in spring, when 

 the ground is comparatively soft. It will not have much influence 

 in summer, when the ground is hard and dry. Mowing is best 

 done when the grass is dry or nearly so. In the case of a young 

 plot it is well to set the cutter rather high, so that the grass is 

 not sheared off quite low down. This would bare the roots, and 

 they might suffer in hot weather. It is not a bad plan to let the 



