Notes and Gleanings. 367 



How TO TURF A Croquet-LaW-V. — At llie present day, when a good 

 croquet-lawn is as neeessaryan appendage to a house in the country as a bowl- 

 ing-green was in the last century, the question is often asked. Which is the 

 best way to turf it ? The easiest and commonest one is to pare off the grass 

 from a wayside waste, or a common, or a sheep-walk on the hills, and lay it 

 down. Another is to clean the ground, and sow it with grass-seeds. A third is 

 to use the turf that is found growing on the spot, where a piece of the park or 

 a paddock is enclosed, or to take some from an adjoining pasture-field. Now, 

 where I have seen the first plan adopted, — that of laying down turf from a com- 

 mon, — there has been for tlie first following summer a very fair lawn ; but, in the 

 course of time, the seeds of plantains, dandelions, thistles, and other weeds, have 

 sprung up, and stifled the grass. The second plan — that of laying it down with 

 seeds — is undoubtedly the best for an ordinary lawn ; but where the proprietor 

 cannot wait for two or three years, but is desirous to play on it in a few months, 

 this is not advisable. On the whole, I am inclined — upon, I allow, a very lim- 

 ited e.xperience — to prefer the third plan, — that of using the turf we find on the 

 ground or in the immediate neighborhood. If this is pared ofif thin, the coarse, 

 long-rooted plants, such as docks, cow-parsnips, thistles, and dandelions, will 

 be cut off, and can be easily picked out and burnt, and their remains forked out 

 in digging the ground and levelling it ; while the real grasses and clovers will 

 remain uninjured, and with rolling, mowing, and a liberal dressing of ashes, 

 form an excellent croquet-lawn by the next summer. I have known people go 

 to a great expense to cart down turf from the top of a hill, and the money thrown 

 away. The delicate aira and festuca, as soon as they were transplanted to the 

 richer mould below, have dwindled and disappeared ; and plantains, that were 

 small and unnoticed before, have usurped their place, and covered the ground 

 like a scab. 



As croquet is becoming more and more a man's game, and is played with 

 heavier mallets, a much larger lawn is now required for it than when it was re- 

 garded as merely a pastime for young ladies and children, and when any little 

 corner of the garden was good enough for it. — Gard::ner'' s Chronicle. 



Statice Holfordi Propagation. — It is propagated by cuttings, the side 

 crowns being taken off close to the stem, and with a sort of heel. The base of 

 the cutting is pared smooth with a sharp knife, and a few of the leaves are 

 trimmed off to admit of its being placed in the soil. The cutting-pot should be 

 well drained, filled to within an inch of the rim with sandy peat, and then to the 

 rim with sand ; and the cutting should be inserted in the centre. It is well to 

 place the cutting-pot in one of a larger size, and to fill the interval between the 

 two with small crocks to near the top, and the remainder of the space with silver 

 sand. The rims of both pots should be level. That will allow of a bell-glass 

 being placed over the cutting, and resting on the sand between the pots. Give 

 a gentle watering, and plunge in a bottom-heat of from 75° to 80°, and a corre- 

 sponding top-heat ; being careful not to make the soil very wet, but yet to keep 

 it moist. Shade from bright sun, take off the bell-glass occasionally, and, after 

 wiping it dry, replace it. When the cutting begins to grow, tilt the glass a little 



