892 



1245 An open area of erass space 



body of bordering plantations which will usuilh frame 

 the Lawn and the different pictures that will appear m 

 any properly unified scheme of landscape gardening. 

 The art of the designer will display itself in determining 

 the relative sizes of the Lawns and these enclosing or 

 framing plantations. A careful eye must, of course, be 

 given to the individuality of the Lawn itself, which 

 should never be allowed to merge into the neighboring 

 plantations. A like principle applies to all kinds of art 

 —it is fundamental and vital in its character. The 

 reader may fancy that its application would tend to limit 

 the beauty of landscape gardening by eliminating cer- 

 tain features of natural beauty, such as trees, shrubs 

 and beds of flowers, but, if he will look at an open Lawn 

 with discerning and sympathetic eyes, he will find that 

 the "moving cloud-shadows, waving grass, rich patches 

 of dark and light green, studded with the starry radi- 

 ance of the humble flora of the grass, and the hundred 

 incidents ..f M:i7iii_- ■■y subdued color and form that ap- 

 pear nii !'■■ '1-' ! :tTt open meadow," need no added 



beauty ^ i i r iK to perfect their nearly unap- 



proaciiai ' So important does the writer 



considn- i!i. . ■ . mii! ;uiil peculiar beauty of the Lawn 

 as distinKiii>*lii-'l trciin that of any other part of the 

 home domain, that he always feels inclined to term it 

 the true focus of the picture, the central point of inter- 

 est in any landscape ijardening design. 



This Inn I- ihi r:i,, . it Ijehooves us always to literally 

 leave )m' - i . ■ 1 or clod of earth unfilled and 



unfertili ilitain a satisfactory open Lavra. 



Did tbi- I. I 1' I ' \ ■ ' r illy see such an one? Let him an- 

 swer £raiiki> lu hiiiiMii whether he has or has not seen a 

 Lawn whicli showed no traces of twitch grass and other 

 early weeds in July, nor any summer grass and later 

 weeds in August and September, — above all. a Lawn 

 which would stand a protracted drought without artificial 

 watering. Very likely he will think it is impossible to 

 make such a Lawn under the conditions of soil and cli- 

 mate which each and all of us are likely to believe spe- 

 cially characteristic of the spot of ground on which we 

 live. Pi-rhaps, ni, thr utlier hand, hewUl declare that lie 

 has sei-ii -u^ h ;i l.:i'.\u ill some remote place, but if \ve 

 question liiiu. ii n . Iinn-.s to one we shall find that bis 

 observation •■i tin- . \ i jifional Lawn is limited — that In- 

 lias 11. .t wiiit. r.-i| ami ^iiiiinirTr-d near it, or seen it dur- 

 iiii: its p.-riM,!^ nt' ■■-1,11111 himI stress." The -writer km. ws 

 .111.' lilai'.- wli. r.- -u.-h a I. awn .'ail be seen, and he ref.-rs 

 t.. it. ii.it li.-.-aii-.. 11 i- |ir.ii..rly a Lawn, for it lacks the 

 rfquisii.- fraiiiiiiL' ].laiiiaii..ii-; hut it is perfect in th.- 



first i-s^.iiiial .1 a Lj ! I,a« ii-it is a piece of perf.-ot 



Lawn L'la--. A I ai. I .1. - riiiiinu will show how this 



standard .if . \i i lli 'a a- ri ailit-d. The La-wn consists 



of small iiat.h.s ..f -ravv turf ..n a private farm in Man- 

 chester, Conn. Each patcli was worked and turned over 

 with various ingeniously contrived hoes, forks and rakes 

 until the last lurking weed was removed that could be 

 found by dint of skill and untiring patience. The soil 

 was that of an ol.l iranbii. ami naturally good. It was 

 tilled in the most tli..i-..iii.-li manner and not fertilized at 

 all, for fear new w.. .N I..- intru.iuced. Then, in this 

 mellow and receptive m. -.1111111. were set cuttings or joints 

 of the hardiest and must luxuriant varieties of grasses 



LAWN 



which had been discovered by 



months and even years of keen 



and intelligent search in the old 



meadows of both the Old and the 



New World from Austria to Aus- 



] idj& - ''^ tralia. The result is an elastic 



'^^ ''Utrt.if' /^■f firmness, an endurance, depth 



*»> . ri¥^ -^ J. and richness of the turf which 



suggests to the tread the deep 



pile of some Eastern carpet woven 



in a hand-loom. 



But all can not attain this 

 standard on their Lawns. For 

 those who do not look higher 

 than the ordinary standard — and 

 even this is none too often de- 

 sired, or even understood, by the 

 general public — the following di- 

 rections for Lawn making may be 

 given : 



1. The Lawn should be care- 

 fullv graded either convex, level or concave, in such 

 comparatn elj long suave and graceful lines as will ac- 

 cord with the peculiar conformation of the ground (Fig. 

 1247). 



2. Plow, harrow or spade, and fork the soil of the 

 Lawn to a depth of two feet, if possible, and keep re- 

 moving the stones and burning the gathered rubbish 

 for several weeks, or as long as you can persuade your- 

 self to do it, or pay any one else to do it, with the full 

 assurance that no matter how much you do, you will not 

 be likely to destroy all the weeds and win the very best 

 possible results. 



3. Enrich the soil by : 

 Next to this in eiTn-ieii 

 phate of lime, nitiai. f 

 like groun.l ll.'~li an! 



are one ton toUu-a.n -i .a u.. ai:;,: .,il r.Ttilizers, 



such as supcrphospliai.- Ill' hiin^ ami limn .lu-t . ..r I.', to 

 25 of well-rotted staM.' niaimr.i. If ariiiiiial f.ri iliz.rs 

 are not available, tli.n lak.- .'..w niainir.'. -li. . p nianure, 

 or last of all.becaus.- it is th.- in..st pr.i.lu.-tiv.i ..f w.-.als, 

 ordinary stable manure. These natural manures are, 

 after all, the best, save for their weed-bearing qualities. 

 They will need composting with several times their 

 bulk of good soil and evenly spreading and harrowing 

 or raking in throughout the surface of the Lawn. 



4. For turfing, the cleanest grass seed that can be ob- 

 tained at any price will be found the best in the end. 



• of still : 



The bulk of this seed should be Kentucky blue-grass or 

 June-grass {Poa pratensis) mixed with red-top or herd's- 

 grass {Agrostis albn, var. vulgaris) , [or Agrostis canhia, 

 the Rhode Island bent-grass. The advantage of using 

 several kinds of grass is that the first-comers hold pos- 

 session of the ground against incursions of weeds until 

 the stronger but slower-growing Kentucky blue-grass 



