Gardening for Amateurs 



that the soil is poor or that the ground needs 

 draining. The latter is a laborious work, 

 and the treatment advised should first be 

 practised ; the other may never be necessary. 



Weeds on the Lawn. Weeds, unfortu- 

 nately, are detrimental to the health and 

 aspect of every lawn, and they must be 

 removed. The worst weeds of all, because 

 they cannot be dealt with easily, are the 

 coarse grasses which appear and gradually 

 stifle the finer kinds so much desired. There 

 is no remedy for these unless they be present 

 in sufficiently small numbers to allow of 

 handpicking or spudding out with an old 

 knife ; otherwise the lawn must be dug over, 

 the roots removed and fresh seed sown. 

 Daisies are the most common weeds found, 

 but the Broad-leaved Plantain is equally bad ; 

 both these wild plants form dense rosettes 

 of foliage close to the ground, the mower 

 does not reach them, and they soon increase 

 by offsets and by seeding until all the grass 

 round about them is killed, and the dis- 

 figuring weeds become a great eyesore. Some 

 of the Hawkweeds also cause trouble in a 

 similar fashion, but they are not by any 

 means so common ; they can generally be 

 recognised by the fact that leaves and flowers 

 resemble those of the Dandelion. Odd 

 specimens of any of the above weeds should 

 be dug up and the hole filled with a handful 

 of compost containing seed. Lawn sand, 

 applied according to directions, will get rid 

 of broad-leaved weeds, though a pinch of 

 sulphate of iron in the heart of each will be 

 found effective. The remedy advised for 

 tap-rooted weeds as given in the next para- 

 graph may be tried. Chickweed and its 

 pubescent friend, the Mouse-eared Chick- 

 weed, may sometimes be found, but rarely 

 in sufficient quantity to do much damage ; 

 lawn sand is a cure for them, but if a little 

 nitrogenous manure, such as nitrate of soda, 

 or sulphate of ammonia, be used in spring to 

 encourage the grass they will soon die out. 



Clover is considered a weed by some 

 people, although, when the lawn is subject 

 to hard use, it often forms a carpet of green 

 where fine grasses would fail. The remedial 

 measures to adopt for clover consist of 

 stimulating the grass in spring with nitrate 

 of soda or sulphate of ammonia, and crippling 

 the clover with lawn sand ; small quantities 



may be weeded out. The dwarf Pearlwort, 

 a tiny plant bearing green inconspicuous 

 flowers, often seen on hard walks or upon 

 wall tops, may begin to spread among the 

 grass ; Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris), a low- 

 growing plant, with dense reddish-purple 

 spikes of purple-blue flowers, is, like the last 

 named, an indication that the soil is in 

 want of a rich refreshing dressing. Stunted 

 forms of Medick or Yellow Trefoil may find 

 a congenial habitat in badly tended places. 

 To get rid of these weeds, first pull up as 

 many as possible, then enrich the lawn by 

 one of the manurial top dressings advised to 

 strengthen the grass so that the weeds may 

 be stifled. 



Tap-rooted Weeds. Weeds with long, 

 fleshy roots will not succumb to such simple 

 treatment as may be employed for those 

 already mentioned, most of which have fibrous 

 roots. Docks are the worst offenders of this 

 section, but Dandelions, Thistles, and the like 

 are occasionally found. The simplest cure 

 is first to get a quantity of some corrosive 

 solution, like weed-killer, vitriol, bluestone 

 solution, sulphate of iron solution, caustic 

 soda, etc. ; a sharp dibber about inch in 

 diameter is then made, dipped into the liquid 

 and plunged into the heart of the weed ; the 

 root is lacerated, and the strong liquid soon 

 causes decay. This practice is most success- 

 ful if carried out in winter, when the plants 

 are dormant and quite unable to start fresh 

 growths or propagate themselves. 



If a lawn is regularly attended, there is no 

 fear of its being overrun by weeds, since the 

 first ones noticed are immediately removed 

 from the soil. No one is to blame for the 

 spreading of these weeds unless it be Dame 

 Nature, which urges her wild plants to pro- 

 pagate themselves and spread widely, or the 

 omnivorous birds which drop seeds every- 

 where. Give the soil an occasional top 

 dressing, and the finer grasses will continue 

 to flourish. 



Shrubs for a Small Lawn. Some of the 



Cyprr .> aiv -iiilaNr fr tin- i-nil"-lli-lim-nt 

 of a lawn of limited extent. They should 

 be planted chiefly near the margin, so that 

 the green expanse may not be spoilt. 

 Cupressus Lawsoniana is an excellent tree 

 which will stand trimming, and the yellow 

 variety lutea is pretty. 



