CONCERNING LAWNS 855 



this seemed a rather poor argument, he suddenly 

 brightened up and said: "And what about the 

 moles ? Do you know that with a large lawn like 

 this, with grass fields all round it, you are always 

 in danger of getting a mole — that is to say if there 

 are any earthworms to attract him. And a mole 

 can disfigure a lawn as much as if you had made a 

 furrow with a plough across it." 



No doubt he was right there ; but when I said 

 that moles could be kept out by sinking a rabbit 

 net to a depth of two or three feet beneath the 

 surface and would save a lot of labour and expense, 

 he only smiled and shook his head. 



The gardener, like the gamekeeper, is never a 

 person who will allow you to teach him anything, 

 but after our conversation I was more convinced 

 than ever that it would be better for the lawn if, 

 instead of killing and starving the worms, we were 

 to feed them and allow them to make and keep 

 a turf. 



With this idea in my mind I tried a fresh experi- 

 ment. I pegged out a strip of the lawn at the 

 cottage, about ten feet wide, and ran a cord on each 

 side to keep it distinct from the rest of the ground, 

 and over that strip I sprinkled leaves from the 

 acacia and other trees abundantly. I examined the 

 ground on the following day and saw no change. 

 Leaves were still lying thickly on the ground, and 

 it was impossible to tell whether any had been 

 carried away or not. The next day it was the 

 same. On the morning of the third day there was 



