The Laying-out of Lawns 49 



(i) Whether in a meadow or for a park or 

 pleasure-ground it is of no avail to sow only one 

 kind of grass seed. With only one kind of grass, 

 perennial or not, it is not possible to secure a 

 close grass texture. 



(2) For the first two — namely, meadows and 

 park — I consider the richest mixture to be the 

 best, but with this proviso, that the particular 

 kind of grass which experience has found to be 

 the most suitable to the special soil should dom- 

 inate, to the extent of a third to a half of the 

 mixture. In wet ground the greater part should 

 be timothy [Phleum pratense) ; for heavy soil, rye 

 grass [holium perenne) ; for loam, yellow clover 

 [Medicago lupulina) and French rye grass i^Ar- 

 rhenatherum elatius^ ; for light soil, honey or vel- 

 vet grass [Holcus lanatus^ ; for high ground, white 

 clover {Trifolium repens^, etc. 



(3) If the plot that is to be sown is dry, it is 

 advisable to trench it twelve to eighteen inches 

 first, whatever the soil may be, but the top soil 

 must be spread over the surface again if the soil 

 below is inferior, and a sandy soil must of course 

 be improved by muck, compost, or field soil. If 

 the expense of digging trenches is too great, then 

 one must plough to at least the usual depth, and 

 in most cases still deeper with a subsoil plough. 

 The field so prepared should be sown (herefrom 

 the middle of August to the middle of Septem- 

 ber) in rather moist weather and very thickly, 

 and the seed at once well rolled in. On heavy 

 soil it is best to wait for a dry day. By the end 



