The Laying-out of Lawns ^^ 



would require, especially with the sluggishness 

 and slow way of working of our country folk, 

 an extraordinary number of men, and the un- 

 skilled labor necessarily employed would, more- 

 over, give poor and unequal results. 



I have dwelt on these details, because in Ger- 

 many few things are so neglected; indeed, in 

 many cases they seem to be quite ignored. On 

 my place I have proved that with similar treat- 

 ment we can obtain as good lawns in spring, 

 summer, and autumn as in England ; on account 

 of our harder climate it is not possible in win- 

 ter, at the beginning of which English lawns 

 are at their best. It is less possible, perhaps, for 

 us to vie with the richness of the open meadows 

 in England, especially with their wealth of 

 flowers, of which I remember examples, where 

 at a little distance bright reds, blues, and yellows 

 entirely mantled the green. 



The field set apart for meadow is sown for a 

 year or two with root crops, then it is laid out 

 in little sections for the men engaged in manur- 

 ing and working it, irregularities are leveled 

 down, and each section worked across. When 

 the whole field has been thoroughly worked in 

 this manner according to its quality, — since it 

 is seldom that even a field of ten acres is of the 

 same quality, — I spread on the lighter soil clay 

 and marlj on the heavier soil, sand and light 

 loam, also a compost made of turfy earth and 

 oak tan bark, leveling the whole once more with 

 the spade so .that the smallest inequalities are 



