THE LA WN. 



But in order to make the best greensward that we can 

 reasonably expect to obtain, in view of the practice of the 

 present day, let us take an ordinary piece of ground in the 

 rough, covered with stones, wild turf, and weeds. It must 

 not be an extreme case of sand or clay. Special ways of 

 treatment would have to be devised for these, and we might 

 imagine fifty cases, each of which would require a different 

 mode of treatment. We had better, therefore, confine our- 

 selves to an average or ordinary example of the way to 

 make a lawn. This supposition would include a moderately 

 heavy loam, some stone, and many weeds. 



The first thing to be considered in such cases is the 

 drainage ; I mean the drainage of the lawn, and not of the 

 roads. People are apt to stop when they have drained their 

 roads and walks, and forget that the lawn requires such a 

 thing as drainage! 



I am not, however, going to linger much on this ques- 

 tion, supremely important though it be to many lawns. 

 The fact is, our average lawn does not need any drainage, 

 except where in some limited spot water is apt to lie a part 

 of the year. In such cases, drains of horse-shoe, or four- 

 inch round tile, should be laid to some main drain, or open 

 gutter along a road or street. No doubt there are cases of 

 only moderately heavy loam, where the moisture sticks and 

 lingers, in an undue degree, and here under-drainage is 

 needed. Under-drainage on ordinary lawns will be only re- 

 quired in limited areas, that is in valleys or hollows made 

 by the lay of the land. 



This question of under-drainage once settled and rele- 

 gated to the realm of scientific treatises, to which this book 



