LAWNS AND GRASS PLOTS ii 



is purely artificial. However much we may in other 

 directions give way to Nature, imitate her methods, and 

 submit to her caprices, here there can be no possibility 

 of compromise. A lawn demands constant attention ; 

 the more it is subjected to the roller, the shears, and the 

 broom, the better it will be. This is probably why the 

 cottager who owns a grass plot fails to make his garden 

 entirely satisfying to those who have an eye for the 

 eternal fitness of things. 



Comparatively few gardeners, even those who call 

 themselves professionals and experts, understand the 

 making of a lawn. To see the poor results achieved in 

 many modern gardens, one would almost suppose that 

 the successful laying of turf had indeed become a lost 

 art. And yet it is comparatively simple, mainly consisting 

 in the taking of infinite pains. Time of course is needed 

 to enable the lawn to attain its full beauty of velvet 

 verdure : this is why the lawns attached to some of the 

 older colleges and ancestral homes of England are so 

 fine and even in texture. For the rest, our climate is 

 practically ideal for the perfection of well-kept sward ; 

 lovers of beautiful lawns may extract this much satis- 

 faction from the doubtful blessings of a mist-laden 

 atmosphere. Nor must it be forgotten that the brown 

 and parched appearance of lawns during occasional dry 

 summers is largely due to imperfect preparation of the 

 ground previous to seed sowing or laying turf. By 

 taking trouble, the grass in small gardens should be a 

 sheet of emerald throughout the year. When we realise 

 the difficulties which gardeners in other countries are 

 obliged to face in order to get some semblance of good 

 turf — often it means the annual sowing of fresh seed — 

 we should feel encouraged to make the cottage lawn one 

 of its most beautiful features. 



In making a new lawn the vexed question naturally 

 arises, whether it is better to lay turf or sow seed. 



