28a 



THE GARDENER'S ASSISTANT. 



In forming a bowling-green it is always well 

 to make it sufficiently large, so that when required 

 there will be room enough for several games to 

 be going on at the same time. The centre of the 

 green should be a few inches higher than the 

 outsides, yet not so much as to be perceptible 

 to the eye, this slight inequality being intended 

 to test the skill of the players. The soil of 

 which a bowling-green is made should be good 

 in quality, and of sufficient depth to be able to 

 maintain a thick dense sward. As in the case 

 of lawn -making, the whole should be well- 

 trenched to an equal depth, allowing it after- 

 wards time to settle before turfing or sowing 

 down. If really good turf can be obtained, free 

 from large weeds, and possessing a thick close 

 carpet-like sward, it will be preferable to having 

 recourse to seeds. In laying it down the greatest 

 care must be taken that the turves are oi equal 

 thickness, and that the work is done with the 

 greatest regularity, as regards making the joints 

 close, and the surface faultlessly even. Greater 

 care is necessary here even than in the case of 

 a lawn, for not only must the surface be smooth 

 to the eye, but actually so that the bowls will roll 

 over it almost as if on a billiard-table, and this 

 cannot possibly be the case unless the turf be 

 well laid in the first instance. No amount of 

 rolling afterwards will bring it to the condition 

 required, if it be not laid down evenly. The 

 attention required for the proper keeping is the 

 same as that recommended for lawns in general. 

 Should any coarse grasses or weeds spring up 

 they must be at once removed. 



Where turf cannot be had of good quality, 

 recourse must be had to sowing seeds. The 

 sorts recommended for lawns will answer, but 

 to ensure a thick close sward in the shortest 

 time, we should advise the quantity of seed to 

 be increased one-third. The ground should not 

 be played upon until it is well and thickly 

 clothed with grasses. 



The immediate surroundings should not con- 

 sist of large trees, or the shade thrown by them 

 will cause the grass to grow weakly. A border 

 of mixed evergreen and deciduous flowering- 

 shrubs may very appropriately be planted round 

 the green, either as a screen or a decoration, 

 and beds of herbaceous flowering-plants may 

 with good effect be introduced amongst them. 

 The bowling-green, in fact, best realizes its true 

 position when it comes in as an interesting 

 feature in the circuit of the dressed grounds 

 which surround a substantial residence. 



Lawn-tennis (/rounds shouldbe level and smooth, 

 but there is not the same need of perfect finish 



as with a bowling-green; still, firmness and dry- 

 ness are essential points of a good ground. There 

 is no necessity to form the place of play at a 

 lower level than the surrounding lawn surface, 

 and good ordinary turf answers as well as the 

 finest grass mixtures. With a view to hinder- 

 ing any undue wearing away of the grass, a 

 tennis lawn should be made, where the area of 

 lawn is sufficient, at least 45 yards in length 

 with a width of 25 yards, which will permit of 

 some shifting of the nets occasionally, or the 

 accommodation of two or more parties of players 

 at one and the same time. 



IV. Ornamental Water. 



In pleasure-grounds of considerable extent, 

 or in home parks which lie beyond the more 

 carefully tended grounds, and of which they 

 generally form a continuation, ornamental water 

 is an important feature, not only on account of 

 the attraction which a well-arranged sheet of 

 w r ater in such a position always possesses in 

 itself, but for the marked effects it has on the 

 surrounding landscape. In flower-gardens the 

 extent of water is necessarily limited; otherwise 

 it would be out of proportion to the area of land 

 seen in connection with it, and accordingly it is 

 chiefly confined to basins and fountains, as al- 

 ready explained. In extensive pleasure-grounds 

 and in parks, water is, on the contrary, so impor- 

 tant a feature and contributes so much to the 

 beauty and enlivenment of the scenery, that no 

 landscape can be considered altogether conrplete 

 if it be not present. 



In nature, from a certain point of view, a 

 river, broad and swelling, may in winding be 

 observed to disappear behind some wood or 

 rising ground, and reappear in full view, till 

 by taking its course through valleys, or low 

 grounds, it finally becomes lost to sight; but 

 what is seen of it has a much more attractive 

 appearance than the same extent of surface in 

 the form of a broad lake. Now, an artificial 

 piece of water can be formed so as to appear 

 and disappear to the spectator like a natural, 

 winding river, and then no one can reasonably 

 find fault with it on the score of appearance. 

 Comparatively few demesnes, however, can boast 

 of a liver of any importance winding through 

 the grounds, and even where such a stream 

 exists, the water is often so far below the banks 

 as not to be visible at a moderate distance. But 

 where a stream of water either flows naturally 

 through the grounds, or can be diverted so as 

 to pass through them, effects of the most pleas- 



