40 



THE BOOK OF GARDENING. 



advantage of time gained by laying a lawn as compared with one 

 made by sowing is hardly worth consideration. 



The preparatory work, which is the same for either sowing or 

 laying the turf, has already been described in the pages dealing 

 with the formation of the ground. We have also seen that if 

 ground is inclined to be damp it must be drained. Success 

 depends largely on these points. If the soil is exhausted it will 

 be necessary to dress it with good rotten stable- or artificial 

 manure. Of the latter the following mixture may be recom- 

 mended : 2cwt. of superphosphate of lime, icwt. of bone-dust, 

 and icwt. of Peruvian guano: these quantities are sufficient 

 for an acre. It must be scattered and raked in a fortnight 

 before sowing the grass seed. This lapse of time is necessary 

 to allow of the artificial manure fermenting, and to prevent it 

 from being injurious to seed-germination. The ground of the 

 meadows must be ploughed, broken with the harrow, and 

 rolled over. In the case of heavy ground it is preferable 

 to do this work in the autumn in order that the frost may 

 get into the soil and pulverise it. In the spring it should be' 

 harrowed and rolled. 



Grass seed should be purchased from a reliable source, 

 and a mixture suitable to the conditions of the soil selected. 

 The quantity of seed required depends on the circumstances : 

 but it should not be less than three bushels to the acre for 

 a good garden lawn. The varieties of grass used in the com- 

 position of this latter do not fill out like the pasture varieties, 

 and have therefore to be sown more thickly. Thick sowing 

 is the only way to obtain a growth of fine herbage and a 

 rapid clothing of the ground. Sowing must be done on a calm 

 day, from the middle of ^Nlarch to the beginning of May, or 

 from the middle of August to the [5th of September. In heavy 

 and cold ground, it ought only to take place in the spring. 

 The seed must be evenly distributed, and this is best 

 effected by sowing twice, the second sowing crossing the first 

 at right angles. Where the ground forms a steep slope it is 

 better to sow when the earth is wet. After the seed has been 

 sown, it must be lightly covered with the rake, or in meadows 

 with the harrow. Before the ground is rolled over the clover 

 must be sown. It is advisable to proceed in this way, 

 sowing the clover separately, because, being heavier than 

 the other grass-seeds, it gets to the bottom of the sack when 

 mixed with them, and it is not then possible to sow it regularly. 



