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lay this on the ground and bend or coil in any direction until 

 the desired shape is obtained. By this rope the e^'e is enabled 

 to perceive the whole form of the walk or flower bed at once, 

 and readily detect any fault and rectify it at once. When other 

 than straight lines are desired, \vq consider the use of the rope 

 superior to the old mode of using nothing but stal^es ; its use 

 is also advantageous in connection with stakes in laying our 

 beds in the shape of stars, and all others that are more or less 

 pointed, a stake being used at each point to keep the rope in 

 position. When the rope shows the walk to be the right 

 shape, it should be marked off by making with the spade a 

 row or gutter two inches deep close beside the rope. All the 

 proposed walks having been mapped out in this way, the 

 soil should be removed from the space to be used for walks, to 

 the depth of about eight to ten inches. This soil may be used 

 for filling up the low places in other parts of the garden. The 

 remainder of the- garden should all be dug over; if the soil is 

 poor, it should be enriched with manure prior todigging; now 

 mark off by the aid of rope and stakes one of the accepted de- 

 signs for flower beds. When correct the outlines should be 

 made permanent by sodding; obtain suflicient sods or green 

 turf about two and one-half inches thick and six to ten wide, 

 to make a border all around the bed close to the line or rope, 

 being careful to keep the outline perfect and distinct. Tliese 

 sods should be beaten severely with the back of the spade, to 

 unite the sod with the soil, so that the roots of the grass will 

 not dry out, but will root into the soil underneath. All the 

 beds will be laid out and arranged in the same way. The 

 border on either side of the walks should also be sodded, and 

 if the sods can be had in abundance, all the remainder of the 

 garden not being used for walks or flower beds may be covered 

 with them, care being taken that the sods are of uniform 

 thickness, so that the surface will be comparatively smooth 

 and level. If, however, the sods are not easilj^ obtainable, the 

 flower beds and walks may be edged or bordered with bricks 

 or fancy tiles ; they look quite novel, but to our taste are not 

 nearly so pretty as the beautiful green hue of the grass. If 

 only suflacient sods can be procured for bordering purposes, 

 lawn grass seed may be sown on the remainder at the rate of 

 four bushels to the acre. Most all seedsmen have the different 

 grass seeds that are suitable for lawn making in mixture, 

 under the general name of lawn grass. This should be sown 

 early in the spring, so that it may have the benefit of the 



