LAWN. 



163 



LAWN. 



from the surfaces of some adjoining 

 pasture-field or meadow ; but when 

 grass-seed is sown, the following kinds 

 are considered the best : — Fox-tail 

 meadow grass, Alopecurus pratensis, 

 which should, form one-fourth of the 

 whole ; the sweet-scented spring- 

 grass, Anthoocanthemum odoratum, 

 which gives the fragrance to new hay ; 

 and Poa pratensis, the common, 

 meadow-grass. To these may be 

 added the crested dog's-tail-grass, 

 Cynosiirus cristatus, and the hard 

 fescue grass, Festiica duriuscula, 

 with about the proportion of a bushel 

 of white clover-seed to four bushels 

 of the other mixture ; and this quan- 

 tity will suffice for an acre of ground. 



Layering is a mode of propagating 

 used both in the case of ligneous and 

 herbaceous plants, and the operation is 

 performed by choosing a young shoot 

 of the current or the preceding year, 

 bending it down to the ground, cover- 

 ing a portion of it near the extremity 

 of the shoot with an inch or more of 

 soil, previously fixing it there with a 

 hooked stick. In general, layers of 

 woody plants made in autumn may 

 be taken off about the same season 

 the following year ; but some trees 

 and shrubs, such as Magnolias, the 

 tree Ivy, &c, require to remain on 

 the tree for two years. Roses layered 

 in the summer season with shoots of 

 the same year's growth may be taken 

 off the following spring ; but the ge- 

 neral practice is to lay them in 

 autumn or winter, and allow them 

 to remain on the plants for a year. 

 Layers of herbaceous plants, such as 

 Carnations, Pinks, double Sweet Wil- 

 liams, and Chrysanthemums, made in 

 the beginning of summer, will have 

 made roots by the autumn ; and the 

 layers of Chrysanthemums so rooted 

 will flower the winter of the same 

 year. To facilitate the rooting of all 

 layers, whether ligneous or herbace- 

 ous, a notch or slit is made in that 



part of the shoot which is buried in 

 the soil ; or it is twisted, or a portion 

 of the bark taken off, or in some 

 other way wounded, bruised, or in- 

 jured, so as to check the return of the 

 sap by the bark, when the sap accu- 

 mulating at the upper lip of the 

 wound, forms a callosity there of 

 granulated matter, from which roots 

 are soon after emitted. In laying 

 herbaceous plants, and more especially 

 Carnations, the slit is made on the 

 under side of the shoot, and in the 

 case of woody plants on the upper 

 side. In both cases, the knife is en- 

 tered immediately below a bud or 

 joint ; roots being always more freely 

 protruded at the joints of plants, than 

 in the intervals between them. The 

 cut is generally made half through 

 the shoot, and continued up half an 

 inch or an inch, and to keep it open a 

 small splinter of wood, or a small flat 

 stone, or a piece of slate, or a pot- 

 sherd, is put in between the divided 

 parts to irritate the wound and cause 

 it to protrude granulous matter. In 

 laying herbaceous plants, it was for- 

 merly the custom to shorten the 

 leaves remaining on the layer, but in 

 modern practice this is considered un- 

 necessary and even injurious, by less- 

 ening the powers of the leaves to ela- 

 borate the sap. The leaves are always 

 stripped off that part of the layer 

 which is buried in the soil. In lay- 

 ering some woody plants, such as 

 certain kinds of roses, tree Peonies, 

 &c, the entire shoot is laid down, and 

 the knife entered immediately below 

 each eye ; and, the wound being kept 

 open by splinters of wood or stones, 

 the whole shoot is covered with earth 

 to the depth of half an inch or an 

 inch, according as the soil is sandy or 

 loamy, and a shoot is afterwards sent 

 up from each eye, so that a shoot 

 thus laid down produces nearly as 

 many plants aa it has buds. This 

 ' practice is much more successful with 

 m2 



