(Sardmr's JItontMg. 



207 



PHILADELPHIA, JULY, 1867. 



|I3^ Communications for the Editor should be addressed, 

 "Thomas Meehan, Germantown, Philadelphia," and Business Let- 

 ters directed to "W. G. P. Brinckloe, Box Philadelphia." 



I i 



I i 



I I 



For Terms of Subscription see second page of cover. 



For Terms of Advertising see page 33. 



Volumes 1, $1; 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 unbound, $2 each. 



MAEIE^IG LAWN'S. 



We recently saw a letter of Mr. H. W. Sargent, 

 now travelling in Europe, to a friend in this country, 

 in which he expresses disappointment at the appear- 

 ance of the lawns there and his increased estimation 

 of our own. 



There is no doubt but that we have progressed 

 considerably in the art of making this — the great 

 teatureof a first-class garden — and that Mr. Sargent, 

 who has been himself conspicuous for the attention 

 given to the improvement of American lawns, and 

 whose own at Wodenethe has been the theme of 

 many well merited newspaper articles, should have 

 a reason to feel satisfied with our attempts, is cause 

 for much encouragement. 



We have so often recently had to refer to the 

 great harm done to American HorticuUure by the 

 rehashes of foreign books, that we need only now 

 say that in this matter of lawn making alone we have 

 suffered immensely, — so long as we sowed the 

 crested dog-tail, the* vernal, and the fesques, gen- 

 erally recommended, we could have no lawn in sum- 

 mer; for, adapted only to cool and moist climates, 

 they soon dried up under our summer sun ; yet we 

 find to this day writers following in the old track 

 and recommend such rubbish. 



The best mixture for a lawn in most parts of the 

 United States is about one-third rye grass [Lolmm 

 perenne) and two-thirds green or as it is sometimes 

 called Kentucky blue grass{ Poa pralensis); by itself, 

 the ryn grass will not stand close mowing, the sun 

 burns it out, with the othe it stands well, and gives 

 a live ghttery appearance to a lawn, no other grass 

 will. For lawns which are to be machine mowed. 

 Red- top [Agrostis rubra) is an admirable grass, as it 

 will bear lower cropping, without injury, than any 

 other. 



In preparing land for a lawn, sub-soiling is of much 

 value, for a loose sub-soil never gets so dry as one 

 hard pan will. 



In sowing in September or October it is an excel- 

 lent plan to add oats or rye, but the last is not so 



good as oats. The object is to afford a little shade 

 to the grass, to keep it from thawing until the spring 

 season naturally comes, otherwise it would be 

 " thrown out" by continual freezings and thawings 

 through the winter season. 



Because the oat renders such good service to fall- 

 sown grass, there are some whose imitative faculties 

 are out of all proportion to their reflective ones, and 

 who recommend to sow oats also with lawn grass in 

 spring; no sensible gardener falls into this error. In 

 the spring he sows grass entirely by itself. 



Now there are two principles which are never 

 thought of in lawn nianagement by the best of lawn- 

 ist, and yet are of great practical importance. One 

 is that the roots of grass only penetrate the soil 

 to about the depth that the plant extends in height, 

 and the other is that continual catting of green 

 leaves weakens vitality. 



So that practically if we let grass grow afoot high 

 its roots may penetrate a foot deep, but if we keep 

 it cut down to a few inches, the roots wih seldom go 

 deeper down than that. The value of this principle 

 is that when we wish a young lawn go deeply down 

 with its roots, we let it grow as much as it will, and 

 one of the best ways of renovating a worn out lawn 

 is, to let it grow longer than it has been permitted 

 to do. W e are often asked how to make grass grow 

 in shady places, what manure is best under such 

 circumstances ? And people seem suprised when ^ 

 we tell them the best manure is to let (he grass grow I 

 without cutting it. | 



So newly sown lawns should not be cut very early \ 

 the first year. The o ject should only be to cut low 

 enough to keep do n oats, weeds, or anything that 

 may grow stronger than the grass; for remember, 

 amongst the vegetation on a lawn there is a contin- 

 ual struggle for existence, and that the strongest 

 ultimately prevails over the weaker forms, and 

 crowd them out. This principle is well illustrated 

 in lawns kept closely mowed by machinery, 

 small spergiilas, veronicas, arenarias, &c. , which 

 could LOt live in long grass for want of light 

 and air, get a chance afforded them by the grass 

 being kept in check, and they thus get strong enough 

 to often kill out the weakened grass altogether. 



It will thus be seen that to make American lawns 

 rival the famed ones of Europe, all that is necessary 

 is a proper selection of varieties, a deep cool soil, 

 and a regard to the depth of the roots, which is 

 readily controlled by judicious mowing, according as 

 circumstances require it. 



