290 



cessive evaporation, by which the moisture is dried 

 out of them ; and this is to be obviated by shelter 

 from cold winds, protection from the sun's rays 

 pruning, and other w^ays, which will suggest them- 

 selves to the reader according to his peculiar cir- 

 cumstances. 



All operations connected with ground-work are 

 now being pushed forward rapidly — grading, road- 

 making, lawn-making, and so on. So much has 

 been said of lawn-making in our past issues, that 

 little remains to be said here. One of the newest 

 improvements in sodding a lawn is not to lay the 

 pieces of sod close to each other. Pieces can be 

 cut into any size or shape and laid down several 

 inches from each other, the soil being loosely thrown 

 aside by the trowel to make the surface of the sod 

 and the surrounding soil be nearly level. On a 

 large scale, a wide drill which any ingenious laborer 

 could construct, or even a shallow furrow with a 

 plough as in " marking out" for a corn crop, might 

 be employed, and the pieces of sod, about six inches 

 square, set in four or six inches apart. A bush- 

 harrow, afterwards drawn over the lot, levels the 

 loose soil in the spaces between the sods, and the 

 roller afterwards passed over the whole makes a 

 good, firm, plane job. When the gra^s commences 

 to grow in the spring, it soon spreads into the un- 

 occupied spaces; and before midsummer the whole 

 becomes one uniform sheet of grass. This method, 

 which may be called sodding by inoculation, saves 

 just one-half the cost of sodding by the usual mode, 

 and is very near as good, in fact, quite as good, 

 after a few months of time, and costs very little 

 more than secding-down, which, except under the 

 management of one who thoroughly understands 

 his subject, is one of the most unsatisfactory of all 

 regular modes. Where seeding-down is to be the 

 mode, now is the time to see about it. 



The greatest difl5culty we have to contend against 

 in making good lawns is the coarse rank weeds with 

 I,' which most parts of our country abound ; and no 

 effort that can be made to guard against their intro- 

 duction, or to provide for their eradication at the 

 outset, will be ill spent. It is often an easy matter 

 at first ; but after they have once been suffered to 

 establish themselves, it is often better to dig or 

 plough up the whole surface and lay it down anew. 

 Sometimes much maybe accomplished in old lawns 

 by digging out the weeds with a trowel or spade, 

 filling up the holes with soil into which the grass 

 will soon run and obliterate the traces of the work. 



In all our operations saving labor should be our 

 first consideration — not that kind of labor-saving 

 whicli half does an operation, but which will pro- 



duce an equal result at a less cost. The introduc- 

 tion of grasses that will always remain green, and 

 yet grow so slow as to require little mowing, is one 

 of the new features in this line. Experiments are 

 wanted with many kinds of native plants that are 

 to be found in most localities. Of course, all those 

 who propose new improvements or try novel ex- 

 periments will be laughed at and pointed out as 

 "humbugs," but that should not deter any one 

 from following the path of progress. 



Where a choice can be had of a kind of grass 

 for a lawn, in our opinion the perennial Rye grass 

 [Lolium perenne^) is the best for general purposes. 

 Its shining green leaves, playing in the spring suns, 

 give a very cheerful eifect to lawn scenery. Its 

 only drawback is that it will not bear very close 

 mowing in hot weather, if once allowed to grow 

 long. Kentucky Blue grass, [Poa pratensis,) the 

 Green Grass of Pennsylvania, also makes a fine 

 lawn. 



GREENHOUSE. 



There are but few things in the greenhouse that 

 will require special treatment at this lime. Camel- 

 lias and Azaleas, as they cease to grow, will require 

 less water ; but it is now so well known that moist- 

 ure is favorable to growth, and comparative dry- 

 ness favorable to flowering, that we need do no 

 more than refer to the fact. 



Bulbs for flowering in pots should be planted at 

 once. Four or five-inch pots are suitable. One 

 Hyacinth and about three Tulips are sufficient for 

 each. After potting, plunge the pots over their 

 rinib in sand under ihe greenhouse stage, letting 

 them remain there until the pots have become well 

 filled with roots, before bringing them on to the 

 shelves to force. 



Where many flowers are desired for bouquets in 

 winter, a good stock of such as flower easily should 

 be provided, especially of white-flowering kinds, 

 without a good sprinkling of which a bouquet has 

 but a very commonplace look. Deutzia gracilis and 

 D. scabra, Philadelphuses, and Tamarix are very 

 good hardy plants to pot for winter flowering. The 

 Iberis sempervircns is also a splendid white to force 

 for its white flowers. Lopezia rosea is nearly in- 

 dispensable for giving a Hght, airy gracefulness to 

 a bouquet ; and Camellias and Azaleas cannot pos- 

 sibly be done without. 



Many kinds of annuals also come well into play ; 

 amongst other things. Phlox Drummondii, Sweet 

 Alyssum, Collinsia bicolor, Schizanthuses, Mignon- 

 ette, and Nemophila are essential. 



