292 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



lawns or open land. The difficulty and expense of doing this, of course, 

 far exceed anything called for in private establishments, owing to the 

 wear and tear to which it is subjected. Every year there are considerable 

 areas to which the grass must be brought back, so to speak. The best 

 way of doing this is unquestionably to pick up the surface and sow with 

 grass-seeds. It forms the best and most permanent turf ; but, of 

 course, several years must elapse before the grass becomes established 

 and can be used by the public. There are considerable spaces where we 

 cannot shut up the land for years, and in these cases turf must be laid. 

 And, in this connection, I should like to bring before you an interesting 

 fact that experience has borne in upon us. 



We used formerly to purchase large quantities of the best possible 

 turf from difi'erent parts of the country, in the neighbourhood of London, 

 and lay it down where required in the London parks. We found, how- 

 ever, that country turf would rarely stand more than one season in 

 London, and we have adopted the system of stripping turf from some 

 open part of each park and laying it down where required, the portions 

 that have been stripped being, as soon as possible, sown down with grass- 

 seeds. Turf moved in this way from one part to another of the same 

 park will stand almost indefinitely. There are also places where fresh 

 turf has to be laid down every season, and, in these cases, at times we 

 still purchase turf in the country, knowing it is not expected or required 

 to stand for more than one season. We do not, of course, like to strip 

 more turf ofi" the park land than we are absolutely obliged to do. This 

 brings us to the interesting question of why turf brought from the country 

 will not stand in London. 



I have more than once alluded to the deleterious eft'ect of the London 

 climate on so many forms of plant life ; but this, in my opinion, is not 

 applicable to grass, or, rather, it is not applicable to the special grasses 

 that are found in London turf. They are, in fact, quite at home in the 

 climate of London. So far from being a bad climate for grass, it is 

 a decidedly good one, owing very probably to the amount of soot deposited 

 on it, than which there is, as you know, no better dressing for grass, and 

 the causes must be sought elsewhere. I took up this question of grass 

 and grass-seeds many years ago, and consulted my old friend, Mr. 

 Carruthers, who is probably well known to most of you, and who is 

 an acknowledged expert on the subject. The conclusion arrived at as 

 regards the failure of coimtry grass to stand in London is, in the first 

 place, that the mere change of soil and climate is injurious, but that 

 above and beyond that is the fact that the plants composing the turf 

 brought from the country differ very largely from those that are indi- 

 genous to and flourish in London. Some years ago Mr. Carruthers was 

 good enough to analyse for us the grasses on a piece of turf brought, I 

 think, from the neighbourhood of Mitcham, and of another piece taken 

 from one of the London parks. I have not the results of the analysis by 

 me, but they were very striking. 



It may, perhaps, be of interest to you to know that we have a very 

 strict system under which we purchase our grass-seeds. Mr. Carruthers, 

 many years ago, prepared for us a list of seeds suitable for the London 

 parks, and also drew up- a specification to accompany all tenders for the 



