704 JOURNAL OF THE EOYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



good seed procured from a really reliable source. The old plan of sweep- 

 ing out the floor of a hayloft and sowing the produce, is the very best 

 way to sow and obtain, a magnificent crop of weeds of all sorts. If the 

 lawn is not so bad as to necessitate absolute re-formation, we should advise 

 sowing the lawn with one ounce of sulphate of ammonia to the square 

 yard, first in April, again in May, again in June, and fourthly in July, 

 taking care to distribute it evenly and in dry weather. This will kill all 

 the broad and flat leaved weeds and encourage the grass, and then if 

 mowing is done every week regularly, the coarse grasses will be kept under 

 and the finer grasses, will be able to make headway, and so the lawn will 

 gradually improve ; but it must always be borne in mind that a fine English 

 lawn cannot be made in a day or a year, or hardly in one generation. 

 Not more than one ounce to the square yard should be given, or the 

 grass will be burnt in places ; it must also be evenly distributed. 



Manures and Wibewobm. 



A Fellow writes : " Our kitchen garden suffers from a plague of wire- 

 worm and snake millipede. We have used no chemical manures for some 

 years. Would it disperse and kill the grub and sweeten the soil to use 

 such manures as superphosphate of lime, basic slag, or nitrate of soda ? 

 The soil is gravelly, and farmyard and stable manure has always been 

 used and often fresher than it should have been." W T e recommend, on 

 rich soils and under such conditions, to apply kainit at the rate of 4 cwt. 

 an acre early in March, keeping it off the foliage ; and later in the year 

 when the crops are growing freely, apply nitrate of soda at the rate of 



cwt. an acre. This will do the land a great deal of good, and will 

 materially assist in keeping wireworm and millipede in check. 



Nettles. 



A Fellow asks us how to get rid of " a plague of Nettles " growing 

 in a wood, and invading the adjacent lawns and garden, the [extent of 

 ground being too large for digging them up, as that would be too expensive 

 a process. 



There is an old West-country doggerel on Nettles — 



Cut 'em in May 



They'll grow again next day. 



Cut 'em in June 



They'll grow again soon. 



Cut 'em in July 



And they'll surely die. 



Cut 'em in August 



And die they must — 



in which there is a vast deal of truth. If you cannot dig up Nettles, which 

 are deep-rooting plants, there is nothing like persistent cutting them down. 

 We have ourselves absolutely destroyed them in this way, but not in one 

 year nor in two. Cut them down close to the ground as soon as they are 

 six inches high, and never all through the year let them exceed six inches 

 in height, but continually and persistently cut them and cut them, and 

 the plants will become weaker and weaker until at last they will die. 



