378 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



a lack of proper food. If it is a soft, loosely-grown plant with 

 abnormally fleshy roots, it is readily seen that the rooting medium 

 is defective. Now the same treatment applied to both alike will not 

 give a satisfactory result. The Vv^eakly specimen needs freer rooting 

 conditions, and frequent light apphcations of suitable plant food, until it 

 has recovered its normal vigour. The luscious growing plant requires 

 something that will absorb the excess of organic nourishment existing 

 there, and induce a more fibrous and firmer root growth. 



Perhaps I can illustrate this better if we examine an undulating 

 putting green on a golf course. The best putting greens are evenly 

 clothed with close, fine grass, which is equally good on both mounds 

 and hollows. The natural tendency of grassy mounds is to get 

 impoverished and hard, so that the rains cannot penetrate, and 

 eventually plant life gets to a low ebb. In the hollows the reverse 

 is the case, and an over-luxuriant growth results. To equalize these 

 growths, distinct treatment is necessary. Very little can be done 

 in this respect during summer, but as soon as the autumn rains have 

 moistened the ground very much can be accomplished. The mounds 

 then need to be loosened rather deeply with a digging fork, and 

 hght sprinklings of chemical manure apphed occasionally, when the 

 ground is moist. This will strengthen the grasses and enable them to 

 go through the drought of summer without damage. The hollows 

 need frequent light sprinklings of sand or sandy loam, until they 

 reach a degree of firmness nearly equal to the mounds. 



If the winter management of lawns has been thorough, the summer 

 treatment is simple and easy. The cultivation they have received has 

 trained the grasses to go through the heat of summer and the season 

 of play. If either the drought is excessive or the play severe, they 

 may get sunburnt or fagged, but they quickly recover after rain. 

 There might occur exceptional cases where watering lawns may be 

 necessary, but generally it is better avoided. The beneficial effect 

 derived from rain is not due so much to the rain itself as to the altered 

 climatic conditions and the dissolved air which accompanies it. Water 

 applied to turf during hot weather causes the grasses to retain their 

 greenness at the expense of their energy. 



Mowing. 



Mowing ought to be commenced as early in the season as possible ; 

 in fact, it will not require to be stopped at all if the winter is mild. 

 But, assuming that the severity of winter has stopped grass growth, 

 as soon as frost and snow have gone and vegetation reasserts itself 

 mowing should be proceeded with on the first favourable occasion. 

 This is an important detail in lawn-turf cultivation. If, as is frequently 

 done, the grass is allowed to grow so long that it has to be cut with a 

 scythe before the lawn mower can be used, the energies of the grasses 

 are extended in the wrong direction. I have seen lawns allowed 

 to grow until there were loads of luscious grass taken from them, 



