304 THE PLEASURE-GARDEN. [March. 
Clean the Pleasure- Garden. 
Every part of this garden should be now well cleaned and put into 
the best order. Give the flower borders, beds, &c. a general spring 
dressing, by digging, hoeing, and raking; let the edgings oF box, &c. 
be regulated, where disorderly, and the gravel-walks be well cleared 
from weeds and litter, and occasionally rolled. 
Keep the grass lawns, walks, &c. now well cleared from litter and 
worm-cast earth, which appears unsightly, and spoils the compact 
evenness of the sward: give them, therefore, occasional rollings with 
a heavy roller, whereby to preserve a clean, even, firm surface, 
neat to appearance, and that can be mowed close and regular with 
greater facility. 
The edges of all the grass walks and lawns, should now be cut 
even with an edging-iron, (see page 78) which will add greatly to 
the general neatness. 
Making Grass-Walks and Lawns. 
The sooner in this month that you can make any grass-walk^, 
lawns, or grass-plats, that may be necessary, the better; as the 
roots will have time to establish themselves, before the great 
droughts and heats commence. Turf, when it can conveniently be 
got, is always preferable to sowing grass-seed, but in extensive 
lawns, the latter, of necessity, must be resorted to. The best turf for 
those purposes, is that of a close-fed pasture or common, where the 
sward is tough, and the grass short and fine. 
If you have much to lay, you should be provided with a turfing- 
iron. This instrument is formed with an iron plate for the cutter, 
six or seven inches wide, rounding at the edge, very sharp, and 
about a foot long, pretty much in the form of a spade; and at the 
tread, it is forged or connected to a long bent iron handle, the bend- 
ing so formed as to admit of the plate or cutter resting flat on the 
ground, in the proper position for flaying the turf; the iron handle 
at top being either formed like the handle of a spade, or having a 
socket near the plate to place a crooked wooden and properly head- 
ed handle therein. With this instrument, turf can be taken off, with 
much more convenience and expedition, than with a spade; but when 
it cannot be conveniently had, a spade may do very well. 
It will also be necessary in order to go completely about your 
work, to have a racer or sward-cutter. This should have a stout 
wooden handle, about four feet long and bent a little in the lower end, 
like a boy's common; having about four or five inches of the point 
end of an old scythe, placed transversely in the lower extremity, with 
the point downwards, projecting an inch and a half, with the edge 
forward and made fast in a slit in the handle, with a couple of rivets; 
so that when pushed before you, it may expeditiously cut the sward 
as you race it along. 
Having this instrument, strain a line tight, first lengthways, then 
strike the racer into the sward close to the line, run it along, it will 
