90 ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW 
foreground of Kew House and, as old engravings show, was a spacious 
lawn in the Kew Gardens in the middle of the eighteenth century. 
In more senses than one, the lawns and trees of a garden are its 
most important features. The lawns provide the pleasantest of all 
carpets to walk on and, together with the trees, they constitute 
the setting or general framework of all the choicer and more individual 
beauties it may contain. With its lawn well cared for, its turf thick 
and green, even the smallest garden is never without a certain dignity. 
The fact that at Kew the public enjoy an almost unrestricted access 
to its lawns is one of the chief reasons, no doubt, of its popularity. 
The famous legend “ Keep off the grass ” does not appear ; all that 
is asked of visitors is that they do not trample down the edges. But 
this freedom involves an enormous amount of labour and attention in 
keeping the turf healthy and in good order. As one item, it may be 
mentioned that at least an acre of turf is used every autumn and 
winter to replace the worn patches of the previous summer. This, 
however, is largely due to the unavoidable congestion of the crowds 
in certain parts, such as in the more popular avenues and near 
plant-houses and chief entrances. Still, these places constitute but 
a small fraction of the hundred acres or so of lawn in Kew. It 
is to prevent any deterioration in the great areas that the efforts 
of the staff are directed. 
The care of lawns involves three things : the eradication of weeds, 
“ feeding,” and mowing. A good many methods of ridding lawns 
of weeds have been advocated. It is a favourite field 
Management f Qr ama t eur inventor ; but it is still doubtful if 
any method is better than the old one of uprooting 
them with a spud or other garden tool. Dropping vitriol in the 
centre of the weeds and depositing salt on them are both efficacious 
methods, although if not done carefully they are apt to cause a tem- 
porary disfigurement of the lawn. The most troublesome weeds 
are plantains and dandelions ; daisies, too, must be included, if they 
can be regarded as weeds. Now one of the best ways of keeping down 
such plants is to encourage the grass by generous treatment. It 
is where the soil is poor and the grass thin that these weeds get their 
firmest foothold. And this brings us to the second item — that of 
“ feeding ” the lawn. 
The simplest plan of renovating thin, poor grass is to spread fine 
soil, rotted manure, or, in fact, fine humus of almost any kind thinly 
