264 
THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
month of August is the best time to insure a good plant 
before winter, and a long period of growth before the summer 
heat returns. 
There is yet a third mode of forming a lawn, now rarely 
practised, but in days when grass seeds were comparatively 
unknown, frequently resorted to. It is termed “ inoculating,’ ’ 
and consists in planting pieces of grass turf at regular dis¬ 
tances over the plot. In districts where good turf is obtain¬ 
able only in small quantities, this method may be recom¬ 
mended, for if the turves are torn into small pieces, and 
planted at a foot apart in September or February, they will 
extend rapidly, and form a pretty good sward the first season. 
In the after management, the principal operations consist 
of rolling, mowing, and weeding. Grass seeds must be con¬ 
stantly weeded, until the turf thickens sufficiently to kill out 
the weeds, and newly-laid turf must be kept clear of thistles, 
docks, and other rank weeds, by spudding them out, or by a 
simpler process which we have long practised with the most 
agreeable results, that of depositing in the heart of the plant 
a small quantity of phospho-guano, which kills it at once, 
and promotes the growth of clover in its stead. If this 
operation is carelessly performed, and the guano thrown 
about wastefully, the immediate result is a dotting of the 
lawn with unsightly brown patches, which, however, soon 
disappear after the occurrence of rainy weather. 
Many as are the kinds of mowing machines, they may 
all be classed under two heads—those that cut and carry, 
and those that cut and scatter. A carrying-machine may 
be made to scatter by removing the box, but not so well 
as the machine that is intended for scattering, as in each 
case the cutter is formed expressly for the work it is in¬ 
tended to perform. If the question be asked, which is the 
best form of machine, our reply is that they are of equal 
value, and the intending purchaser must be guided by a con¬ 
sideration of circumstances. In the excessively hot and dry 
summers of 1868 and 1870, we constantly employed the 
“ Archimedean,” which scatters the grass, and our lawns were 
as green through all the burning drought as in the cooler 
days of spring. In the moist summer of 1871, it would have 
been necessary to sweep up the grass, had the scattering 
machine been employed on our strong land, and therefore 
we kept our trusty “ Shanks ” at work, cutting and carrying, 
