THE AMATEUR’S FLOWER GARDEN. 
265 
and had to mow twice a-week through the whole of June and 
July to keep the grass down. Nevertheless, in that same moist 
summer, we saw the “Archimedean” employed on a tract of 
chalk land, which is peculiarly exposed to the influence of the 
sun, and the result was a fresh green turf, where in the height 
of summer nothing better than a dusty door-mat had ever 
been seen before. When the grass is cut by cutters adapted 
for the scattering system, it falls on the ground in a form 
more resembling dust than fibres, and acts as a “mulch” 
both to nourish the growth and arrest evaporation from the 
soil; hence the importance of the scattering system on chalk 
and sand, and other hungry stuff, and on any soil in such a 
hot season as that of 1870. 
In the keeping of an old lawn it is of the utmost 
importance to remember that grasses and clovers require 
for their well-doing a highly-nourishing soil. Now it mat¬ 
ters not how good the soil may be in the first instance, if 
we cut and carry, we labour constantly to impoverish the top- 
crust. In every barrowful of grass removed, there will be a 
certain quantity of alkalies, phosphates, and other consti¬ 
tuents of vegetation, abstracted from the soil. To be always 
taking off and putting nothing on, must result in the star¬ 
vation of the grass ; and w^e shall find that as the grasses 
and clovers disappear through the exhaustion of the soil, 
daisies, plantains, knotgrass, self-heal, and other weeds, 
will take their place. The simple remedy for this state of 
things is manuring, and the best mode of manuring is to 
scatter over the turf a succession of thin dressings of guano 
and fine mould mixed together. This should be done in 
autumn and spring, at times when there is not much traffic 
on the grass, and there is a likelihood of rain to follow. 
If appearances are of no consequence in the later autumn 
or early spring months, a good coat of half-rotten manure 
may be spread over the turf, but this proceeding cannot 
be recommended for general adoption. In place of guano, 
nitrate of soda or nitrate of potash may be employed, being 
first mixed with fine earth or sand, and then scattered at 
the rate of one pound of nitrate to every square yard. The 
employment of an alkali will promote the growth of grass, 
but not of clover, which requires the aid of phosphates. 
A cheap and most serviceable dressing for old lawns may bo 
occasionally obtained in districts where building works are in 
