74 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Mat 10, 1859. 
new “Grass that never wants mowing ” at Forest Hill; 
for everybody has been teasing me to know what it is, or 
is to come to, ever since tlie Messrs. Henderson, of tbe 
Wellington Hoad Nursery, advertised seeds of it. 
I never beard of suck a plant before. The name is not 
in my library; and the library of tbe Horticultural was 
sold on purpose to cut tbe ground from under your 
bumble servant, and to pay for turfing over tbe graves of 
tbe Council, wbo spent three thousand pounds of our 
free-will offering to rid tbe Society of debt, and put on 
our debt a thousand and odd more besides in less than 
three years, and bad nothing to show for it. Therefore, 
without seeing tbe “new Grass” as it is represented, 
what could I say ? 
Well, I have seen it, and I have seen a great deal more 
in tbe same place, which was equally new to me; but 
what between tbe honourable member for Coventry, tbe 
pudding at tbe Palace, this Spergula pilosa, and tbe said 
novelties, I should need to have a spinning machine to 
get out all my yarn before tbe Shows are in. Therefore, 
lest I break down before tbe end, I bad better give my 
impression of tbe “ new Grass ” before I begin in earnest. 
I am not long in deciding on a thing of this kind, and 
am often put down as being too sanguine in these matters ; 
but it is seldom indeed that things go different, or very 
different, from what I say. I say, then, of this lawn 
plant, that it is destined to make a revolution in gardening; 
that it is a discovery next to that of gas, steam, and elec¬ 
tricity for gardening; that every lawn in England, Ire¬ 
land, and Scotland may be made with it as smooth, and 
soft, and comfortable to walk on as any carpet in Her 
Majesty’s drawing-rooms; and that it never wants a 
scythe or a mowing machine. The best lawns and the 
best carpets have worn out, hitherto, by time and usage, 
and so will this grass ; but, of all the things on the face of 
thiseartk, it is the easiest thing to “make up,” and to 
Iook as well as it did before. It will require the highest 
style of gardening, and it will teach this nation how 
gardening should be done. One of our best exhibitor- 
gardeners has pledged his credit, in my hands, on the 
point that he would willingly undertake, in one season, 
to cover every inch of ground which is under the scythe 
at the Crystal Palace with this new grass. I would add, 
if that be so, I think I should be safe to step in and 
ensure the bank between the Palace and the first terrace- 
walk all round from burning half so much as it did last 
year; for I think I know something of this plant. I 
think it is a Scotch plant. I think it was never intro¬ 
duced ; and I think they have given it a wrong name, or 
changed the old one. But, as I have just said, I am not 
practical enough to be quite sure without referring to a 
good library. (Bad luck to the Vandal suavis who sold 
our library to cover their blundering experiments.) 
I am all but certain that this Spergula pilosa is the old 
Spergula saginoides of Scotland. The moment I saw the 
lawn at Forest Hill I told the proprietor and his gardener 
that I thought I had used the same plant years back, and 
that I wrote something about it as the “ carpet plant,” 
and I thought in Tub Cottage GabdeSee. That, how¬ 
ever, is neither here nor there. The grand point is, that 
this Spergula is the best lawn plant for this climate ; that 
it will form a close, even, and shining lawn which will 
never want mowing. A large piece of lawn, nine yards 
by eight yards, is already formed of it at Forest Hill; 
and two larger pieces of lawn, each thirty yards by six¬ 
teen yards, are now in the course of being covered with 
it; and ultimately every inch of the lawn all over the 
garden is to be covered with it, and with nothing else. 
No one can conceive the beauty of it without seeing it. 
The nap on the finest velvet is not more soft or more 
uniform; and there is a gloss all over the surface like 
that on the back of a mole. The garden where this has 
been proved is as steep as any on the side of the Malvern 
Hills, and is of the strongest red clay ; but the Spergula 
takes hold of the gravel walks just as readily as of this 
clay. It is like a mulching over the-*clay, which never 
allows the clay to crack be the summer ever so hot. 
The history of it is this. The proprietor, A. Mongre- 
dien, Esq., is a practical botanist; and to indulge in his 
favourite pursuit he Iras formed the most unique rock 
garden in the three kingdoms, at the foot of the slope, 
facing the north, for the growth of the fairest and scarcest 
cryptogamic plants in the British flora, from the tiniest 
Ferns, through Lycopodium, Sphagnum, Phascum, Gym- 
nostomum, Hymenostomum, Trichostomum, Dicranum, 
Tortula, Bryum, Polysticlium, Hypnum, Jungermannia, 
Marckantia, and their extensive allies; also for British 
orchids, and the minutest and rarest alpine plants. 
Among the last, Spergula pilosa, as it is called, made its 
appearance ; and increased so fast, and showed such deli¬ 
cate proportions, and such an inclination not to be kept 
within the limits of its due portion of the rockwork, that 
it seemed selfish to destroy so much of it without allowing 
kindred spirits to partake of the same pleasure and amuse¬ 
ment. Patches of it were set in better soil, and better 
returns were made by it; till at last, from patchwork to a 
whole quilt, and from that to a full-stretched carpet, which 
you have just heard of, were made with ease and pleasure. 
Then it occurred to the proprietor that his gardener, 
with whom he is well pleased, might make something 
of it for his own use and benefit, to compensate for the 
extra hours, days, and interest, he spent on the collection. 
The man saw the notes of his master’s tune, and had 
the good sense to learn how to whistle it. Such men 
never pay dear for their whistle ; and Mr. Summers, the 
head gardener here, had the satisfaction to learn that 
he whistled to some purpose. He took up the sugges¬ 
tion, gathered the crop of seed, told his tale, and offered 
his crop to the enterprising firm of the Wellington Hoad 
Nursery; and you know the rest from that point. 
But some of the great firms in the seed trade about 
London would not, or could not, believe in such marvels : 
they must see for themselves. They did see, and were 
convinced that a tithe of the “ properties ” of this 
plant was not given. “But The Cottage Gabdenek 
is our only practical guide in such matters, and we must 
wait for an independent opinion.” Well, gentlemen, 
you have it now ; and you may tell it over the length and 
breadth of the land to-morrow. But the grand secret 
is yet to come. 
How is the thing to be done ? What is to be the 
fate of the seedlings ? How many acres of lawn will 
they cover, and how soon? And what next? and next? 
The answers to every one of these questions, and to as 
many more on the same interesting subject, are in book : 
but without the spinning machine it is not reasonable to 
expect one man ever to get to tbe end, or bottom, of the 
story with so many other irons in the fire. Suffice it- 
to say for one week, that Mr. Summers has undertaken 
the responsibility of supplying the three kingdoms with 
plants sufficient to set the plant on foot, through the 
Messrs. Henderson, of the Wellington Hoad Nursery; 
that he has rented a greenhouse, and so much ground 
for that purpose, and engaged a managing foreman to pro¬ 
pagate the plant by the thousand and tens of thousands ; 
that the concern will be called the Spergula Nursery ; 
that he will, or could, undertake to cover the whole of 
the Crystal Palace grounds with this plant in one season ; 
but for the present, and to such a period, applications 
for it must be made through the Wellington Hoad 
Nursery. 
. As this is the first time I had seen the proprietor, or 
his gardener, if anything I have stated is not as it stands 
I am always at home to eat my owui words with respect 
to facts ; but my opinions I never change without proof 
positive. And those on the merits of Spergula'pilosa 
must be proved a second time under my own eye in the 
Experimental Garden. I have made arrangements for 
that proof already. 
The rest of the garden, the plants, and the hothouses. 
