Lawns 
Lawns 
Lawn Management 
THE first essential is a good foundation, effectually drained, either naturally or artificially. The lawn must rest upon a base which will permit of no sinkages. The surface of a lawn may follow any form which suits the natural conformation of the ground. It may be level, as a bowling-green, or run up steep slopes and over rounded hills; or dip down into valleys and glades or circle round masses of shrubs; but the surface must ever be level and smooth. There must be no erratic excrescences; no holes or meaningless depressions; no hollows caused by subsidence due to defects in the foundation or to unequal depth of made earth or other circumstances. The effect of a lawn is ruined by accidental irregularities. It is the carpet of the garden. Any break in its smoothness is a detriment. And this maxim is true of evenness of colour and elasticity, as well as of surface. The base upon which the soil of the lawn rests must, therefore, be of a character which will not permit water to stagnate about the roots of the grasses, nor allow moisture to dry quickly out of the soil after a few hours of dry weather. It is not of little importance to press this upon attention. If the foundation be good, the next point is the soil. Inexperienced lawn-makers often use all sorts of varying ground materials which are conveniently to hand, and the soil underlying the grass varies accordingly from richly manured earth and clay soil to barren sand. The result is patchiness of the grass, disappointing and puzzling to the novice. The soil should be good in heart, but not overstocked with manure. If poor, it should be enriched with leaf mould or a moderate quantity of thoroughly decomposed dung. Where it is of good quality no additional fertility need be dug in, but it should be evenly trenched to a depth of half a yard, or even more, and it is essential that the depth of worked soil should be equal throughout. If the natural soil is shallow, it should be made at least a foot deep by adding good soil.
Lawn Making with Turf
A lawn can be more quickly created by using turf, but it is not easy to procure it of fine quality, free from docks, daisies, and coarse grasses. The owner of a spreading expanse of fine, clean grass turf is not usually inclined to cut it up in strips for lawn-making. The turf that is obtainable is more frequently full of weeds. In importing it into our gardens we bring in trouble. However, where suitable turf is available, it is commonly cut into strips a yard long and a foot wide. It should be about 1½ inches in thickness, and be carefully rolled up and brought direct from its old bed to its new quarters. It should be laid as soon as possible after cutting. If there is an interval of frost between the cutting of the turves and relaying of them, the rolls should be protected from being frozen. To assist the grasses to root in their new bed, the surface of the soil should be lightly dug over to a depth of two or three inches, assuming it to have settled down close and solid. The laying of the turves will then be a question of workman-like care. The joints must be made close, and as each turf is laid it should be lightly beaten down, reserving a more energetic beating until the whole is laid. In finishing off the lawn the turf-beater should be well applied until a level surface is produced and the joints of the turf are closed. A heavy roller should finally be passed over the lawn, and a period of rest from disturbance should follow until the roots have taken a fresh hold and new growth is evident.
A Lawn Imperfectly Made. A is a hollow, B a hump. The hollow must be raised and the hump brought down before the lawn is satisfactorily laid.
Lawn Making with Seeds
The general preference we express for making a lawn anew from seed is based on good reason. During the past quarter of a century the growing of fine grasses for seed has been developed in Germany until it has become, like the bulb growing in Holland, a business upon which whole districts of people are supported. The grasses are grown by peasant cultivators, who own their small areas of land and religiously preserve each field for one kind of grass from year to year, and generation to generation. Sometimes whole villages will unite to ensure that only one kind of fine grass is grown in the district and no admixture admitted. By this means, by systematic cleaning of the land from weeds, and by the admirable system of constant testing made possible by Government establishing local stations for the purpose, a remarkable degree of purity in grass seeds has been arrived at. A British seed-merchant can obtain exactly what he desires through the great Continental collectors, who buy from the peasants. He can have almost perfection of purity guaranteed if he is wise enough to be willing to pay for it. And if his establishment possesses the most modern machinery, he can raise the standard of germination by eliminating all light and dead seeds, all chaff and dirt, and such weeds as may perchance remain in the bulk, notwithstanding the care of the German cultivators.
Before sowing the seed the soil should be lightly and evenly raked over. The seed should be sown quite evenly over the entire surface. To enable the sower to do this, let him choose a fine, calm day for the work. When the seeds are sown, they should be raked well in, or sifted soil should be scattered lightly over. The sowing being complete, a roller should be passed over the surface. Nothing then remains to be done for the present but to string cotton threads over the newly sown seeds, or protect them with fine-meshed tanned netting from the too solicitous attentions of the birds. When it is observed that a good covering of young grass clothes the surface, the tops should be shaved off with a scythe.
After Management
On no account must the lawn-mowing machine be used at first. The young shoots have not strength enough in their early days to bear the lifting and disturbing action of machine-cutting. Rolling should follow the scythe work to spread out the roots and consolidate the lawn surface. The subsequent treatment is a matter of constant rolling and cutting – cutting and rolling. The cutting stimulates the roots below to tiller. In the first two or three summers of the infancy of a lawn close cutting of the grass should be avoided. The knives of a modern machine are easily adjusted. Let them be set high for the sake of the tender grasses until even the finest species are thoroughly established. Close cutting in summer bares the roots to the intense heat of direct sun-rays, and in autumn leaves them open to the attacks of early frosts. In dry weather it is a good plan to forego the use of the grass-box in front of the machine. The young lawn in its first years must be watched for the appearance of dandelions, plantains, and daisies. As soon as these show, they must be uprooted, or they will quickly spread. “Ill weeds grow apace,” and especially flourish on the carefully prepared surface of a well-made English lawn.
Shows how the surface may be saved from injury by the shoes in working. A board is tied over the shoe. A board is tied over the shoe.
A family relaxes by their conservatory, c. 1910