Lawn (fabric)

“ Noble old trees, maple, elm and ash, shaded the green lawn which fell far back from the house, terminating on one side in a fine fruit orchard bending with ripened peaches and purple plums, and broken up on the south by a flower-garden gorgeous with late summer blossoms, shaded with grape arbors and clumps of mountain ash, all flushed and red with berries. ”

“ In the morning it has been dim with early dew, at noon a carpet all alive with shadows flung from leaves, and in the evening warm and smooth and barred by sunshine. The lawn has been as good as a sun-dial for telling the hours; the trees are the pointers, here a Willow and there an Oak, and the dial-plate is the grass itself. Whether in shade or sunshine, the lawn is always soft to the foot and pleasant to the eye.
In this garden grass was made the keynote. Turf is the favourite bordering for the shrubbery—a good wide border, that makes a handsome edge and is pretty for flowers to tumble over ”

“ On the other hand, I hope my acre, despite all its unconscious or unconfessed mistakes, shows pleasantly that the best openness of a lawn is not to be got between unclothed, right-angled and parallel bounds. The more its verdure-clad borders swing in and out the longer they look, not merely because they are longer but also because they interest and lure the eye. ”

“ The lawn, which once had spread its beautiful carpet of flowers and shrubbery in wide acres here in the heart of the ancient woods, had grown up in ugly broom straw and young pines, which were slowly strangling to death the more delicate forms of life. ”

“ Flowers by the door stone, dropped and scattered
Here and there as a child would roam."
"HOW shall I stock my garden?" is a question often asked by amateurs. That depends very much on the size, location and soil of the ground to be furnished. If the site is elaborate, and the beds to be geometrically laid out, much skill, artistic taste and generous expenditure is needful to produce a fine effect. If the flower beds are cut in the lawn a different classification and arrangement of plants will be needful. ”

“ The paths are only one or two and they never turn abruptly and ask you to keep off their corners; they have none. Neither have the flower-beds. They flow wideningly around the hard turnings of the house with the grace of a rivulet. Out on the two wider sides of the lawn nothing breaks the smooth green but a well-situated tree or two until the limits of the premises are reached, and there, in lines that widen and narrow and widen again and hide the surveyor's angles, the flowers rise once more in a final burst of innumerable blossoms and splendid hues—a kind of sunset of the garden's own. ”

“ Sometimes skilled labor is not obtainable. The consequence is, in the majority of cases, the lawn,—or what, by courtesy, is called by that name,—is a sort of evolution which is an improvement on the original conditions surrounding the home, but which never reaches a satisfactory stage. We see such lawns everywhere—rough, uneven, bare in spots, anything but attractive in a general way, and but little better than the yard which has been given no attention, were it not for the shrubs and plants that have been set out in them. ”

“ When the object is to make a lawn where there never has been one, the plow or the spade is the most effective weapon.
It must be kept in mind that grass on a lawn is a great feeder, and no soil can be made too rich to supply its food requirements. A lawn is a permanent planting, not something that is to last merely for a season. ”

“ This lawn could not be less than four or five English acres in extent, and was girded entirely around by a circle of lofty trees from within, and an ancient sea-stone wall, very thick and high, from without. The trunks of the trees and the wall were hid by a thick copse or shrubbery of laurels, myrtles, cedars, and other similar shrubs, so as to render the enclosed lawn the most beautiful and sequestered spot I had ever seen. On the further extremity from the house was an avenue from the lawn to the garden, which was likewise spacious, and surrounded by a continuation of the same wall. ”

“ Just as truly is a lawn a bed of plants needing an equal amount of treatment. Grass is nothing but a collection of thou [Pg 25] sands of little plants crowded together, which must have nourishment, and from which the weeds must be taken. Likewise the soil must be given water as it is needed and the earth must be made mellow for the roots, to a good depth. It makes no difference how much you pay for your grass seed, how good or bad it is, or what kind of fertilizers you use, if the bed is not properly prepared in the first place. ”

“ As soon as the seed is well sprouted, showing green over the whole ground, roll the area repeatedly and thoroughly until it is as smooth and hard as it is possible to make it. [Pg 67] As soon as the grass has attained the height of three inches, let it be cut with a lawn-mower, and let the cutting be repeated at least weekly throughout the season of rapid growth, and as often as necessary until the end of autumn. ”

“ SOWING THE SEED
THE nearest thing, by way of comparison, to a lawn is a bed of plants that you set out in your garden every spring. When you think it is planting time you go to this bed with spade or fork and turn the earth up from the deep bottom, putting in plenty of well-rotted manure, thus ministering to the soil according to its needs. Then you set out the plants, and if weeds grow up you dig them out, after which you water the spot intelligently. ”

“ The grass of the lawn is equally foul, and every thing of dirt and rubbish is collected under the windows in front. The gardens behind are in the same execrable state: gravel-walks over-run with moss and weeds; flower beds ornamented with statues of leaden Floras, painted Mercurys, and Dians with milk-pails. Every yard almost salutes you with some similar absurdity. The hedges are shaped into peacocks, and not unfrequently into ladies and gentlemen dancing a minuet. ”

“ In places where the whole extent of garden-ground does not perhaps exceed an acre, every one must have felt the relief afforded to the eye by a broad strip of lawn, bordered by trees and shrubs, not in a formal line on each side, but running into numerous projections [Pg 302] and recesses, and resting their lower branches, frequently covered with flowers, on a rich smooth velvet-looking carpet of grass. ”

“ In the meantime I shall try to account for my treatment of my predecessor's lawn, which, as I have already mentioned, occupied all the flat space between the house and the mound with the cherries and mays and laburnums towered over by the sycamores and chestnuts.
It was all suggested to me by the offer which 1 had at breaking-up price of what I might call a “garden suite,” consisting of a fountain, with a wide basin, and the carved stone edging for eight beds—sufficient to transform the whole area of the lawn “into something rich and strange,”—as I thought. ”

“ In none of the various enclosures will you find a blade of grass growing. Such a thing as a lawn is quite unknown, and if grass tries to sprout it will be immediately scraped away with a hoe. In a very nice house you may find a few potted plants or shrubs in the enclosure before the sarang. ”

“ But by packing and pounding down the earth as you fill it in, it can be made as solid as the soil surrounding it, and in this way all present and future unevenness of the soil can be done away with. It is attention to such details as these that makes a success of the work, and I would urge upon the amateur lawn-maker the absolute necessity of working slowly and carefully, and slighting nothing. ”

“ It stood in the centre of a spacious lawn, zoned by a girdle of oaks, beneath whose dense shade the dew sparkled even at noonday. Within this zone was a hedge of cedar, so smooth, with twigs so thickly interwoven, that the gossamer thought it a framework, on which to stretch its transparent web in the morning sun. Near the house the lawn was margined with beds of the rarest and most beautiful flowers, queen roses, and all the fragrant populace of the floral world. ”

“ Panorama effects are always interesting [Pg 167] and are obtained through judicious planting, for one must remember that a plain level lawn in itself has few features that attract. Let the units be carefully spaced, and if there are walks or drives near the house, lay them out where they will not detract from the picturesque effect that you desire. An exception can be made with the English or flag treads, which make a charming adjunct to the grounds when grass grown. ”

“ Drops of dew do not cling, tenacious, to the grass. On the contrary, they vanish, surreptitiously, between the clippers of the lawn-mower, abide briefly in the mechanism thereof, climb unknowably up the handle, percolate with incredible celerity through the human system, and presently emerge, as large as life and twice as significant, upon the human brow. I had not mowed twenty square feet of lawn before I was filled with a vast sense of respect for the prowess of Darius Doane. ”

“ How much is said now about the dreadful practice of cutting up a lawn to stick flower-beds in it, “shrieking spots of colour set down here and there with little thought.” An authority I revere says “a lawn is a place for grass; to spot bright beds all over it is to ruin it.” I quite admit that to “spot,” if there is only room for one lawn, is gross Vandalism, but I am quite as firmly convinced that no garden is complete without some flower-beds set in turf. What else shows the colours to so much advantage? Flower-beds in gravel, with a stiff edging of Box, do not please me at all ”

“ A neglected lawn involves an amount of labour in the semi-annual cleaning of spring and fall out of all proportion to the results, while a lawn well cut and raked is more easily cared for with each recurring year, the grass growing clean and straight, and the rake and mower passing freely and easily through it. ”

“ Growing the majority of my family's food absorbs all of the energy I care to put into gardening. So my yard is neat but shaggy. Motivated by what I consider total rationality, my lawn is cut only when it threatens to overwhelm the lawnmower, and the lawn is not irrigated, so it browns off and stops growing in summer. ”

“ More frequently than not they are planted also, in strong masses, with ever so many beautiful sorts of firmer-stemmed growths, herbaceous next the sod, woody behind, assembled according to stature, from one to twelve feet high, swinging in and out around the lawn until all stiffness of boundaries is waved and smiled away. ”

“ If, at times, I dream behind all this a grove, with now and then one of its broad, steepling or columnar trees pushed forward upon the lawn, it is only there that I see anything so stalwart as a pine or so rigid as a spruce. ”

“ After sowing, roll the surface of the lawn to imbed the seed in the soil, and make the ground firm enough about it to retain sufficient moisture to insure germination. In three or four days the tiny blades ought to begin to show. In a week the surface will seem covered with a green mist, and in a fortnight's time you will be able to see, with a little exercise of the imagination, the kind of lawn you are going to have. If the season is a dry one it may be well to sprinkle the soil every day, after sundown. ”

“ You will appreciate the difference between a fall-raked lawn and one on which leaves have been allowed to remain over winter, when spring comes. The lawn without protection will have a brown, scorched look, while the other will begin to show varying tints of green as soon as the snow melts. Grass is hardy, and requires no protection to prevent winter-killing, but a covering, though slight, saves enough of its vitality to make it well worth while to provide it.
The ideal lawn is one in which no weeds are found. ”

“ SO much has been written on the subject of lawn-making that about every one interested in this work is fully competent, theoretically at least, to carry through the process of land renovation and preparation, whether it be for a small lawn or an area consisting of acres. The subject along these lines has been exhaustively treated, but, strange to say, the equally important subject of grass seed has been rather neglected. While many amateurs can talk freely on the preparation of the land, they are not so confident when treating of grass seed. ”

“ Talking, however, of these implements of lawn-culture reminds one to remark that with some the scythe and roller are almost discarded, at least in summer. Our own lawn is rolled with an iron roller during the winter and early spring; but when mowing begins, we prefer the new lawn-mowing machines. ”

“ The first month will see the newly seeded space a carpet of green. In time the Rye passes, the Red Top continues to cover, while the Blue Grass grows sturdier each day until it crowds everything out by virtue of its own strength. ”

“ Where there is turf the path should run at one extremity of the garden plot, giving the full width remaining for as spacious a lawn as possible. At the bottom of the lawn it might be turned to the left or right, as the case may be, as far as the centre, and carried down through the kitchen garden so that the fruit trees and vegetables may be easily accessible on either hand. ”

“ Flower beds may be here and there distributed over the lawn, but care should be taken that it be not too much broken up by them. A few trees may be introduced upon the lawn, but they must not be placed so close together as to prevent the growth of the grass by obstructing either light or air. ”