New-York tribune., 1885-07-05

Grave, mathis have been reduced to curves OF beauty
and the borders pointed and trimmed with palms.
taking care Obtrusive weeds have been cut ont
with timely vigilance and the hollows filled out
with verlure. The awn-cutter has been rafting
INCREASINGLY over the sward, keeping the grass
closely shaved and hickening it until it Is now IKE
q fine woven velvet carpet, beautiful TO the eye
and without flaw or patch in its texture. ran
trees have skirted the lawn and shielded IL from
too fierce sunlight. prolonging the influence Oh
morning dews and making the ground soft and
springy. The man with the country feels that the
lines have fallen unto him in pleasant places.
grateful stretch of green checkered with sunlight
and shade from overhangng foliage refreshes his
eyes when he returns from the city in the evening.
His Sundays are days of rest, attuned to what MT.
Whistler would term symphony in green Linger-
ing on his piazza until the trees lose their outlines
in the fading summer twilight and the hush OF
night settles down. he wonders how the clty man
manages TO exist without country of his own.
But landscape gardening has its amateurs as well
as its seasoned veterans. IL the man WIFI
country be new-c conner on land long neglected. ne
spends sad summer wondering what the harvest
will be. In the rawncss of his inexperience he has
fancied that lawn may be produced as easily as
piazza floor can be painted or cellar wall wnlte-
washed. In the beginning he resolved to be
thorough and to follow scrupulously the regimen
and treatment prescribed by competent authorities
in landscape gardening. He had his ground
plougbed, narrowed. spaded, raked, levolled and
rolled He had clay and loan underlad
and Overlaid. He scattered Central Park
grass-seed by the bushe. He turfed the
borders of paths and all out-of-the-way
corners close to the house. He employed three or
four men for month in the early spring at reck-
T. L.. ttn md aal r
cuar headed How to get a lawn in two months"
constantly under his eyes and never swerved hairs
breath from the directions As soon as tue tiny
blades began to appear he set both roller and cutter
in operation He was unIemitting in his exertions
TO make the grass grow. But the grass has re-
sisted all opportunities. If it has come up in
patches here little and there little less, 1t mas
speedily shrivellcd under the glare of the sun or
been choked out by the encroachments OF the rank
est and thrftiest of weeds Luxuriance OF vegeta-
tlon he has had from the ontset, but no central
Park grass Watering has only served to stimulate
the fierce energies of wild grass. dandeons and tho
commonest and uglest of wayside weeds The
man with country, rising early and peeping ont OF
his bedroom window 10 see If happy the grass
has come pduring the night, is horrhed TO descry
through the white mist black masses OF variegated
rankness that have sprung up like Jonahs gourd.
Advice the man with tnc HOW couniIf lccoi'O'
in largo measure the greater part of 1t retroactive
Fail ploughng and narrowing. unlimited fertilizers
in cary spring. and sprinkling Of oats in the orig
inal seeding are now ont of the question. lie Is
told 10 SOW white clover. which Will grow rapidly
and kill ont the weeds aud he does so ; but the
white clover fails to appear after three weeks
patient vigil and the vigorous weeds proftlng by
constant cutting arc constantly thickenins
out and covering the ground with coarse
and tangled mating. Sympathetic neighbors ad-
wise him not TO mind the weeds, but to keep the
lawn-cuttcr in notion since in the long run they
cannot stand frequent cuttny, while the grass
thrivcs under IL. Bat the trouble Is that the weeds
do not mind il either and there is neither grass
nor clover. only the baro ground to compete with
them.
Thoughtful observers explain the failure of the
lawn by the absence of great shade trees the young
grass being wthcrel before IL has time to get root
Bat shade cannot be cxtemporzcd Big trees cam
not be erected az a moments notice and lavish
nse Of canvas covering and tent poles would be
painfnlly suggestive Of country circus. No; the
man with the now estate feels that 1t is hopeless
matter lie has indeed carpeted his lawn at greater
expense than the carpets and curtains when
his wife was anxious to have him buy, but 1t Is q
torn and patched rag carpet, slightly to the eye.
He ~ doomed to de e-ultory wedding and melancholy
reflections His meat is tears He inourDiuily con-
fesses that all flesh IL grass ani human hopes as
the flowers OF the field.