ne is
about as good as both. A little white clover or sweet vernal grass
or sheep's fescue may be added, if you fancy them, but they will not
improve the appearance of the lawn. Roll the ground after seeding. Sow
the seeds in September or in March or April, and under no circumstance
yield to the advice to sow a little oats or rye to "protect the young
grass." Instead of protecting, they will rob the slender grasses of
what they most need.

Now wait a little. Do not be discouraged if some ugly weeds get the
start of the numerous green hairs which slowly follow. As soon as
there is any thing to be cut, of weeds or grass, mow closely, and mow
often, so that nothing need be raked from the ground. As Olcott puts
it, "Leave one crop where it belongs for home consumption. The rains
will wash the soluble substance of the wilted grass into the earth to
feed the growing roots." During succeeding summers as the years roll
on, the lawn should be perpetually enriched by the leaching of the
short leaves as they are often mown. Neither leave a very short growth
nor a very heavy growth for winter. Experience alone must guide the
owner. If cut too closely, some of it may be killed or start too late
in spring; if left too high during winter, the dead long grass will be
hard to cut in spring and leave the stubble unsightly. After passing
through one winter the annual weeds will have perished and leave the
grass to take the lead. Perennial weeds should be faithfully dug out
or destroyed in some way.

Every year, add a top dressing of some commercial fertilizer or a
little finely pulverized compost which may be brushed in. No one
will disfigure his front yard with coarse manure spread on the lawn
for five months of the year.

If well made, a lawn will be a perpetual delight as long as the
proprietor lives, but if the soil is thin and poor, or if the coarser
grasses and clovers are sown instead of those named, he will be much
perplexed, and will very likely try some expensive experiments, and
at last plow up, properly fit the land and begin over again. This will
make the cost and annoyance much greater than at first, because the
trees and shrubs have already filled many portions of the soil. A
small piece, well made and well kept, will give more satisfaction than
a larger plot of inferior turf.

_W. J. Beal._

Horticultural Exhibitions in London.

At a late meeting of the floral committee of the Royal Horticultural
Society a