In all. well-kept garden establishments, lawns not only form the principal features, but they occupy the larger portion of time and manual labor. Whatever is calculated to lessen this, or to make it more effective, is of the highest, importance to the gardener. We remember well reading a report of the transactions for the year of the Sheffield Botanical Gardens, which had been, in some measure, starved for want of public support, and rendered very unsatisfactory to the curator, through the extremely limited means at his command. The shareholders were congratulated on the improved appearance of the gardens, in consequence of adopting a mowing machine instead of ordinary mowing. The improvement Was manifest in the state of the gardens, and the saving was palpable in the accounts themselves. The only objection to the use of the machine, so. far as we have heard, was that, if there were any hollows in the lawn, the work was not done complete; but this only applies to such hollows as would also baffle all attempts to do justice with a scythe, because the machine will work up and down hill, and on the side of a hill, as well as on level ground.

It will follow in and out of all hollows large enough to take a roller, and everybody must know tha\ inequalities that cannot be rolled, cannot be kept in order at all. . Ruts like those made with cartwheels* and holes that the roller would pass over, can never be mowed clean with the smallest scythe. The very first, step to be taken towards getting a lawn in. good order, is. to destroy all such inequalities, either by raising the turf, or filling them in. Undulations are not only allowable, but, if well managed, are beautiful; but holes and ruts are altogether inadmissible. If lawns have been long neglected, they will have become rough and lumpy. The coarse grasses will have grown strong, and spread at the expense of the better and finer sorts.. The whole must be ent as close as possible. This will at once show the inequalities, and if it be very bad, the first trouble and expense will be the least Cut all the turf well, and roll it up to be stacked outside the work; have the whole space dug, levelled, and rolled, lay the turf down again, and beat it all over properly. It may then be rolled with a heavy roller after every good wetting with rain, and as soon as it begins to grow use the machine, which can be run over the whole space even before it is long enough to be cut with a scythe.

If any of the noxious weeds should be inclined to grow again, take a spade and dig them fairly out. This will be easily done, because the root has been cut off at the thickness of the turf, and was turned when the ground was dug. True, it will leave holes in the turf, but it must be done, if it takes days to do it. The first expense in this matter is the least. Presuming, then, that all those weeds which spoil a lawn, if allowed to grow, are scooped out (we mean such as docks, dandelions, sow-thistles, sorrel, &c), let there be a dressing of road sand, with which all the holes will be filled up level by common bush harrowing, and every mark left in the joinings of the turf obliterated. As soon as there is the least growth in the grass, let it be heavily rolled one day and mowed the next, and, by these means, a coarse, uneven meadow, to say nothing of a neglected lawn, will be made all that can be wished of a dressed ground. But machine mowing, while it takes much less time, requires to be done regularly, and after the new lawn, as it were, is once properly levelled and established, no more rolling is wanted than that which the instrument itself gives at the time of mowing, for it is in itself both scythe and roller.

Incessant cutting would make almost any coarse lawn smooth in time, but by the means we have pointed out, it will be good the first season. Although we have advocated the machine, which may be had, to cut and roll sixteen inches wide, for about five pounds ten shillings, and, up to twenty-five inches wide, for nine pounds,, to be drawn by a donkey or pony, we are not disposed to quarrel with those who use the scythe, because it is the pride of some men, and no small merit, to mow clean enough to show no mark of the instrument. A sprinkling of wood ashes is of great service in preventing the growth of moss, and encouraging the growth of the finer grasses, which contribute to the beauty of the lawn. In the season when grass grows rapidly, the lawn should never go more than a week without mowing, and now comes machine versus scythe. The former can be used when the grass is dry, the latter only when it is damp or wet; the former can be used fell (lay in hot weather, and we know that the latter can only be used an hour or two in the morning; the former collects the grass as it is cut, the latter leaves it on the ground, and it is of the highest importance that it be removed immediately, for, if it remains, it discolors and injures the grass; the machine can be used, when only half an inch of grass has to be cut; the scythe can hardly make an impression until the lawn has got rough; in the one case, it is scarcely free of the marks before it is wanting another cutting; in the other case, the lawn is always alike, because the machine leaves no marks, and may run over it in a short time, as often as we please.

If the grass is apt to get brown during the hottest weather, anticipate the change in time, and water it with diluted ammoniacal liquor or liquid manure, but be prepared to cut it soon after, for the growth will be rapid. In any extent of town a water cart is the best, but next to that a garden engine, for it must be wetted all over, and hand-watering is too laborious. It may be observed that all this involves too much trouble, and requires too mueh labor, but you have the choice of evils, either the lawn must get brown, or you must incur the cost of keeping it green. This is, however, an extreme case, and not one place in a hundred, if it be properly drained, will require it. Most of the lawns which burn in summer are too near the clay or gravel,..fbr they both have the same effect A good spit of earth between the grass and either of them, will generally keep green, but not always. If clay, the only cure is draining. If gravel, you must use liquid manure, or ammoniacal water - which has the same effect - to preserve the grass in color and health.

The edges of the lawn must be clipped close to the proper outline, until it spreads unequally, when the edging-knife must be resorted to.

[The above, from the Midland Florist (England), applies with equal force to this country, and to the use of Swift's Lawn Mower. - -Ed].