Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/227

 LAWN 221 bargains ? But it is the duty of the court to know the law, and it is their exclusive func- tion to determine the law, and to declare it to the jury, whose duty it is, in civil cases cer- tainly, to receive and obey the instructions given to them. But then it may be asked, how could this law merchant, which is by theory a mass or system of these customs, become known to the courts ? None of these laws or rules were ever enacted, except, in some in- stances, after they had acquired the force of law, and it was thought desirable to give them more precision and uniformity. Of few of them is the origin known, either as to time, or parentage, or authority. How then came they to be law ? The answer is not difficult if we keep in mind the distinction between a ques- tion of fact and a question of law. For the want of remembering this distinction, there is a seeming antagonism in the cases on this subject. Thus, in 1760 the court of king's bench said : " The custom of merchants is part of the law of England ; . . . if there be a doubt about the custom, it may be fit and proper to take the opinions of merchants thereon." And in 1765 Lord Mansfield, chief justice, says : "A witness cannot be admitted to prove the law of merchants." But the contradiction be- tween these two principles is apparent only, and both of them are unquestionably sound. Mansfield means that no witness can be admit- ted to prove to a jury what the law merchant is ; it can no more be allowed than it would be to prove in this way the law of real estate or any other branch of law. But if the court are themselves uncertain as to what the law mer- chant is, they will hear evidence, authority, and argument upon the subject, and ascertain the existence or character of the customs which compose it, as well as they can. Lord Mans- field was in the constant habit of ascertaining from "the city," as the phrase was then, or from "the Trinity house" (a board consisting of eminent merchants), what their customs were ; and it was by these means that he laid the foundations, to say no more, of some of the most important departments of the law merchant. And now both in England and the United States it is perfectly well understood that the courts will hear arguments and listen to citations of competent and pertinent author- ity upon any question of the law merchant, precisely as upon any other question of the law of the land. But when they decide that any rule enters into and forms a part of the law merchant, it has exactly the same force as any other rule of law. LAWN, a word derived from the old English laund or lawnd, land, especially applied lo untilled land left between woods, now used for any extent of grass land kept especially for ornamental purposes. When of small ex- tent such land is often called a grass plot ; but in gardening, any piece of ornamental grass, large or small, is a lawn. The thick-turfed, close-shaven, dark-green lawns which form so important a feature in English scenery, are seldom seen in this country for two reasons : the intensity of our summer sun is such that the finer lawn grasses cannot withstand it, and those who lay out grounds have not learned the necessity for a thorough preparation of the land. A turf which is expected to last for an indefinite number of years is generally no better provided for than an annual crop. In making a lawn, expense should not be spared at the outset; the land must be drained if need be, and well and deeply worked, with a good supply of manure. The time for this work is in the autumn, and the sowing may be done then or in spring. In Europe a mixture of grass seeds, sometimes containing a dozen or more kinds, is sown, and the composition varied to suit different lands ; each planter has his preferences as to the kinds and propor- tionate quantity of each, and uses grasses that are scarcely known here even by name. These mixtures have been frequently tried in this country, at a great expense, with the result of showing their unfitness for our climate. With us but three plants can be relied upon to form a good turf, viz. : June or Kentucky blue grass, redtop or bent, and white clover; tim- othy should always be avoided on account of its tendency to form tussocks or clumps, and orchard grass is still worse in this respect. Some use June grass or redtop alone, others mix either with white clover, and again both grasses are sown together with the addition of clover. A lawn mixture much used con- sists of Ehode Island bent 8 quarts, creeping bent 3 quarts, redtop 10 quarts, Kentucky blue grass 10 quarts, white clover 1 quart, making a bushel. The Ehode Island bent is a local variety of redtop, and the creeping bent is a closely related grass. Whichever seed or mixture of seeds is fixed upon, a sufficient quantity should be used; on very rich land three bushels to the acre may be enough, but upon ordinary soil at least five bushels are re- quired. If the sowing is done late in the spring, it is customary to sow oats with the grass seed, in order that the growing oats may afford shade to the young grass; the oats should be cut at or before flowering time. The after care of the lawn consists in frequent mowing to cause the grass to spread, rolling to compact the earth about the roots, and the re- moval by hand of any coarse weeds that may appear. Annual weeds will soon succumb to the frequent mowing. The fertility of the soil must be maintained by annual top-dress- ings, in which stable manure, unless so well decomposed as to bring in no weed seeds, is to be avoided, but ashes, ground bones, and simi- lar fertilizers employed. The lawn was for- merly mown by a scythe, but this process is much simplified by the introduction of lawn mowing machines, moved by hand for small surfaces, and by horse power for large lawns. The present custom is to cut the grass fre- quently, and leave the clippings to serve as a