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Posted by FarmI on February 12, 2008, 8:06 pm
> FarmI wrote:
>>>I think it has the same roots. Only the well-to-do can afford fallow
>>>land. A place to play croquet and badmitten - both of which I probably
>>>mispelled. A pasture without a cow or a goat or even some chickens must
>>>be an indicator of wealth, right? Even more so if the growth is cut but
>>>not put to use. Aspirations of grandeur.
>>
>>
>> I don't think I necessarily would agree from a colonial perspective. In
>> Britain, then maybe, but given that we former colonials actually had some
>> rather nasty beasts to contend with, then there was an advantage in not
>> having rank and rampant growth near the house that you need to tramp
>> through t get to the clothes line or chook pen or somesuch.
>>
>> Even now, I have venomous snakes so need to keep an eye out. Just a
>> couple of weeks ago we saw a 4 ft Brown Snake going into my rose garden
>> and this snake is far more venomous than a Cobra.
>>
>> I remember from my childhood in the country that if a family didn't have
>> a lawn mower or if the farmer was too busy to do much in the way of
>> garden work, then they had a tethered sheep to do the lawn mowing. It
>> made for some interesting walks round the garden as there were running
>> wires with the chain attached to it leading to the sheep and which
>> allowed the sheep move up and down the wire and to reach the grass on
>> "the Lawn" but not get into the flower beds.
>>
>> Fran
> I would submit that it is an adaptation, and a very sensible one in your
> case. This was not my source, but was the first result on Google to my
> inquiry:
>
http://www.allaboutlawns.com/lawn-maintenance-care/landscaping-and-gardening/the-history-behind-lawns.php
I found this site which may interest you. I found it very interesting (who
would think to write a book on Lawns?). Having read this, I don't resonate
with it at all. I suspect we colonials might have diverged in our lawn
attitudes:
http://www.nrec.org/synapse37/drake.html
Having a green and lush lawn here is now seen as being quite antisocial and
irresponsible - not surprisingly. I certainly don't think it has ever been
quite as much of a status symbol here as it seems to have been elsewhere.
The house and/or the farm were that, but the "lawn" was always just grass
(with some statistically minor exceptions).
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