By C. M. SCHERERPrincipal of The Davey Institute of Tree Surgery, Kent, Ohio

Month by Month

TreesWith the•Edito'r's note: Almost every greenkeeper has trees to take

care of and loses a certain number every year. That's whywe have enlisted the aid of Mr. Scherer, a nationally notedtree doctor, to tell us what happens to the trees through allseasons of the year. It's a precious work, saving trees, andwe believe the greenkeepers of America will appreciate Mr.Scherer's contribution to our worthy cause,

A BRIGHT sunshiny morning a few days ago, I wasenterillg the city of Philadelphia over the Penn-

sylvania railroad. As I looked out the car window acrystal world greeted my vision. Instead of being"ridged inch deep with pearl" each tree and shrub wasridged with diamonds.

Fortunately, the Philadelphia ice storm was not se-vere enough to cause any appreciable damage and con-sequently the marvelous beauty of the landscape wasnot marred by the wrecks of broken trees. However,the scenes did serve to remind one of the great havocsometimes wrought by the seeming demon ice. Treesof lVIassachusetts in the fall of 1921, those of \Viscon-sin and Michigan in the spring of 1922, and those of:Missouri and western Illinois in the winter of 1925 didsuffer terribly, and the sparkling beauty of a few dayswas bought at a price which defies comprehension.

At this time ot year it is not at all uncommon to haveice storms of greater or less severity. Those which dono damage are welcome because they furnish beautywhich is appreciated by the most prosaic. Th~ heavyice storms are among the worst enemies of our tree life.

Occasionally conditions of the atmosphere exist whichare favorable for ice storms. The air near the surfaceof the earth is at a temperature a few degrees belowfreezing while the cloud laden air several hundred feetabove the ground is at a temperature a few degrees warm-er than freezing. The rain falls and as it strikes objectson the surface of the earth, it wets them and this waterfreezes into ice, If by good fortune the duration of therain happens to be short a light ice storm is the result. Iffor any reason the rain continues for a considerable

length of time, the ice storm becomes heavy with disas-trous results.

. Nature is almost profligate in building beyondthe normal requirements of strength. However, duringsevere ice storms twigs and branches of trees increasetheir weight tremendously. Cases have been knownwhere twigs increased their weight as much as onehundred twenty-five to one hundred fifty times.

Some trees break early and come down witha thundering crash, while others bend under the weightresting their heads upon the ground thereby gainingvaluable support to save their bodies.

Soft Wood Trees Often Victims\\'ith a few exceptions, the soft wooded trees are the

ones which go first. Silver maples are nQt only softwooded, but are so constructed that all their branchescome out at, or near a common point and consequentlyare unable to withstand such severe conditions. Theygo early and it is not at all unusual when the ice hasdisappeared to see only stumps remaining. Whole topsare often destroyed. The limbs are broken and torncompletely out of the trees leaving jagged stubs andhideous gaping wounds.

Basswoods are usually almost as hard hit as are themaples. The wonderfully beautiful round and ovalheaded trees are mutilated almost beyond recognition.] n a like manner Lombardy poplars, those stately spireshaped trees, are reduced to little more than poles. Theirgiant relatives, the Cottonwoods, succumb to the samefate. The balsam poplars seems to have strength enoughto ordinarily withstand the test. They neither bow theirheads or drop their arms, but seemingly square theirshoulders and stoidy bear their burdens.

Ice Splits Many ElmsIn spite of their reputed strength and toughness, the

American elms suffer almost as badly as do their weakerneighbors. Unfortunately the American elm has thehabit of growing in the shape of a gigantic vase. The

11

12 THE NATIONAL GREENKEEPER February, 1927

Upper Left. Gates Elm at Framingham. Massachusetts, Protected by ProperBracing, Still Perfect. Lower Right, Beauty of Ice Storm Leaves Destructionin its Wake.

outer tips of the branches are broken up into thousandsof small twigs which in the most beautiful specimenshang down for several feet. As the thousands oftwigs gather their load of ice, the strain becomes toogreat and the trees are split asunder. The toughnessof the wood prevents the branches from being tornfrom the trunk, but they rip down leaving tremendousgaping wounds.

Among the deciduous trees there are some whichshow marked ability to resist the depredation of ice.Strange as it may seem, the willows are very proficient.Their long slender, drooping branches bend until theyrest upon the ground ,and thereby shift the burden be-fore the breaking point is reached. The sturdy oak heremakes good its reputation. It bears its load and seemsto defy the elements to do their worst. The walnuts, the-catalpas, the hawthorns and some others are able to passthrough the ordeal almost unscathed.

Vve ordiriarily thinkof the hickory as oneof the strongest oftrees, however, the testof the ice stonn is toomuch for these. In asimilar manner wethink of the birches aspossessing a resistanceequal to or possibly su-perior to that of thewillows, but the birchescannot stand the strainand give w~y long be-fore the willows arcmaterially injured.

Young Trees AreResistant

Age appears to havea decided influence onthe resistance of treesto ice storm damage. :Many instances where largemaples, elms and other trees are reduced to an almostunrecognizable mass of debris, young trees of the samevariety in the immediate vicinity come through intact.

The size of the twigs also seem to have a direct bear-ing on the amount of suffering. The maples, the elms,the basswoods, the birches and others have small lacytwigs while the oaks, the walnuts, the catalpas and othershave strong large twigs. Notable exceptions to this,are the willows among the small twig trees and thehickories among the larger twig trees. Those trees whichusually have broad spreading or rounded tops suffermore than the trees with the more nearly conical sharppointed tops.

Evergreens Bend When Others BreakWhen one considers the fact that the conifers have

not only their branches and twigs, but also their leaves to

collect loads of ice during the winter, one would expecttremendous damage among these most beautiful trees.The reverse of this logical conclusion is true. The coni-fers suffer less than any other trees from ice injury.This may be because of the fact that the natural homeof the conifers is to a large extent in the cold ice andsnow ridden sections of the country, and consequentlythey have developed this remarkable resistance in orderto survive in their natural home.

Pines can become almost solidly incased in ice,with their. branches bending to the ground under theweight, without any damage being done to the tree.This is largely due to the fact that the pine sends upone central shaft to the very top and from this centralshaft slender willowy branches extend out to form a~onical top. This character of the pines is equally ap-plicable to the other evergreens. Their long lowerbranches bend down and rest on the ground, then the

next branches aboverest on the lower onesand so on until the en-tire top is supported bythe ground.

In the case of theyounger evergreens,their main trunk isflexible enough to bendto the ground withoutbreaking and once theyha ve become s.o bent,they remain until theice has melted and thenregain their upright po-sition.

Strengthen Elmsand Maples

Unfortunately - it isimpossible for loversand owners of trees to

prevent the occurrence of ice storms. They can, how-eyer, prepare their trees to resist the ice scourgewhen it comes. Since many of our most beautiful treesare elms and maples it is decidedly worth while to givethem the consideration which they merit.

The trees which have a weak structure as is so excel-lently illustrated by the elm can .be examined for theirweaknesses and wherever these weaknesses are foundmechanical braces can be installed which will relieve thestrain at the weakened point.

One famous tree, the mammoth Gates elmnear Framingham, Massachusetts, was so prepared towithstand not only ice storm depredation but also damagefrom other sources. This tree passed through the terrificice storm of 1921 with the loss of only a few compar-atively unimportant branches.

•

•

• Here's "How" From _Florida!By SCOTT TUPPEN

.Greenkeeper at Cleveland Heights Golf and Country Club, Lakeland, Florida.

Views at Cleveland Heights, Lakeland. Florida. Upper, Number Four Green.Center, Mowing Fairways on a Sunny Morning. Lower, Number Six Fairway

and Green, Along J-Shot S-Par Hole

I

Edi tor's Note: It is not often that we find a green-keeper, only 24 years old, who has already made a namefor himself. Mr. Tuppen is the son of Frank Tuppen,veteran Florida greenkeeper, and is probably the young-est man in his profession in charge of a championshipcourse in America.

SOlVIETIlVI ES a young Illan chooses what he will do inlife, and sometimes he is pushed into a line of endea-

vor he would never have chosen for himself. Luckily forme, my father's profession attracted me from the timeI was going to school, and therefore I have had thebenefit of his long experience in keeping golf greens inthe South. Eighteen is not too young to start, 1f youknow just what you want to do, and I did. [followedin his footsteps andtook up greenkeeping,not because he hadmade a success of it,hut because [ wantedto.

Tn 1924, when theyw ere building thecourse a t ClevelandHeights, I took the po-sition as green keeper.This is what is knownas' a championshipcourse, and hundredsof golfers from allparts of the countryplay over it during thewinter season. Tn fact,it is an all year roundcourse, busy during thesummer, too.

Native Soil andGrasses

\\Te have two differ-ent types of soil. de-pending upon the ele-vation of the land. Onthe lower levels the soilis dark sandy loam,and soil from theselower levels makes a

Scott Tuppen

fine top dressing for use during the winter season. Onthe high land the soil is a yellow sand, and this soilmixed with the dark loam from the low places we usefor summer top dressing with excellent results,. as it isalmost entirely free from foreign vegetatio~l.

Our greens were planted with the Atlanta strain ofBermuda, which is a much finer strain than commonHermuda. and gives a smooth texture of surface forsummer play. In the winter season the greens aresown with Italian rye and red top, while the Bermudais in its dormant stage.

The higher fairways are planted in common Bermuda,which seems to makemore sat i s f a etorygrowth on high dryfairways. On the lowerfairways we plantedcarpet grass, and this isvery well adapted tolow ground. Our roughis all natural grasses.blanket corn, Bermuda.wire grass and ~[exi-can clover.

Keeping BermudaGreens

\Ve have a moreequable climate t h a nprevails in many sec-tions here in Florida.our temperature 111

su mmer averagmg 730

•

and in winter 620• \ Ve

have no difficulty inkeeping a proper de-gree of moistu re in ourgreens. as our watersupply is very good.\Ve use lake water.pumped to a tank anddistributed through thecourse with a 3-in. line.Our pressure IS 45

13

14 THE NATIONAL GREENKEEPER February, 1927

pounds, and we use ~ inch hose, as many courses inthe North do.

Through the summer season, we have to water twicea day, early in the morning and again in afternoon,never watering while the sun is hot. In the winter thegreens may be watered any time a day, night wateringbeing preferable so as not to interfere with play.

Top dressing we apply to the greens approximatelyevery three weeks to a month during the winter whilethey are under heavy play. During the sununer rainyseason, June, July and August, on account of washesthey have to be top dressed oftener.

When ordinary ~oil is used, we mix with every twoyards to a ~Teen, three pounds of sulphate of ammoniato every 1000 square feet of green to be covered, andthis dressing must be thoroughly watered in and keptmoist until sulphate shows results, to prevent burningthe grass. Our compost mixture is 1 /3 yard of wellrotted stable manure to 2/3 yard of dark loam soil.

We have a plentiful supply of laborers, and keeptwelve men all the year around, at from $3.50 to $4.50a day.

Greenkeeping Asks for the Best You Can GiveOne of the worst animal pests \ve have is the Sala-

mander, a burrowing animal somewhat on the order of

the northern gopher, and we find the easiest method oferadication to be traps placed in the burrows. Armyworms, hybernating worms, grubs and Hessian flieskeep us busy at times with copper lime in dry form orarsenate of lead in liquid form, and so far their depre--dations have been held pretty well in check.

While sometimes our winter grass, red top and Italianrye, is affected to a slight degree with Brown Patch,Bermuda grass is immune to this disease. From all Ihear, we have no more drawbacks for the greenkeeperin this section of Florida than he finds in the Northernstates, and I guess greenkeeping means about the samething the country over, a good knowledge of individualsoils, climatic conditions, and how to grow and maintainthe kinds of grass that are suited to anyone given local-ity. No job holds the interest of the man at the helmunless it holds difficulties to overcome, and if a mansticks to the game of greenkeeping and makes a successof it, there is only one answer to it,-he loves his work.There are many easier ways for a man to make a living,but the easy road, even though it leads to success, isseldom tI le one that gives the most satisfaction. I amonly twenty-four years old, but down here in Florida,where thousands of dollars have been made over nightby boys a lot younger than I am, I am not sorry that Ihave stuck to keeping greens.

The Permanent Beauty of ConcreteBy ]ANIES E. FOSTER

Portland Cement Association Educational Bureau

James E. FosterPortland Cement Association

Educational Bureau

IN order to cut the time they must devote to structuralimprovements (such as walks, bridges and fences) to

a minimum, many greenkeepers are using concrete ex-tensively on the courses under their su-pervision. Its permanent qualities, to-gether with its resistance to climatic con-ditions make it easily adaptable to theneeds of the greenkeeper.

Concrete Gives ServiceConsider first of all the matter of steps

and of sidewalks. They are constantlyused and are exposed to changes in tem-perature. Naturally, they must have out-standing wearing qualities. The action ofrain and of wind, of zero weather, and ofthe sun's unchecked rays on a hot summerday must not impair their q,uality. Con-crete meets these requirements.

Artistic PossibilitiesThe broken down bridge crossing a stream is a relic

of bye-gone days where tl1is material is used in makingbridges. The smallest structure can be as well built as

a gigantic span weighing thousands of tons. Con-crete can be colored; and since it can, in its plastic (orgluey) state, be put into any shaped forms, it is adapt-

able to numerous design schemes. Evenrustic beauty, which harmonizes so wellwith the natural surroundings of a golfcourse can be successfully and perma-nently reproduced with this material.

Such garden ornaments as fountains,bird baths, sun dials, flower boxes andsimilar pieces, when made of concrete,demonstrate the artistic possibilities of thismaterial. As with benches, these fixtures,because of their weight, should be set onvery firm ground or on flat slag supports .

Extremely ornamental fixtures, such asbird baths, benches and sun dials are man-

ufactured by several products plants, located in differ-ent parts of the country.

Preventing WashoutsBy the use of dams, piers and abutments, erosion can

be retarded and changes in the stream channel can be

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February, 1927 THE NATIONAL GREENKEEPER 15

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I

prevented. Natural action often results in serious topo-graphical changes, and while the process is slow, it isinevitable unless counteracted. By placing slabs at prop-er places, the greenkeeper can prevent much naturaldamage to the property under his care.

VVhen piers and abutments are used, they should ex-tend at least one foot below the water bed, so that theground cannot be washed away from underneath them.The sides of dams and similar structures should. extenda fair distance into the stream's banks as a safeguardagainst the water making a channel around the slab.

Permanent Fence PostsConcrete fence posts have come into widespread use

because they do not rot, they do not burn, they do notrequire replacing, and they always present an attractiveappearance. As a rule, these posts are from seven toeight feet in height, with a rectangular cross section of4 by 5 inches at the bottom, which tapers to 3 by 4 inchesat the top. Other shapes and sizes, however, may beused. The post may be round, or oval, or triangular,or octagonal-in fact, it may conform to any shape with-in reason that is desired.

When fence posts are made, forms are required. Thereare a number of these on the market, which are made ofsteel, and which can be secured in a large variety 0 fforms and sizes. While a skilful person can often makehis own forms of wood, one who is not "handy withtools" should purchase these forms ready made. Toinsure strength bars of steel, called reinforcement, mustbe placed in the forms before the concrete is placed.These reinforcements run the entire length of the pole.

Expansion Joints in Sidewalks\tVhen sidewalks are laid, joints should be made at

regular intervals to allow for expansion. These maybe construction joints, which are from four to six feetapart, or expansion joints, which are found every fiftyfeet. Construction joints, as their name implies, arethose which are naturally made during the laying of theconcrete. A batch is placed, and a sheet of steel is putagainst it to keep it from spreading. The next batchis then placed, and when the concrete has set sufficentlyto remain firm, the steel is removed. In making thesejoints, one thing should be remembered: have them per-

Concrete Posts Like These Make Even the "Rough" SeemAttractive

pendicular to the edge of the sidewalk.Expansion joints are grooves between slabs of con-

crete. They are in sidewalks from one-half to three-quarters inch in width, and are filled with tar, asphaltor some other material of a plastic nature.

Both expansion and construction joints are separatedistinct units. They are not mere surface indentations,but go the entire depth of the slab. Perhaps this pointcan be made clearer by saying that a sidewalk properlyconstructed is not a single strip of concrete, but a seriesof slabs, set end to end.

Be Careful of Your MixtureIf you are making the concrete yourself, remember

that the less mixing water used, the stronger will be theresulting concrete. Laboratory tests have proven con-clusively that too much water weakens concrete} and in-versely, that the less water used, the better. The oldidea that concrete must resemble a thick soup is errone-ous. Concrete must be plastic, but it must not be sloppy.Add enough water to your cement, sand and crushedstone to make a workable mix, but do not add any more.

Concrete May be Laid in Winter\tV ork with concrete can be done as well in winter as

in any other season, if proper precautions are taken.There is a false belief to the effect that warm weatheris necessary for placing this material. Numerous sky-scrapers, warehouses and other large structures erectedwhen the temperature was below zero disprove this fal-lacy. If you wish to make some improvements withconcrete this winter before your club opens in the spring,go to it.

\\Then work is done in winter, the water and the ag-gregates (stone and sand) should be heated, and theconcrete, after it is placed, should be kept from freezingfor at least two weeks, so that the first stages of curingwill not be hampered. A good plan with sidewalks isto cover the concrete with canvas, and then place a heavycoating of manure or straw over this. Unless the weath-er is extremely cold, this protection will suffice.

If you are planning to add any improvements to yourcourse before the spring opening, now is the time to getbusy. By starting now, you can, without crowdingyourself, have your club in perfect order in plenty oftime for an early opening.

Who Would Guess that This Bridge is Made 01Concrete?

Experimentingwleth Bent

By GEORGE P. KNOXCalumet Country Club, Homewood, Illinois

UPON" my arrival at the Calumet C. C. in the springof 1921, it was decided to remodel and rebuild the

golf course which was at that time very uninteresting.To do this it was necessary to construct eighteen newgreens and thirty new tees, as well as one hundred andthirty traps and bunkers, the greens and tees being large.The club has never regretted the change as Calumet isnow rated amol)g the best in the country.

In the fall of 1921, we fertilized and top-dressed thefairways the top-dressing being applied with a manurespreader and brushed in. The fairways were alsoseeded with a Kentucky drill, crossed three ways. Theimprovement was very noticeable.

Built Up Tiled Greens

\Vith the exception of a few very natural holes andgreens the greens are huilt up. They are all tiled withthe Herring-bone pattern. as I believe every greenshould he tiled, irrespective of its conditions. Thegreens are undulating with this effect not carried tothe extremc as the wave is slight. In designing a green.thc cye effect is tu be the 1110Stconsidered.

From Red Top and Fescue to Bent

The majority of the greens were seeded with Red-tupand Fescue. \Vhen the club moved from its old loca-tion, it brought along two small bent greens out ofwhich I was able to get one good green. This green hasvegetated to such an extent that I now have two acresof bent nurseries, and by plugging and patching where-ever I saw clover or chickweed the greens have hecumepractically all bent, this being taken fr0111the fringe andoutskirts of the original hent green.

Believes in Sodding Bent

I can not see the practicability of the \.egetati\'emethod. I am a firm believer in the sodding method togrow a bent green. I can take a rake to my greens anduse it in any way: if you can do this you have a firstclass putting green. There is no sinking on my greens.

The Calumet Country Club Course. Left. George P. Knox. Upper. Num-ber 11 Green. Lower, Number 12 on a Busy Day

Experimental Planting

~ ry experiment on 111Ynumber eighteen green mightbe of interest to you. Late in the fall, the middle ofSeptember four years ago, 1 seeded this green withFescue and Red-top. A month later T put grooves thruthis green two feet apart in which I put some of mybent chopped up. I covered it and did not notice anysigns of the bent until the following July. Todaythis green is one solid mass of healthy hent. I havebeen asked to send this strain to \Vashington for anan~.dysis and a name but I consider this unnecessary as. Icall it the Calumet strain and the members the Knoxstrain. This hent is not susceptible to Brown Patchalthough I had a little that I quickly got rid of. [callit a good old fashioned Carpet Bent.

I have this Bent in some of my tees. 1 believe a teeshould be large and irregular as I do not like a straightline on a gal f course be it tee or putting green.

~r ushroom soil is a good top-dress in the fall and sul-phate or Ammo-phos in the summer. For the best re-sults top-dress frequently.

Get a good strain of bent, the kind most suited to yourparticular location, and build a nursery. Take plugsfrom your nursery for the greens eradicating the weeds.

. In time you will notice, as I did, that it will run into yourfairways and approaches.

'Il

•1'5

" Greenkeeping Yesterday and Today"Address By JOHN l'dORLEY, President N. A. G. A.

Annual i\.'leeting, National Association Club l\llanagers, Chicago, January 26

•

ABOUT fifteen years ago, there were scattered on God'sgreen acres in various parts of the United States a

few hundred gol f courses. The word "greenkeeping" wasnot generally known. About seventy per cent of thecourses then in existence were under the direct super-vision of professionals, 1110st of them having receivedtheir training from the British Isles. In most cases, themethods which they had been accustomed to. owing tothe difference in climate and soils in this country, provedvery unsuccessful. They were to a certain extent handi-capped, because very little knowledge was to be obtained.even from \i\Tashington. as to what should he the bestmethods to pursue. There were not more than ten percent that would quali fy as greenkeepers as the green-keeper is known today.

Old Methods and EquipmentTn those days, while we were fO'rtunate to import good

grass seeds from foreign countries suitable for gol fcourses, we were lacking in our ability to know how totake proper care of turf and produce good results. Itis true that we had turf experts in those early days ofgreenkeeping. One of the leading turfmen was the lateFred VV. Taylor of Philadelphia, who thought he haddiscovered that, by mixing clay, bonemeal and cow ma-nure in a cement mixer and placing them in layer for-mation in the making of a putting green, it would solvethe problem of raising ideal" turf. This method as weall know proved a failure. In those early days therewere very few pieces of equipment suitable to keep acourse in excellent condition. First, we had to cut thefairways with a one horse mower outfit. Then camethe gasoline mower that weighed nearly a ton with onesingle cutting unit. On an eighteen hole course. if wewanted to cut the fairways once in nine days, we werecompelled to use two mowers, for one or the other wasout of commission most of the time. Then came thesulky mower with three cutting units drawn by a horsewhich had to wear iron or aluminum shoes. If thehorses were not flat footed when the turf was soft.they would dig the toes of these shoes into the' turf.leaving the fairways full of small holes.

Ten Years of Real ProgressAbout ten years ago, gol f in this country began to

take rapid strides, and with this progress came improve-ments. But new courses multiplied so fast that it wasimpossible to secure enough men well versed in the artof greenkeeping. To a large extent we were very for-tunate to secure men who had at one time been well

17

versed in fanlling and gardening. But they soon dis-covered that the methods applied to farming and garden-ing would not produce results for successful turf on golfcourses. Each in his own way endeavored to find othermethods. and with so' many working along differentchannels we grad uall y commenced to get in formationthat tended to create better and better working equip-ment. Since the \\Torld \Var golf courses have sprungup in leaps and bounds and from the few hundreds.fifteen years ago, they now number over four thousand.Out of the vast number of 111enselected to take chargeof these courses, we have been enabled to produce a largenumber of successful men who are today well versedin greenkeeping. \"lith the advent of the Green Sectionof the Cnited States Golf Association, a few years ago,"greenkeeping" was placed in a position where it right-fully belongs, known as the Arts and Sciences. Andinstead of seventy-five percent of golf courses, whichwere formerly taken care of. fifteen years ago, by pro-fessionals, today over eighty percent of the courses arein charge of greenkeepers.

Science in GreenkeepingIt requires from three to five years to produce grasses

that will stand the wear and tear of the players, and toa certain extent it also requires the same amount of timefor a pupil to acquire sufficient knowledge to make himright fully known as a greenkeeper. \\lith this in viewofficials of new courses should take this under consider-ation. It also happens, during the early existeRce of anew course, that conditions are such that they oftenbreed dissatisfaction among the members. No matterhow hard the chairman of the green committee and thepersons who have charge of the course try to correctconditions, they still fail to obtain results, owing to thef act that the soils especially used in the making of put-ting greens were selected and cultivated by golf archi-tects to grow blue grass and clover instead of bents andfescues. For illustration, I can quote you two courseswhere this condition exists. Every methocl known hasbeen tried with practically no effect. This fall both ofthese courses sent samples of their soils to one of theleading experiment stations conducted by the State ofOhio to have it analyzed. The answer they both re-ceived was to dig up several inches of soil and replaceit with soil containing a certain amount of acidity, thatthe soils they had contained too much lime, or, in otherwords, they were too alkaline. But some will say "whydon't they use an acid fertilizer and create the acidityneeded ?" \\There phosphorous and potash predominate

18 THE NATIONAL GREENKEEPER Febnlary, 1927

in the soil caused by excessive lime formation, an acidfertilizer has very little effect, for the reason that whenthe temperature of the soil reaches a certain degree, thenitrogen from the contents of the acid fertilizer is al-most immediately turned into ammonia-a volatile gaswhich escapes out of the soil.

Experimenting with CompostPrevious to the World War very little attention was

paid to the creating or making of suitable compost, com-posed of soil, sand and manures. :Most of us were usingcommercial humus, which proved to be very expensive.About this period I commenced to make compost of myown. But I found it difficult to secure suitable stablemanure. In looking over the advertisements in one ofour daily papers I had discovered that a certain liverystable wanted to contract their manure for one year.Upon investigation I found that the bedding was com-posed of oat straw. I signed the contract. About twoweeks later the teamster brought to the club manuremade from wood shavings insead of oat straw. I hadsigned the contract and knew that I would be compelledto haul it away from the stables, so I tried to disposeof it to farmers. However, when they were informedof its con£ents, they wouldn't take it. I knew that ma-nure composed of wood shavings produced acidity, butdid not know at that time that it would be suitable forgolf grasses. I composted it, and after turning it overtwice, and it had become one year old, I experimentedwith this compost upon one of the putting greens. Ina reasonable time I noticed a slight improvement in theturf. About one month later I topdressed this sameputting green again with the wood shaving compost.It did not take long before the chairman of the greencommittee and members of the club observed the won-derful improvement in the turf. I afterwards gave therest of the putting greens the same treatment, and allof them responded the same as the first putting green.Then I began to realize that I had created an acid con-dition in the soil and that bent and fescue grassesthrived well in it. However, having failed to renew mycontract for more shaving manure, and having used upall compost that was composed of it, I began to lookaround for an acid fertilizer.

Tries Sulphate of AmmoniaIt was suggested to me to try sulphate of ammonia.

I did, on my own lawn, and burnt nearly all the grass.After several attempts I finally discovered the properamount to use. Having previously created an acid con-dition in the soil, I was able to get immediate results.I have been using ammonium sulphate for over eightyears, and lately I was of the opinion that I was gettingtoo much acidity into the soil. During the season justpast, in order to keep the turf in good condition !wascompelled to nurse it more than usual. The chal.rmanof our Green committee suggested to have the SOlIs of

the putting greens analyzed, which I did-and I wassurprised to learn that most of them were only slightlyacid and that two of them were neutral. This demon-stra~es that you can not by the continuous use of sul-phate of ammonia get too much acidity in ,the soil. Thisalso shows that when the soils obtain a certain degreeof acidity, an acid reaction takes place, and graduallybrings the soil back to neutral-its former condition.

We know that the bent grasses, whether they areraised from seeds or stolons, have very shallow rootsand remain close to the surface, and we are informedthat fertilizers, such as nitrate of soda, cotton seed meal,sheep manure, and several others, contain a large percentof nitrogen. After these have been applied to the turfand receive a heavy watering either by rain or sprink-ling, the contents of these fertilizers are forced too deepinto the soil, and very little of it is able to reach the rootsof the bent grasses. We often wonder why foreigngrasses thrive better in our putting greens than bent-one of the chief reasons is that they are getting the bene-fits of the above named fertilizers-which the bents arenot getting. Sulphate of ammonia is a very light nitri-fying gas and remain~ close to the surface. On thisaccount it has a tendency to starve out a large numberof foreign grasses and obnoxious weeds.

Worms Dislike SulphateFor the past ten years I have never used any worm

eradicators, although our course is fairly alive with angleworms. The first two weeks in the early spring and inthe late fall we get quite a number of them. But assoon as the soils in the putting greens warm up, theangle worms disappear. They do not like to work insoils that throw off nitrogen gas from sulphate of am-monia. The first two weeks that the angle worms arethrowing up worm casts prove to me that they are bene-ficial to our putting greens. They create numerouschannels in the soil, so that later in the season water willpenetrate quicker into the subsoil, and allow the energyfrom the sunrays to draw it up to the tiny hair-roots inthe form of a vapor to the grass plant when it is needed,when conditions are such that the capillary movementsgo up and down in the soil freely. It is a good plan towater heavily and seldom; when we water often andlightly the grass roots come to the surface for waterwhen they should be going deeper into the soil.

Encouraging Nitrifying BacteriaI f I were to be asked "why" I make compost, my

answer would be that one of the principle reasons is tobreed into the souls nitrofying bacteria. These bacteriatake the organic material which the compost contains,help to decompose it, and release the various fertilizingelements, so that when they are applied to the soil in-tended to topdress they become immediately availableas plant food for the grass. Another reason "why" we

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February, 1927 THE NATIONAL GREENKEEPER 19

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make compost is to topdress the putting greens with aporous soil, in order to make the putting greens true.

A Probable Cause of Brown PatchOn most of our up-to-date courses I believe that we

are getting our putting greens too rich; we are gettingtoo much organic matter into the soil, and we are oftenusing the compost before it has had time to decompose.I believe that this may be one of the chief reasons for thebreeding of fungi, or what is known as the brown patchdisease. When this organic matter from the compost,that has not had time for the bacteria to tear the variouselements apart for available plant food, is placed on theputting greens, and later washed into the soil, it lies thereas decaying material, which later produces a poisonoussubstance in the soil. When the humidity becomesheavy for several days it causes the surface of the soil tosweat and prevents an equal distribution of air enteringand leaving the soil. But on several portions of the turfon the putting greens there are what we may call airpockets, which the humidity has failed to close up. Thepoisonous gases in the soil escape through these airpockets, causing the rapid growth of mycellium, whichhas the appearance of cobwebs on the grass. If theseare not destroyed before the heat of the sun strikesthem, the pollen from this mycellium spreads out andcloses up the pores of the blades of grass, preventingthe upper part of the blade containing pores to obtainoxygen, and the lower part of the blade, carbon. Thiscauses the grass to wither and die. We may often checkthe fungus disease by observing at the commencementof heavy humidity that the putting green mowers are notcutting the usual amount of grass. It then becomesnecessary to apply at once a slight application of a quickacting fertilizer. This has a tendency to strengthen theblades of the grass, and aids in helping to throw offthis poisonous matter.

Charcoal Improves Putting SurfaceThere is another important item relative to greenkeep-

ing, and that is to know the best methods to keep theputting greens in a good porous condition, so that whenthe player makes a good drive on the putting green, thegolf ball will bite well and not bounce off the green. Weoften create this condition by the use of pulverized char-coal, especially where silt and clay loams predominate.It tends to make the surface firm and porous. Duringthe playing season, especially should it be a dry one, ithelps to prevent the surface of the soil from baking andcracking open, thus preventing the nitrogen gases fromescaping out of the soil. After a heavy rain or watering

, charcoal expands, thus allowing more water to enter intothe subsoil.

Golf GrassesThe most important grasses used on a golf course are

the various bents, fescue, red top, bluegrass and poa an-

nua. In the northern latitude the bents are the favoritegrasses so far as putting greens are concerned. How-ever, since the World War we have not been able toobtain a good variety of bent seed. This has causeda good many courses, which have been built since then.to plant their putting greens with red fescue. But owingto the fact that it will not stand close cutting, it hasproved very unsatisfactory. Red top often makes a fineappearance the first season, but in the second season ithas a tendency to die out. The best place for the blue-grass is on the fairway, although it does not do well inextreme dry weather. Poa annua will make, if properlytaken care of, the finest turf for putting greens-how-ever, it is very treacherous. It requires lots of waterand feed, and must be cut very close when it is seedingheavily. I would recommend that poa annua be usedonly by competent greenkeepers.

Time will not allow me to enter into all the ramifi-cations of greenkeeping. I am well aware of the factthat it is difficult, if not impossible, for anyone at adistance to give advice of any real value, much less todictate any hard or fast rule as to what may be right orwrong for others to do. Experience teaches us to ap-preciate the fact that what may be the right thing to doin one place may be the reverse in another. Therefore,I have tried to outline methods that have proved satis-factory to me on a number of courses which I havevisited in an advisory capacity.

Nature Never SubjugatedI have endeavored to lay before you our methods of

the past and present regarding greenkeeping. What thefuture has in store for us, I do not know. But I aminclined to believe that with so many new courses beingconstructed with the intention of further progress, thegreenkeeper, who is aiming to give the services thatwill be demanded, will be compelled to be well versedin botany and plant pathology. While we all realizethat the best education he may get is from practical ex-perience, yet I am of the opinion that knowledge alongtheoretical lines helps.

In the many callings of Iife there are many vocationswhere one can, by perseverance, industry and skill,reach the top of the ladder of fame, but greenkeepingis one of a few where it is impossible to reach it, fornature, rvlother Earth, will not let him. She will onlyallow him to go so far and no farther. She is lookingforward to the protection of future generations, andwhen we endeavor to try and get ahead of Nature, shepenalizes us by producing insects, bugs and variousfungus diseases, in order to check us. While it is truethat we will eventually learn to eliminate these pests, yetwe are apt later on to get diseases of the turf more dis-astrous. Greenkeeping really belongs to the Arts andSciences-for Art creates and Science discovers.

20 THE NATIONAL GREENKEEPER February, 1927

Twenty-Five YearsBy JOHN ~

Greenkeeper, Pittsburgh Field l

over a grcater area before scttling down to onc coursc.The young green keeper will do well to keep grcens in several

districts for a nU111herof years. and hring to the golf coursehe finally settlcs upon. a \'ariety of experience in soils and the

\Vhilc all my as-sociations in twcn-ty-five years 0 fkeeping grcens inthe Pittsbu rgh d is-t rict arc dear tome. "if J had my1ife to live over.. ,agam. as many aman has said. Ithink ] \\'ould dis-tribute those years

Views of the Pittsbur~hField Club. Pittsburgh.Pennsylvania

culture of gol f turf. I do not mean by this that I would ad-\'ise a young man to become an irresponsible nomad, for thisrarely pays in any line of work. However, ten years or socle\'otecI to working on four or five golf courses. will developa good knowledge of greenkeeping methods which will be of111uch vahlc to a Yotlng grecnkeeper who wishes to give

Upper left. to right: John McNamara. Greenkeeper. with JohnW. Carr. Chairman of Green Committee.Upper right: Clubhouse.Lower left: Eighteenth Green.

(]ollar fur dollar to the club cngagltlg him for apermanent position.

As is we1\ known. Pittsburgh is built upon asuccession of hills. and perhaps it seemed in ameasure homelike to me when I first arri\'ed, asI was horn at the foot of the Tipperary hills inthe wtlth of Ireland. There T worked on a farmuntil J was twenty. at which time I left for Eng-

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The First Nine, Taken from the Club House Veranda.