THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



363 



iron rake and mow clost'ly ; repeat this as often as neces- 

 sary. 



Topdress freel}' with a tineU sifted compost of a lii;lit, 

 triable, porous nature, rich in organic or tertihzing mat- 

 ter, so as to reduce the iilasticity of the soil if it is too 

 heavy and to add body if it is too light, and when doing 

 so remember that a cubic yard of com])ost will cover 144 

 superficial yards to the depth of a quarter of an inch. 

 and that sixteen dressings at the above rate spread over 

 say, three years, will reduce the natural top-spit soil of 

 the dressed area to the secondary ])Osition of the sub- 

 soil, so there is hope for all greens, no matter whether 

 they stand on sand or clay. The contouring and general 

 preparation of a green is co.^tly and its upkeep is more 

 so, conseciuently it is the worst economy to be parismoni- 

 ous when seeding. In England, with our warm genial 

 cl'mate, we sow one ounce to a >uperticial yard and ex- 

 pect to get a close turf in a year or less, and when we are 

 in a hurr\- we sow at the rate of two ounces per super 

 ^ard. 



In .\merica and Canada, where the climatic conditions 

 are, to sav the least of them, extremely severe and dif- 

 ficult, the minimum rate should be two ounces per s(|uare 

 yard and the maximum, four ounces. 



A true golfing turf is composed of dwarf creejiing 

 grasses, which form a close-soled, sjiringy sod, which is 

 both a delight to walk over and play on, as it holds 

 tJie liall from the ground so that it sits up and looks 

 at the player, and when a divot is taken the club cuts 

 through the matted fibrous roots of the grass without 

 hardly touching the soil. 



Turf which does not answer the above description !•• 

 not golfing turf at all ; it may cover the ground and make 

 it look nice and green and so mislead the casual ob- 

 server, but it is worthless from a golfer's point of view, 

 and that's all there is to it. 



I will now attempt to explain the reason for the lack 

 of really good turf in America. In the fust place, the 

 best natural turf in the British Islands is found in loca- 

 tions that have been nibbled close by sheep or rabbits for 

 years, and the best artificial turf where mixtures of 

 grasses have been sown and where the turf has been 

 closelv mown from the ver\' start. 



Secondly, the great majority of the artificial or sown 

 courses in America have been sown with venerable pre- 

 scriptions propounded years and years ago for agricul- 

 tural purposes before golf was known out of Scotland. 



I might state here that eighteen \ears ago not only was 

 it considered impossible to produce fine turf from seed, 

 l)ut there was absolutely no demand for it, 1iut when the 

 game of golf took hold of the civilized world, 1 saw that 

 the ordinarv commercial mixtures of lawn grass seeds 

 and the old methods of turf production nnist go by the 

 board and new methods antl new mixtures take their place. 



The thirtl reason is the anti(juated idea that the indig- 

 enous or native grasses are best in their own sections or 

 zones, because they are indigenous or native, an argu- 

 ment which absolutely bolts and bars the door to an\ 

 sort of improvement and is as worthless as it is futile. 



The fourth and last reason is the improper ratio in 

 which the various varieties are used (even when the mix- 

 ture is made up of correct varieties) and also the thin 

 sowing. 



The rate the seed is sown per acre is another ver\ 

 important question, and no matter from what point of 

 view the subject is tackled, financial, common sense, or 

 golfing, heavv sowing is tmdoubtedly the best and cheap- 

 est. 



fudged from the conniion-sense point of view the ad- 

 vantages of heavy sowing are just as striking, especially 

 if one remembers that a close turf is either composed of 



relatively a few lai'gc grass ])lants which nia\ take a .\ear 

 or more to mature, or a multitude of small ones which 

 can be produced in a few months and which im].)rove with 

 age. 



If the seed is sown heavily at the right reason the little 

 grass plants are crowded together and so afford each 

 other shade and protection from wind or sun almost from 

 the start, whereas, w lii^lit sowing is resorted to. the 

 little grass ])Iants have got to stand alone, and a poor 

 chance they get if adverse weather sets in, either in the 

 shape of a cold dry wind or a hot scorching sun. It is 

 wonderful what a little shelter will do: I have fre(|uently 

 noticed th;U the seed in the hoof-marks made by horses 

 harrowing and rolling in the seed gets quite a start on 

 its exposed neighbors, and where the seed has been gath- 

 ered together by a wash-out it comes up like hairs on a 

 cat's back and is self-jirotecting from the very start. 



POISON IVY. 



I'.x|)erinieiUs in deslmying poison ivy by means of chem- 

 icals have developed only a limited field of usefulness for 

 this method. Applications of strong solutions of crude 

 .sulphuric acid or of crude carbolic acid have been found 

 effective, but serious risks are encountered in handling 

 these substances. In work undertaken by the .M;i-sachu- 

 setts Experiment .Station it was found that arsenate of 

 soda could be used very successfullv to kill poison ivy on 

 large trees over 6 to 10 inches in diameter and on stone 

 wrdls. buildings, etc. In open fields, however, this treat- 

 ment proved expensive and injurious to other vegetation, 

 rendering the land useless for several years. In these ex- 

 periments two or three applications of arsenate of soda 

 at the rate of 2 pounds to 10 gallons of water were gene- 

 rally sufficient. The preparation is poisonous and stock 

 must be kept away from the poisoned |)lants. The chca])- 

 est and most effective method of eliminating poison iv\' 

 seems to be the sini|ile one of rooting up the plants and 

 destroying tlicni. In Large fields it mav be necessar\- to 

 plow and cultivate the land, says the U. .S. De])artment of 

 -Agriculture. 



The safest time for h;uidling jxiison ivy is in the hall, 

 after the sap is out of the plants and after the jilant 

 has stopped fiowering, as the sap and pollen make the 

 plant more likely to affect those who come in contact 

 with it. In anv case, however, the following protective 

 n^easures should be used by those attempting to eradicate 

 it. \\'ith the exercise of due care, the use of overalls and 

 ganntleted gloves will enable most individuals to deal with 

 the V)lants with impiuu'tw The further precaution of 

 greasing the han<Is witli lard, to be washed oft' with 

 strongly akaline soap on conclusion of the work, has lieen 

 recommended. It nia>' be possible to employ some one to 

 remove the plant who is not aft'ectefl by it, since many in- 

 dividuals are iiracticalh' immune from the effects of poison 

 iv\'. In burning poison ivy care nuist be taken to keep 

 away from the '^moke, as cases of serious injury to eyes, 

 ruse and throat fmni the poison conveyed 1i\ this means 

 lia\'e been reported. 



The toxic properties of poison iv\' are atlribrted to 

 a nonvolatile oil which is found in all ])arts of the i)lant 

 even after long drying. Minute amounts of this oil are 

 callable of causing extensive inllammation. The oil is 

 insoluble in water but may be removed b\' alcohol or 

 destroyed by a solution of sugar of lead and alcohol. As a 

 preventive measure thoroueh and repeated washing with 

 warm water and strongly alkaline soap as soon as possible 

 after contact with poison ivy is advisable, and it should be 

 borne in mind that the poison may be transferred in- 

 directly from clothing, and implements, also from towels 

 used by those who have been in contact with the plant. 



