1907.] Fairy Rings and their Eradication. 



539 



G. H. Robinson was requested to make an effort to eradicate 

 the pest on a bowling green in Victoria. Some preliminary 

 trials were then made on a small scale, plots being treated 

 with a solution of iron sulphate, Bordeaux mixture, copper- 

 soda and copper sulphate solution. It was soon found that 

 mixtures like Bordeaux and copper-soda, with their bulky 

 gelatinous precipitates, were useless for the work, for the 

 material could not be made to permeate the soil so as to reach 

 the spawn of the fungus. Of the others, a copper sulphate 

 solution of 1 oz. per gallon, using half a gallon per square yard 

 on three occasions a week apart, was found to injure the grass 

 before eradication was complete. Fortunately, the plot 

 treated with sulphate of iron was doing well, no puff-balls 

 appearing after three applications of a solution of rather less 

 than 1 lb. in 5 gallons of water at intervals of a week, though, 

 of course, it was then impossible to say whether the fungus 

 had been entirely destroyed. The only sure sign of eradication 

 is the absence of fairy rings and puff-balls in the next season. 



The measure of success achieved with sulphate of iron 

 appeared sufficient to justify its use over the whole green, the 

 rings being then so numerous that it is doubtful if an area 

 of 30 square yards was free of them. The green was therefore 

 divided into plots of 60 square yards, putting on that area 

 8 lb. of sulphate of iron dissolved in 30 gallons of water. 

 The solution was made in barrels and applied with ordinary 

 zinc watering cans, one man using two at a time, one in each 

 hand. The evening previous to the application the green was 

 well watered, and after the solution was applied a further 

 light watering was given to assist to convey the solution down 

 to the roots. The green was closed two days prior to the first 

 application, and it was found that where much trampling had 

 occurred when play took place the iron sulphate blackened 

 the grass to some extent, but no lasting injury resulted. Little 

 effect was observed from one application beyond a deepening 

 of the colour of the grass and a marked reduction in the number 

 of puff-balls. Three additional treatments were given, four 

 in all, at intervals of a week, and only two puff-balls were, 

 gathered on the whole green after the second dose, though 

 before the first it would have been no hard task to collect a 

 barrowful. Since the third treatment, no puff-balls have been 



