THE FORMATION AND CARE OF LAWNS AND GOLF-CrREENS. 23 



Necessity of Careful Treatment. — Even when, however, a mixture of 

 grasses is so perfectly proportioned as to leave no possible room for 

 improvement, no really good putting-green can be looked for unless the 

 care and attention bestowed upon it after the seed has been sown is 

 equally thorough and judicious. 



There is an old story of an American admiring the beautiful lawns at 

 Magdalen College, Oxford, who, on asking the gardener, who was mowing, 

 the secret of the success there attained, with the intention of obtaining 

 similar lawns in the United States, received the laconic answer, " We 

 mows 'em and rolls 'em and rolls 'em and mows 'em for thousands and 

 thousands of years ! " While there was certainly a trace of exaggeration 

 in the gardener's statement, his answer undoubtedly embodies the secret 

 of true success. Constant rolling and mowing applied with the judgment 

 born of experience are essential if good putting-greens are desired, and 

 when once established the closer and oftener the grass is cut the more 

 firm and compact will the turf become. On putting-greens mowing may 

 with advantage be carried on the whole year round, except, of course, during 

 a hard frost. 



One of the best examples known to me of thoroughly up-to-date care 

 of putting-greens is at Sunningdale, where mowing is so constant and the 

 treatment is so perfect that certain grasses which, on account of their 

 coarse characteristics when allowed to develop, cannot usually be recom- 

 mended in a putting-green mixture, are employed there with the best 

 possible results. 



Clovers, of course, are not generally suitable for putting-greens, and 

 should never be used except in cases where a really first-rate green is 

 hardly to be hoped for, and where it is impossible to get the finer grasses 

 to grow thickly enough alone to form a satisfactory turf. 



Artificial manuring is just as important in connection with putting- 

 greens as with lawns, and, as the manurial treatment I have advocated in 

 an earlier part of this Paper applies equally to greens, I will not repeat it, 

 except to add that on heavy soils, where the rain does not pass away as 

 freely as it should, a top-dressing of sharp sand is often advantageous. 

 It helps to keep the green clean and sweet, and prevents the tendency to 

 sourness which the necessary sweeping and rolling sometimes cause 

 during the winter months. Greens sometimes lose that beautiful freshness 

 of colour which is so great an attraction, and which gives the English 

 putting-greens such an advantage over those to be found on the many 

 courses which are now springing up for the benefit of English visitors all 

 over the Continent. Applications of soot or charcoal will prove very 

 beneficial both as a remedy and as a preventive against want of colour, 

 but they should be applied in wet weather and well watered in. 



Nursery. — I have already advocated the policy of creating duplicate 

 greens so that each green may undergo a due period of rest. Sometimes 

 it happens, however, that a green becomes worn very badly in one particular 

 spot, though the rest of the surface may be in good order. 



In view of the fact that this difficulty is always liable to arise, the 

 formation of a nursery composed of turf made of exactly the same mixture 

 of grasses which has been used for the creation of the putting-green will 

 be found very advantageous. It must be remembered, however, that such 



