24 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



turf cannot be taken up, rolled, and used for patching the green unless it 

 is itself two or three years old, so that the wisest course is to sow a 

 nursery down at the same time as the putting-green itself. 



Worms. — It now only remains for me to deal with the question of 

 worms. The subject is one around which there has always been much 

 discussion. No doubt exists as to the valuable part they play in letting air 

 and light into the soil, and if Darwin's statement that " on meadow land 

 the wormcasts amount annually to eighteen tons, and on good arable land 

 to about ten tons per acre," be really true, probably few of us fully realise 

 the benefits they confer upon the soil. Great as these benefits are, how- 

 ever, in the case of putting-greens, new and old, wormcasts are a very 

 great nuisance ; indeed, their presence makes correct " putting" out of the 

 question, and consequently the eradication of the worm is now generally 

 considered an absolute necessity. It should be remembered, however, that 

 soil from which worms have been taken will require more manuring rather 

 than less in order to, in some degree, counteract the absence of their 

 beneficial work. 



Many preparations have been advocated for eradicating worms from 

 the soil. The majority of such preparations are of a poisonous and some- 

 what dangerous character, and need handling with care. The subject 

 has long been one of very great interest to myself, and during the past 

 summer I have been carrying out a series of experiments at Eeading, as 

 a result of which my firm are now placing on the market in limited 

 quantities a preparation which is entirely distinct in its constituents 

 from any other, which is perfectly harmless to human life, and which we 

 have never known to fail in a single instance. This preparation not only 

 effectually removes worms for a very considerable time, but has valuable 

 manurial constituents which to a very large extent counteract any evil 

 effects resulting from the removal of the worms. 



