MUDDY LAWNS 
A typical piece of worm-infested, soft, muddy turf. Requires brushing and rolling daily from September 
to June, which means damaged turf, roots bruised and exposed, fine grasses smothered, and 
ultimate bare patches. 
The soft, sticky, muddy, and wet condition of tennis courts and lawns during the autumn and 
early spring is entirely due to the movement of millions of worms, which loosen the soil and throw to 
the surface tons of slimy, sticky, wet mud. 
If any attempt is made to make the grass firm by rolling., the casts either stick to the roller and soil 
is actually taken away from the lawn, or else they roll down hard and smother out the fine grasses. If 
they are swept off with a broom, the lawn is not only impoverished by loss of soil, but the grass, being 
smeared over with the slimy mud, becomes unhealthy, and the action of the broom bruises the surface 
roots of the grass and exposes them to the air, with the result that many of the finest grasses die; and, 
in both cases, the lawn remains soft, dirty, wet, and cannot be used. 
When the worms are exterminated a soft, wet, sticky lawn improves immediately, and becomes firm, 
clean under foot, and healthy, and games can be played both early in the spring and quite late in the 
autumn, when wormy lawns are absolutely unplayable. 
