184 
Gardeners and Florists’ Annual for J9J8 
Grass Seed for Polo and Football Gronnds. — The best grass 
seed for polo and football grounds is that which will grow deep and 
produce a short top, such as Rhode Island Creeping Bent, Red Top, 
Kentucky Blue, Red Fescue, and Crested Dog’s-tail. The quantity 
required per acre is 80 to 100 lbs. Clover could be added if desired, 
although it is not necessary, and bruises very easily. 
Grassboppers.— Occasionally, especially in the drier States, grass- 
hoppers do considerable harm to the truck crops. The eggs are laid 
before freezing takes place, and these hatch about the time of the last 
Spring frosts. The young grasshoppers push upward to the surface 
and soon begin feeding on the nearest vegetation. Under favorable 
weather conditions they increase rapidly in size, and they can utilize 
a great variety of plants as food. Happily, the grasshoppers have 
innumerable natural enemies, the eggs and larvae being eaten by bee- 
flies and beetles; female wasps sting the young grasshoppers and use 
them for food; mice, squirrels, and other rodents, including moles, also 
take their toll, while toads, lizards and some snakes feed to a consider- 
able extent on grasshoppers, likewise cats, birds and chickens; moreover, 
the chinch-bug fimgus is known to kill large numbers. Control meas- 
ures by man are deep plowing or digging, which should be finished 
as much before April 15 as possible; this covers the eggs too deeply 
for the young to get out. Secondly, harrowing, disking or scarifying 
the land, which breaks and crushes many capsules of the young and 
exposes others to enemies and 
disease. The most effective way 
of combating this pest, says the 
New York State Department of 
Agriculture, is through use of tlie 
so-called Kansas bait. This bait 
is composed of 30 pounds of bran, 
1 pound of Paris green, 3 quarts 
of cheap syrup, 3 oranges or 
lemons and SVs gallons of water. 
The bran and Paris green are 
mixed while dry, and those mak- 
ing the mixture are urged to wear 
a small sponge over the mouth 
and nose, to prevent the poison 
from entering the lungs. The 
fruit, syrup and water are mixed, 
the fruit being cut into small 
pieces or run through a food 
chopper. The wliole is then mixed 
to form a-» mealy mash. This 
quantity of bait is sufficient to 
treat five acres of land. Nothing 
is to he gained by spreading the 
bait thickly over the ground 
but the whole aim is to secure Typical Grasshopper'flife size) 
