FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
39 
good stand of grass. That soil today still 
needs lots of water and will never pro¬ 
duce a good fairway until the Bermuda 
grass has so permeated the soil that the 
water will be held there in sufficient 
quantities to supply the natural needs of 
the grass. 
Now, when we came to the bottom 
lands we had a good type of soil. It was 
a black sandy muck high in plant food. I 
planted the grass before the rainy season 
and to my utter consternation after the 
rain was over I had no grass. The water 
had completely killed out the Bermuda 
grass roots. I constructed ditches and 
lowered the water table and replanted, 
and still the capillary action was so great 
in this soil that it drew the water to the 
surface and killed the roots again. After¬ 
wards I began making another tour of the 
State and found that the old residents 
whom I met had discovered the facts long 
ago and they depended on the native 
grasses. Hence, I am now depending on 
the native grasses under these conditions. 
Here too much moisture in the soil spelled 
failure for the type of grass needed. 
In the fourth type of soil or sand soak, 
as many call it, there was no food left in 
it. At least I could discover none. On 
stirring this sand base the grass would 
grow up for a time but soon the soil 
would pack and the grass would die out. 
The only solution I found for that prob¬ 
lem was over-laying with a loose sand. 
Here again too much water retained in 
the soil had spelled defeat for Bermuda 
grass. In the fifth type—a black and 
white or salt and pepper type—the same 
treatment as with yellow sand produced a 
very good growth of grass. 
The foregoing discussion dealt with 
the fairways alone. When it comes to 
the greens the conditions are changed. 
Most of the greens are elevated and the 
grass desired must be of the finest possi¬ 
ble texture. The soil is practically all 
brought to the greens and we can control 
absolutely the type of soils for them. We 
cannot, however, control the water table 
and have to water constantly. In my 
first construction of greens I followed 
the northern procedure putting on clay 
and muck and then top dressed with 
Moore Haven muck or a light woody 
muck that some of you know. I used 
some of the Moore Haven muck with 
some of the yellow sand and fertilized 
with about 150 pounds blood and bone to 
each green. The grass grew in great 
quantities and in magnificent quality but 
before long I discovered that my soil was 
too light. It took immense quantities of 
water to keep the grass in good condition. 
I then changed my method of proced* 
ure, cutting out the clay because I dis¬ 
covered that it was too sandy for the 
needed use, and picked out a type of stiff 
muck that contained a sufficient quantity 
of vegetable matter in a sweet condition. 
I used about four to six inches of this 
muck on my greens with no clay and after 
that I had no trouble. It takes a very 
small amount of water during the golf 
season and during the season when we 
don’t have so much playing it takes water 
two or three times a week to keep the 
course in perfect condition. In some 
cases commercial fertilizer alone was used 
in dressing the top. I had a peculiar case 
in front of the hotel. Between the hotel 
and the road, a space probably 60 by 200 
