40 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
feet, I gave a slight application of stiff 
muck, probably two inches in depth. 
Across the road in an area about 50x400 
I did not put on the muck but I gave it 
the same application of commercial fer¬ 
tilizer as I did at the hotel. Now the Ber¬ 
muda grass where I had applied the muck 
stayed green all winter, whereas the place 
across the road turned brown very quick¬ 
ly. (Some of you who know the situa¬ 
tion no doubt discovered Italian Rye 
growing directly in front of the hotel in 
the area where muck had been applied. 
In my observation the presence of the 
rye grass was disregarded and the Ber¬ 
muda grass alone was watched. The 
muck no doubt held the moisture in the 
soil, prevented leaching and produced a 
wonderful stand of grass.) 
Now all this has to do with golf 
courses but the same principles apply to 
every lawn in the State. One of the big 
problems that I see in the State of Flor¬ 
ida is that of lawns and the main problem 
with lawns is that of maintenance. If I 
should be asked to give my opinion of the 
landscape features of the State of Flor¬ 
ida, not from the standpoint of the value 
of plants, but from the view point of a 
landscape architect, I would say that the 
maintenance item is the thing that has 
been absolutely forgotten. The man in 
his little home who has a lawn of 20x30 
feet perhaps set out in St. Augustine, St. 
Lucie or Bermuda grass, as the case might 
be, sprinkles on a little fertilizer once a 
year and then proceeds to forget it. Now 
I think the State Horticultural Society, 
from the viewpoint of a landscape gar¬ 
dener or architect, can do more for the 
State in its beautification by advocating 
good lawns than in any other way. The 
soil is the main problem. If one can get 
good stiff muck that retains moisture, 90 
per cent of your problem is solved; then 
with a little common sense and personal 
supervision of the water supply and fer¬ 
tilizer we can have as fine lawns as exist 
anywhere in the United States. The put¬ 
ting greens at Mountain Lake, under the 
supervision of Mr. Linderman, who fol¬ 
lows me, are the best I have ever seen in 
the South and I believe but few of the 
Northern courses have the equal. You 
would not believe this to be a fact, but 
Bermuda grass with plain muck, with 
proper top dressing, produces finer lawn 
grass than any grass produced in the 
North. This cultivation of grasses, of 
course, is a great thing. We all know 
that England has the best lawns in the 
world. There is only one thing that gives 
them this success—moisture in the air. 
We have a fair amount of moisture in the 
air and I believe the lawns of Florida can 
be made as fine as anything in this coun¬ 
try by the proper preparation of the soil 
and application of water and fertilizer. 
