| GRASSROOTS PHILOSOPHY | 
By Dr. Roy A. Bair 
“I hope that I may never see 
Another poem about a tree” 
(with apologies to Joyce Kilmer), has 
been the attitude of many home owners 
whose lawns are unsightly wherever they 
are shaded. 
Many folks who actually love trees, 
rather do without them if they make it 
impossible to maintain a beautiful turf. 
Actually turf and trees are not mutually 
exclusive. You can have both by follow- 
ing a few simple rules. 
Rule 1 — Mix your soils properly be- 
fore the grass is planted. Your most fun- 
damental problem is to supply a seed- 
bed which will encourage healthy grass 
roots. 
The ideal soil mixture consists of: 
(a)—Not over 65 per cent sand, much 
of it coarse 
(b)—15 to 20 per cent organic material 
such as peat, muck or leaf-mold 
(c)—Not over 12 to 15 per cent col- 
loidal matter such as clay or marl. 
When you are planning a lawn on the 
usual sand base in Florida, it is frequently 
not practical to add as much as the ideal 
amounts of muck and marl. The impor- 
tant thing to remember is to use approxi- 
mately equal amounts of these two ma- 
terials. Whenever you add one yard of 
muck or peat to your lawn seedbed, be 
sure to use an equal amount or clay or 
marl. 
The resulting soil mixture should ac- 
tually be a mixture. Never leave either 
muck or marl in layers on your seedbed. 
All ingredients of the soil mixture should 
be “cut into” the sand base to a depth 
RECOMMEND 
AND SELL 
gw" 
THE 
CAREFREE 
LAWN 
2730 N. W. 4th St. 
of 4” to 6” and thoroughly incorporated 
with the sand. 
A layer of muck or marl on the surface 
will encourage the grass to produce shal- 
low root systems confined to these sur- 
face layers. 
Grass grown on such a base will have 
no drouth resistance. 
Rule 2 — Plant a variety of grass which 
is at home in the shade. Two varieties 
only are outstanding in their ability to 
produce good turf under trees. 
New Strain Zoysia, which is a fine- 
leafed selection of common Manila grass 
Zoysia matrella will produce a more dense 
turf with a consistently deep green color 
than any other grass species in the south- 
eastern part of the United States. 
New Strain Zoysia characteristically has 
a deeper, more profuse root system, which 
is able to compete successfully with the 
tree roots for limited supplies of soil 
nutrients and water. 
The Bitter Blue strain of St. Augustine 
grass Stenotaphrum secundatum has con- 
siderably less shade tolerance than New 
Strain Zoysia but is better known and 
has been more widely used for this rea- 
son. The other common varieties of 
grasses used for lawns in Florida do not 
thrive under ordinary lawn conditions on 
lawns in deep shade. These are common 
Bermuda grass Cynodon dactylon, Carpet 
grass Axonopus affinis, Centipede grass 
Eremochloa ophiurcides and the several 
strains of Bahia Paspalum notatum. 
The new Velvet Bermudas are show- 
ing remarkable ability to grow in deep 
shade. This performance is in striking 
contrast to that of common Bermuda grass, 
which requires full sunlight for normal 
growth. 
PLANT NOW for FASTER MATURITY 
Less Mowing —No Topdressing — Fine Leaved 
NO CHINCHBUGS — Shade Tolerant — No Chiggers or 
Red Mites. 
Substantial Discount to Legitimate Dealers 
BAKER GRASS 
Wears like iron — Roots deep. 
PDN DUSSERAVES 
Phone: 83-3101 
302 N. W. 27th Ave. 
MIAMI 35, FLORIDA 
