FURTHER OBSERVATIONS ON USE OF ZOYSIA MATRELLA FOR LAWNS 
ADVANTAGES AND DIFFICULTIES :OF OUR FINEST BOUTIN: ARABS. 
By - Winston H, Reinsmith ; ro 
Landscape Architect, Southern Rewiony, 
Ue Se Forest Service | tt heh 5 
And - He Re Halsey gia ; oy 
Zoysia Lawns, Atlanta, cages “ culture | 
After more than twenty years of use in the United States Zoysia 
matrella remains the best lawn grass for the South and a very interesting 
challenge to all who wonder why a grass of such evident superiority is 
not universally adopted. As a matter of fact, however, this grass is not 
liked by the average seedsman or nurseryman. It is approved by landscape 
architects, but disapproved by many landscape gardeners. It-is desired 
by home owners who have seen it in a-well established lawn, but damned by 
home owners who have failed to secure a lawn after what has seemed to them 
a reasonable trial. It is a valuable asset in the sale of real estate, 
. but it is not used by many real estate promoters, « 
An established Zoysia lawn is a beautiful thing. It is permanent 
_ and almost carefree. It is so evidently a luxury that it is referred to 
aS the rich man's grass, To walk upon it gives one a unique sensation,,. 
Suggesting, possibly,, extraordinarily thick oriental rugs. And yet it is 
tough and withstands hard use better than any grass we know. 
ZOYSIA LITTLE KNOWN 
Why, then, is it so difficult to establish? Why have so many nurser- 
ies given up the attempt to grow it and to sell it? 
The difficulty is in reality a matter of our own American character. 
We are too. impatient. We demand highspeed efficiency in all our activity. 
And Zoysia is slow. It is not spectacular. It is frequently heartbreak- 
ing in its failure to cover ground more rapidly. It seems to dawdle along 
on the job while the thoroughly American weeds grow prodigiously and seem 
to crowd out the grass. Many a planter of Zoysia has given up the fight 
when his grass became lost in the competition, overwhelmed by Bermudagrass 
or Crabgrass% or Quackgrass. We may admire the magnificent old lawns of. 
England, but we smile at the idea of working for several generations ake 
to: produce such nonessentials as lawns. , 
Oh yes, a lawn is valuable, even in an efficient industrial ween. 
During recent years large industrial corporations have shown increasingly 
‘keen appreciation of the value of a lawn to set off a beautiful building. 
But that. appreciation has not yet worked down to the average home owner, 
rare as he is amid a nation of renters. And though real estate dealers 
recognize the value of a, good lawn in selling property, they seldom go 
beyond the demand for a quick green cover in promoting new real estate 
developments. 
Now, any grass can make a beautiful lawn, -if the observer is placed 
at sufficient distance to miss the inherent ugliness of some grasseg. 
Even Crabgrass and Quackgrass and other less obnoxious broad-leaved grass- 
es, such as St. Augustinegrass,, and Carpetgrass, and Centipecegrass, and 
the Fescues, may lend,the beauty of their verdure to a landscape. But 
very few people who know the beautiful lawns of! Zoysia in the South or 
Velvet Bentgrass or Kentucky Bluegrass in the North can accept these Bead 
leaved grasses as beautiful, at least for a cloSeprange view. , 
A Bermudagrass lawn can be beautiful, even at close range. Bermuda- 
grass grows rapidly. It covers ground in an amazingly short.time. It is 
so prodigious a grower as to be one of our worst weeds. But a Bermudagrass 
layn at its best.is a promise of deterioration which no work or care can 
prevent. It must be remade every few years. 
Zoysia, on the other hand, improves each year. It’ requires less care 
than Bermudagrass, tolerates fewer.weeds, grows in shade that prohibits ~ 
Bermudagrass, is never a pest, does not need remaking, and is not suscep-~ 
tible to the diseases and insect enemies that: plague other PraSseSe 
x? « 
Why, then, the failure of Zoysia immediately to capture the ae 
field? Slowness of growthialone can hardly Reema ite . 
“ee 
Called "drowfootgrags" by some in the South. 
