The record-union., 1897-02-23

IN CalIOrnla, this turn garden Is
purely scientific institution. If its work
in this end should have-as it surely
| will-direct practical value on the
ground where 1t lies, it will not have
been less but more scientific. And that
gives you a clue to my idea of science
| III that direction.
| In a California turf garden, beside
| those grasses, 1 should put local col
| lections, but these would not be 'ex-
perimental, except to California peo-
rle. l should know in week or two
as much about them as any stable boy
knows about every horse he rubs down.
That is one use of such turf garden
as this. 1t weighs things at once.
| All grasses are creatures of tempera-
| ture. There are some grasses which
become dormant at certain degrees of
| heat below ''t5inperate;" others which
| become dormant at certain degrees Of
heat above temperate" From varia-
lions of temperature proceed the chief
| obstacles to turf culture, which are
classed as Climatic obstacles" These
obstacles have never been thoroughly
studied with many turf grasses in COM
parison in such a favorable climate as
| California offers US.
Large arsas of land in the United
States awa.ft leading ideas for perma-
nent improvements, which can nowhere
be determined upon with approximate
| accuracy so cheaply as in California,
because, by the use of water, the tests
and comparisons OF grasses by growth
side by side as close grazed turf, may
be continuous and continued 800 days
in the year
a turf garden beside being a testing
ground for gnaSSe-a school of turf
cufture-a demonstration of the most
| practical plants for grazing, becomes
also a nursery of the most valuable
| and thoroughly, approved stocks of
grazing grasses; a magazine of eco
nomic plants, m the fittest form for
distribution and propagation in pure
| cultures, with accuracy and dispatch.
The soil of California, open throughout
the year, offers every facility as ship
| ping point to other States. (nhis is a
big reason.)
The tests and observations of the
Connecticut Experiment Station, COW
ering a period of many years, have dis
closed a number of grazing grasses and
other turf making plants, whose full
economic values cannot be disclosed in
Connecticut. Though some of them are
known to be, and others are only be-
lieved and not proven to be of great
value, yet it is known that these plants
demand a troDic or a Semi-tropic cli-
mate, like that of some parts of Cali
fornia, for their full development and
use The Importance of this change,
in connection with the methods of the
Connecticut Experiment Station can
| scarcely be overeStimated, especially
for our Southern States.
While the Connecticut garden is
growing, in the form of beautiful and
more or less productive turf, the larg-
est collection of proven grazing grasses
and especially old, long established
British turf and aquatic grasses, ever
made IN the world, those States ara
everywhere affiicted-even in Connect
icut-with mistakes, miSapprehenSions,
false teachings, ignorances and super
stftions as regards turf grass culture TO
the great hindrance of true progress
and general prosperity. To take this
one light on dark subject from under
it's bushel in Connecticut and set it
safely on the Pacific Coast would be
the first step towards final remedy
for the general confusion in grass mat
terS and in particular as to permanent
grazing.
With books, or prints of any kind, We
can never hope to reach the minds and
hands which continually serve in COM
mon labor; but with turf gardens first,
wherein the simple and the learned
stand upon an equal footing-the COM
mon man learns at sight 10 do well
What he sees we'll done. Plant the
second garden in California, in whose
open soil and sunny climate-every
hand is a gardeners, and where the
entire Nation flocks in winter to study
the elements of gardening-plant It
Well and hold it securely for three, or
better five years, and the idea of per-
manent grazing and sound turf in
every rotation of crops as the lacking
element in American husbandry, will
have taken possession Of the minds of
our people.
Turf culture though we'll known to
the ancients (as may be read and un-
derstood between the lines of all his
tories), throve best among the peoples
who were so happy as to have no his
V. 4
mother of all art Where hunting de-
clines sheep and other domestic animals
are introduced in rough ways but
slightly shaded from the ways OF the
chase, as has been seen in our own
time In the East we have Cruelty
Societies." (fed on beef that survived
the blasts of midcontinent noEthers) 10
force the Eastern farmer to take better
care of his cattle. Finer and more per-
manent turf-the love OF verdure about
our doors. mark the progresses, and the
lack Of greensward indicates the de-
cline Of civilizations. Before velvets
were possible. the sheep, in all ages.
had produced ''velvety turf" wherever
the grasses fit for that fabric were in
the soil Since, among modern nations,
the British islands, famous for their
country homes, have been most famous
for their pasture turf, older than his
tory. hence 1t is not surprising that the
first turf garden on this new continent
should occur IN one of the elder coIo--
MES Of British people.
Archaeology has given little or no at
tention to the art of turf-culture. When
II does so, much light Will be thrown
on the migrations of shepherd peoples,
and it will he discerned that the Oldest
and best turf grasses of Great Britain
came from the South and East through
Spain and the shores of the Mediter-
ranean--from countries with more or
less of the climate of California
Hence, when we propose to plant the
second United States Turf Garden in
California. we propose to carry many of
these best old British grazing grasses