The record-union., 1897-01-14
VERDURE FOR THE DESERTS.
Grass Expert 0lCOtt and His Proposed
Experiments.
why Would Not the Sacramento
Bermuda Grass be Just
the Thing?

Again there is talk of planting por-
tlons of the deserts and other arid tracts
with kind of grass that will flourish
and remain green without irrigation,
dnd some enterprising Sacramentan
might make fortune by getting in
and planting these dry wastes with the
bermuda grass that f1ourisheS about
this city.
A couple of years ago j. B. Olcott, the
principal expert of the world on grasses,
sod and turf, visited Sacramento. He
then expressed his belief that a grass
may be grown on the aird plains of the
West entirely without irrigation. he
wants to try the experiment. The pos
Slbllity of a green carpet of forage grass
covering the Mojave desert is one OF his
refreshing suggestions.
This expert, j. B. Olcott, has in three
quarters of an acre at South Manches-
ter, Conn, 1 800 sorts of grasses, max
ing a beautiful chessboard of different
shades of green. This three-quarters
of an acre is an experiment station of
the National Department of Agricul-
ture and also station of the State of
Connecticut.
with his grasses, which have been gath
cred in THE sod from all parts of the
world. But in Connecticut there is a
winter season, during which the green
things of the earth rest from their la
bor. Olcott wants to try some grasses
in a WinterleSs land, where they may
grow without interference from snow
and fierce cold. To fulfill this purpose
Professor Johnson of Connecticut has
written to Professor Hilgard of the Col
lege of Agriculture, University of Cali
fornia, to inquire if a place may be
found in the State experiment stations
for some of the grasses to which Olcott
devotes his attention.
The information of the desire of the
great expert ON grasses to make expert
unents here comes from Miss La Grange.
who has visited Olcott at his wonderful
three-quarters of an acre containing
l,oU0 tiny lawns. A community of in
terest with him in the study Of grass led
her to give careful attention to his ex-
periments and whatever assistance she
can to fulfill his purpose to start minia-
ture grass plots and pastures in Cali
fornia.
Miss La Grange, who is now in San
Francisco, gives the Chronicle" a
story about grasses of exceeding inter
est. For instance, Olcott never waters
his grasses and keeps them moved very
close. He believes that some lawn
grasses will live all through a California
summer without drop of water. This
is an experiment he wants to try. If
the experiment confirms his opinion a
lawn need merely be planted and mown
and in greenness it will live forever.
The growth of forage grasses in the
arid places is another experiment Miss
La Grange says that Olcott has prop
agated the grCSSes from the far and the
near parts, of the world entirely by the
sods he has imported and separated,
using no seed, however, though he in
tends some time to permit some of the
best grasses to go to seed and to collect
it. He finds by experiment that the
English saying, it takes a century to
make a lawn, is not necessarily true.
for in two or three years he has made
a turf so close and fine that it might be
used for a British race track. for in
Great Britain the turf means the turf
and not clay track.
oIcOll lnlhkS llutIe OF any grass tina [
Will not form a good turf and he holds
in poor consideration the blue grass and
the rye grass from which most Califor-
mia lawns are made. They do not make
good sod and moreover they are not
readily kept clear of weeds A model
lawn should clear itself The grass
should automatically shut out the
weeds.
Such are the lawns, as Miss La
Grange relates, that Olcott would like
10 try in California-lawns that may be
walked upon, driven upon. that tennis
may be played upon, that are free from
weeds, that are firm and yet springy
that are never watered except when the
gentle rain happens to fall upon rye
grass, blue grass and good lawn grass
alike.
WHY NOT BERMUDA GRASS?
1t would seem that the Bermuda
grass is just the thing for these
desert lands. So far as the experience
of Sacramentans go. it is SO tenacious
of life that killing it or ridding a lawn
of it is practically out Of the question
1t was introduced here upward of thir-
ty years ago and has almost taken the
town"
Its Objectionable features, for city
N2EA