Evening star., 1914-07-26
Army Worms
and Lawns.

restore 1t!
ArmV Worms In these few words 1t
is possible to summarize
| anu Ao"HS. the hundreds of letters
which have poured into the United States
| department of Agriculture during the
| past week. Farmers, as well as dis
tressed city householders, have written
10 secretary Houston for advice. but the
men Who till the soil and whose crops
nave suffered were not quite SO flustered
ana impatient as the thousands of per-
sons over all parts of the eastern United
states who have seen destroyed in a re-
markably short time long stretches of
turf which in many cases took years to
develop
.. len days ago the question asked was.
W nat shall do with the army worm?'
Now. the question is. What shall l do
with my lawn" and the first words of
instruction given to anxious people max
ing this inquiry are contained in a letter
which says. in effect. to keep cool" Many
persons in cities where the army worm
mas made its attack will think at first
that their lawns are totally destroyed
blades of grass have been eaten. The
hrst showers or careful sprinkling, 1t Is
salo, Will cause the roots to shoot up new
blades In many sections of the lawn
winch tHe worm le1t Dare ana brown.
1T Is known that the damage to many
lawns has been severe, however, and that
IL Will be necessary to make over the turf
In many instances In such extreme cases
government lawn experts say that it may
prove that the havoc wrought by the
worm has really been a blessing in dis
gulse. 1t will compel fall improvement
, For years householders have been advised
to give attention to the lawn in the fall
and early winter to prepare properly for
beautiful turf in the spring. Few per-
sons heed this advice. however. and as a
consequence lawns which have not been
reseeded and fertilized in the fall are
hard to put in shape after winters
neglect. An attempt to build up lawn
in few weeks in the spring usually Is
not only unsatisfactory, but costly, be-
cause of the intensive work which has
to be done in short period of time.
NOW that the army worm has come
and gone" said Russell A. Oakley. one of
the lawn specialists Of the Department of
Agriculture, yesterday. ''it will be well
FOR the average householder to wait a
few weeks and after several showers, to
see how much damage has been done.
Some persons might want temporary
lawn grass to cover the bare places
quickly. and for this purpose either the
Italian rYe-grass or the perennial rye
grass should be sown now. In most cases.
however. I think that the wiser plan will
be to wait until early fall and begin to
ing permanent and smooth turf. Fer
tilizing and reseeding should be carried
on in September. II possible, and not later
than early December. If the work is
done carefully in the fall. every trace OF
the army worms march will be wiped
away after the winter top, dressing of
barnyard manure is removed next March
and the spring sun brings the grass out
In a beautiful green
The army worm may not give much
frny Poir fnr
to Prof. F. NJ. Webster. the expert
in charge Of the cereal and forage in
sect Investigations carried on by the
United States bureau of entomology OF
the Department of Agriculture. The gov
ernment's scientists say that there is no
way of accounting for this years unusu-
ally large conclave OF army worms Whlch
distressed householders and lawn makers
have just witnessed.
One Of the most important moves made
in the recent development Of any natural
res urce in the
pIor n limit United States, ac-
cording to govern
Oil Production. ment mining engi-
neers, is the decision of operators in the
rich Oklahoma oil fields to combine in an
endeavor to curtail production. This
men is of much interest to the officials
of the United States bureau Of mines,
because of the fact that its chief pur-
pose is conservation of OIL To the gen.
eral public, the oil mems action is in
teresting. because Of the fact that not
withstanding its good purpose, 1t might
later be construed as combination IN
restraint of trade, and may have to be
taken up by the United States Depart
ment Of Justice.
Conditions in Oklahoma are marked by
overproduction to the extent that there
products Excess production either means
low prices and great losses. operators
point out, or else makes necessary the
construction Of large tanks to store the
proves. Worst Of all. they say. excess
production means excess wastage.
In a recent meeting Of the oil producers
at Tulsa, Okla, resolutions were passed
more oil in the Oklahoma fields than
could be taken up by the capacity OF the
transportation companies now or here
after in the field. and the oil men in their
admitted that I'VE will limit the pro-
duction of oil by all proper and legal
means" Whether it Is legal for the pro-
ducers to combine in the conservation OF
oil and in the maintenance OF prices.
those present made no effort to decide,
but they gave reasons for their interest
ing move in the following statement:
1--WE believe by doing this we will get
the producer a fairer price for his oil
and at the same time by producing daily
and steadily fixed amount OF oil will
give to the consumer a cheaper refined
product at a stable and certain price.
1--WE believe that the storage Of oil in
steel tanks Ia expensive, and that the
intimate consumer must finally pay for
the same. We believe that a vast pro-
duction of oil beyond the capacity of
TRANSFORMATION tends to exhaust the fields
and finally raises the price of the refined
product to such extent that the ulti-
mate consumer will pay for all expenses
Of steel tankage and waste"
Many of the Oklahoma oil fields are
owned by Indians. with Uncle Sam al
ways ready to give financial advice and
help. The maintenance Of oil prices
and the conservation of the oil will there
fore give added benefits to the govern
ment's red-skinned wards.
The United States has recently lost
UNIQUE international sporting event. an
endurance race con-
Testing the Quoted by health of,
-.l. fcers of England and
Ely 1AA6" this country in which
ordinary flies were used as contestants.
In this series Of long distance races be-
tween British and American house flies