The New York herald., 1921-02-16
CRAB GRASS SOON
TO FOLLOW CUTIE
New Fertilizer for Putting
Greens Rules Old Golf Pest
Out Of Game.
ny KERR N. PErnrp.

Not since golf first was invented has
there come such momentous announce
ment affecting the game as that from
the Rhode Island State College to the
effect that as the result Of twenty years
of research fertilizer has been discoy-
cred which will both grow grass and
kill weeds. To the golfer 1t seems al
most too good to be true. When the
story Of the discovery first was sent out
1t was hailed as the realization Of the
dream Of gardeners. But II the knight
Of the pruning knife was elated, what of
the feelings OF the greens keeper and of
the chairman or member OF the greens
committee charged with full RESPONSE
bility for the upkeep of the course? Also
what of the feelings Of the golfer him.
self, for who among the clan has not
felt the pang at the once proud putting
green turned suddenly sour, the one
time velvety texture spotted and marked
by the ruinous crab grass and other pes
tiferous weeds?
But crab grass. It would seem, soon
will be thing Of the past II the green
keeper. who has been In the habit Of
using nitrate Of soda with the view of
supplying nitrogen, the chief element in
the plant food Of grass. will turn in
stead to ammonium sulphate. The for
mer. we are told by the Rhode Island
State College. gradually tends to form
an alkaline condition Of the soil which
Is specially favorable to the growth Of
weeds. On the other hand, by employ
Ing the new fertilizer In the same guam
titles as the old the required amount of
nitrogen Is furnished and the soil kept
In the acid condition under which the
grass develops best. but the weeds are
80 weakened that they are crowded out
Experiments carried on at the Rhode
Island State College with different lawn
grasses under various methods OF treat
ment have shown that Rhode Island bent
grass, the grass that stands the closest
clipping for golf putting greens and fine
lawns, is usually quickly crowded out
by coarse weeds" says the statement in
question "All attempts to better the
soil conditions made the weeds grow
faster than ever. except in the case OF
ammonium sulphate. which helped the
grass and weakened the weeds Now
after twenty years without any other
treatment than the repeated applications
of the ammonium sulphate this one plot
stands out In marked contrast to all the
others in the experiment. Scarcely a
weed can be found. and the even green
of the plot Is an example Of what the
finest lawns can SO easily be-
Let the greenkeepers and the green
committees now satisfy themselves that
for them the millennium truly Is here.
No reason now why every putting green
should not be of the green baize variety.
The alibi of the chairman OF the green
committee slips with the dodo and the
CUTIE ball into the limbo Of almost for
gotten things the voice of the golfer
who is continually blaming uneven put
ting greens for his high scores is stilled
forever. Ammonium sulphate. 1t Is
stated, is not more expensive than nitrate
OF soda. It all seems too good to be
true
Playing in q four ball match on Feb
ruary 6 with d. G.. Legget Of Gedney
Farms against James Shepard. Jr., the
Daytona pro" and Norman Miller OF
the Clarendon Golf Club, Harry Rawlins
turned in a card of ~ for the Clarendon
links at Seabreeze, Fla, lowering the
record by two strokes. Rawlns, as may
be supposed, made few mistakes, getting
one eagle. eight brides and seven pars.
The previous mark was held Jointly by
A. J. Christie, the Clarendon profess
sional; Eddie Loos Of Ravisloe. who fin
ished second In the recent Southern Cal
ifornia open championship. and Capt.
Clark of the Engineers Club of Roslyn.
l.. l., who was spending few weeks in
the South. Following is the card:
Out .. 3 4-3i
In.. 3 3 4 4-3S-T2
AS the Clarendon course has a length
of 6.2i7 yards, 3,011 out and 3.2O6 COM
ing in, 72 is liable to stand for some
little time to come. This is the third
season that the Clarendon Club has had
grass green's. j. A. Costello reports that
this year these are in almost perfect
condition. also that there is a large
crowd playing daily on the course, that
the weather is warm, the beaches crowd
ed and the hotels filled to capacity