Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-04
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRAcEwELL.

Dear Sir: You were soothing this
| evening, telling us to be content with
| 40 per cent failure. But how about 100
| per cent? The case in point Is my
small grass plot in front of my house.
have diligently dug 1t up often twice
| q year, because the grass seed SOW,
sooner or later, develops into the rank
est Of grass. have bought seed from
| q half dozen different sources. have
rooted up every vestige of the rank
growth. Soon the new seed, which
comes up as a rule sningy anS
| verdantly, grows rank. W And so with
some others on our street. ANY hope?
Yours truly, w. P. K"
| There is hope, as a famous adver-
| tisenent once said. There is hope in
| almost any situation in which human
mind begins to inquire, to look into
| things, to attempt to find out what Is
wrong, and to correct it.
Lack of hope comes with these too
SNUG persons, who find everything
just right, who resent criticism, or
'faultfinding," as they call 1t, because
! they are, by nature, incapable Of meet
| ing life as it is.
Even in so small matter as a good
lawn the hopeful attitude Is the inves-
tigating attitude, based on dissatisfac-
| ton with grass plot as 1t Is. as it
persists in being. as it fails to meet
ones desire.
A long-distance diagnosis, whether
In grass or in diseases, Is q risky thing.
If one were on the ground he might
be able to see some factor which has
escaped the notice Of others.
There are certain fundamentals, how
ever, which may be stated, which will
prove of interest to all home owners
and amateur gardeners who love . good
lawn, primarily because grass is the
background, the frame, as it were, both
for house and flowers, and, Incidentally,
for human beings.
In the present case the problem Is
complicated by a lack of definition of
rank grass" Just what does the COR
respondent mean by this term? Prob
ably the so-called crab grass, which
has a number Of names, but which,
under any name, Is the same prime
nuisance in good lawn.
There are several excellent varieties
of grass which might be termed rank
that is, their leaves grow fairly broad
and fiat and almost the same width
| fer their entire length. We take it for
granted that this is not the thing meant
when the term rank grass" is used.
There are several ways in which really
rank grass may get into lawn. One
| Of these Is through the SEED iCSeu. Buy
ing seed from a half dozen, or dozen,
different sources may not end this like
lihood If one does not pay enough per
pound. There Is no economy in cheap
grass seed, and the only way to get
| good is to pay for it.
The seed of rank grasses may blow
onto a lawn from neighboring lots, or
from other lawns where little care is
taken. Just how crab grass and other
rank growing grasses get into q lawn
will continue to offer a problem.
But get In they do, in almost every
case. Many home owners go to the
labor Of trying to root them up. This
is almost loves labor lost. Seldom can
the work be carried on so completely as
to make the job successful. Rank
grasses grow by Joints, travelling hori-
zontally through the soil. If a few
inches are left, they will grow into many
feet before the season is over.
In most cases, to get all the crab
grass out Of q lawn would call for the
complete destruction Of the sward, and
even then the owner could not be sure
that he had not left many bits of
grass which would take root from their
joints and flourish as gayly IS before.
X y
The only real remedy is to plant so
much pure grass seed, as one may call
1t, that it will literally swamp or drown
out the weed seeds.
The planting is, in sense, secondary