Evening star., 1931-11-25
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

his opinion upon such an unreasonable
Autumn as that which has prevailed
hitherto.
A certain tang to the air is the
heritage, over the centuries, Of Novem-
Der. The falling leaves demand it..
But even the leaves fell this year with
reluctance, and scarce have showed the
true glorious colorings which Jack
Frost would have put into them, If he
had been given free rein.
The mystery Of grass again points
VARYING morals. Some lawns remain
fresh and green, as If the individual
blades had never heard Of Jack and his
little destroying hammers.
other wards show withered and brown,
with only wild onions, as they are
called. giving a green tinge to them.
Just why this variation, in grass
which all looked more or less alike dur
ing the Summer, Is difncult to explain,
unless it means different varieties OF
grasses.
aral lawns which manage to retain their
fresh. live greenness all Winter long.
THESE grasses seem to be practically
eyerRreens, in our climate, usually not
going down to much below 10 degrees
Those interested in grass have
watched with interest the good stand"
which the United States Bureau Of
Standards has secured in the vacant
square facing Connecticut avenue.
Not more than seven or eight weeks
ago this was bare ground. Today the
entire space Is covered with good
thick growth Of very green grass.
This warm Autumn has been an ex-
eeptionally good one for growing on,
&c the horticulturists insist on saying,
Fall-sown lawn.
Experts have been boosting the SOW
ING of grass in Autumn for several
years. now, without making much OF
an impression on the average nome
owner. For one thing, the amateur
gardener, under ordinary circumstances,
is beginning to be tired OF MS noDpy
by the time September comes around.
He is willing to wait until next spring
To match up his lawn. Then, too, the
belief that Spring Is the great marvel
worker. in the matter Of vegetable
growth has been sowed in his own
brain since childhood. Surely, he rea-
sons to himself, will waste a great
deal of grass seed II / put 1t In the
ground now. Frosts will cause 1t to
fail to germinate, and the remaining
birds will get it. win wait until Spring
when all nature is raring to 60.
Now surely there Is something to that
plea: at least, most amateurs seem 70
sow grass seed in that belief. spring
is the time one wants to make o lawn.
A,ffurnn is not But II warm Fall Is
at hand and one is willing to get out
and do the necessary watering With q
hose. when q drought prevails, as 1t mas
this season, he will discover that Au-
tumn is a good time for grass growing,
after all. II one does not believe this,
let him Journey out Connecticut avenue
and see the fine stand secured tr the
big front yard" Of the Bureau OF
Standards.
While he out in that direction, by the
way, let him marvel for while, II ne
will, over the splendid job OF bridge
building going on at Klingle Ford. Not
since Col. Casey lacked up Cnguratives
ly) the washington Monument. and put
y (actually) new foundations under the
great shaft, has there been more in
teresting piece Of engineering to be
seen here from the standpoint OF the
so-called man in the street"
New bridges have been built on either
side of the old one, in effect, and trafic
rerouted over them, while the third and
central span Is torn out and . third
bridge built there. The three bridges,
welded together, will make one fine
new bridge, within a short time, now.
In this happy result the fair, warm
weather Of this Autumn OF 1881 will
have played large part, and, If for no
other reason, we should all be thank
full for it.