The Waterbury Democrat., 1931-07-03

THE SATISFACTION
OF A GOOD LAWN
Must Have Right Kind of
Seed and Receive Intelli-
gent Care
SOME EXPERT ADVICE

Hartford, July 3.-The satisfac-
ton one receives from having a good
lawn Is largely dependent upon the
kind of seed that is planted. S. Nc
Lean Buckingham, state commits
sioner of agriculture, is finding in
the enforcement of the Connecticut
seed law that there are many lawn
mixtures offered for sale that are
not adapted to Connecticut soil or
the making of a satisfactory lawn.
Good lawn seed is available, the
commissioner explains, but the extra
cost Is apt to make the home owner
hesitant about buying his seed from
a reliable scotsman with the result
that often times inferior seeds are
purchased and poor lawn is the
result. The law does not prohibit
the sale of inferior seed provided
it is properly labeled but it does
give the purchaser an opportunity
to discriminate by carefully reading
the analysis printed on the outside
Of each package and using a little
care in the selection.
In order that home owners may
know the kinds of seeds most suit
able for Connecticut lawns under
average conditions, the commits
sioner has prepared a list of the
seeds commonly found in good
northern lawn mixtures. These mix
lures are made up of four groups,
namely; basic, nurse, filler and spe-
cial purpose grasses.
The first group is the basic grasses
which are going to eventually make
the lawn so special care should be
taken to make sure that the mix
tNIr foi nc nj Ia
these seeds. The nurse and filler
grasses are temporary, furnishing a
cover for the later terminating va
rieties and at the same time giving
some semblance of lawn during
the first year. The special purpose
grasses are for unusual soil condi-
tons where it Is impossible to have
a velvety lawn develop when the
basic grasses are planted.
The basic grasses include Chew
ing's Fescue, Red Fescue, Colonial
Bent, South German Bent, Rhode
Island Bent mad Kentucky Blue
grass. The nurse grass group in
cludes domestic, English, Italian
and Pacey's rye grasses and Red
Top. The filler group is largely
made up of Crested Dogs Tail, Eng
lish Blue Grass, Meadow Fescue.
Hard Fescue, orchard Grass. Sleeps
Fescue, Timothy and White Glover.
Special purpose grasses include
Canada Blue Grass, Rough Stalked
Meadow Grass, Wood Meadow Grass,
Fine Leaved Fescue and Seaside
Bent.
The following formulas for good
lawn mixtures have been suggested
by Leonard H. Healey, deputy COM
missioner, who is in charge of the
seed inspection work. These give
the percentage by weight of the va
rious ingredients and are also rec
commended by the Connecticut Agri-
cultural Experiment Station at New
Haven:
Formula No. I. Standard mix
ture without clover; Kentucky blue
grass SO, red top (recleaned) 25
South German mixed bent 10, rye
grass IS.
Formula No. 2. Standard mix
ture with clover; Kentucky blue
grass As, red top (recleanedD 20
South German mixed bent 10, rye
grass Is, white clover S.
Formula No. 3 For finest quality
turf; Kentucky blue grass 40, South
German mixed bent 40, red top Gre
cleaned) 20.
Formula No. 4. For shaded areas;
meadow fescue 10, poa trivialis 80,
red fescue 20, South German mixed
bent 10, red top (recleaned) 10,
Kentucky blue grass 20.
Formula No. s. For poor or
sandy soil; red top (recleaned) 20,
red fescue IS, Rhode Island bent
10, Kentucky blue grass Is, rye
oroes tx whit eclOyer 5.