PUBLISHED IN FEBRUARY, MARCH, APRIL, AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER BY O. M. SCOTT & SONS CO., MARYSVILLE, OHIO August 1941 FOURTEENTH YEAR Number 66 Probably no lawns give less trouble than those planted in late summer and those that are maintained by regular feeding. After a summer of baking sun, shriveling drought and destructive in- sects, Nature gives us an ideal season to repair the damage and build a lawn that won't retreat the following year. FALL SEEDING CONTROLS WEEDS TRIGGING weeds out by hand isn't necessarily the best method of hav- ing a clean, all-grass lawn. There are always more weed seeds in the soil, waiting to make their presence known whenever the opportunity permits. Furthermore, new weed growth may result from root particles remaining in the ground. The easiest and most suc- cessful strategy is to provide con- ditions favorable to a strong turf which will keep down weeds by eliminating con- ditions favorable to their growth. When folks ask the best way to a weedfree lawn, the sound- est advice they can be given is not how to kill weeds but how to make grass thick and healthy. Weeds seldom, if ever are the cause of poor turf; they are the result They first make their en- trance only after weak, vulnerable spots show up in a lawn. Then a single in- vader being given a chance will start its fifth column activity scattering seed prolifically and sending out spreading roots. The thin grass will not be strong enough to resist the attack. In the fall lawn weeds cease their vigorous growth. It is then that the most effec- tive war can be waged against them. Cooling rains begin to fall in a soft, de- liberate manner that allows the ground to drink its fill. Days are warm, nights are cool, a combina- tion that makes for optimum grass seed ger- mination as well as strong, spread- ing turf develop- ment. Result is a solid weed resist- ant sod instead of a weak, spindly one, inviting weeds. A further evidence of the wonders of Nature is the fact that grass started in the fall develops a more spreading, deeply anchored root system. Presum- ably this is in preparation for the rigors of winter which lie ahead with its heav- «Learn to love 'em, eh? Not Crabgrass!" C O P Y R I G HT 1941, BY O. M. SCOTT & S O NS C O. ing frost that plays havoc with shallow rooted plants. All of these are advantages that shouldn't be passed up in the weeks from mid-August to late October. It's an opportunity for a decisive offensive against weeds and a chance to have the thickest, greenest lawn obtainable. Feeding Equally Important Good lawn practice encompasses feeding just as much as seeding. A sound rule to follow is to precede every seeding with an application of a com- plete grass food. There may be enough natural plant nutrients in the soil to get the new grass plants started, but will there be enough to keep them grow- ing vigorously long autumn? Feeding grass now will enable it to take advantage of the full fall growing season. throughout the "Good Lawns" for New Homes It would be well for owners of new homes under construction to plan an early start for their lawns. The future occupants should turn their thoughts lawnward and plan the seeding even though the interior of the house is not completed. By moving-in time a weed- free lawn can be established, thereby reducing the tracking of mud or dust into the new dwelling. To insure its success and permanence the new lawn should be planted on a deeply prepared seedbed, fortified with a lasting supply of grass food. (New home owners may have a copy of "Good Lawns" for the asking. It tells a complete but con- densed story about building new lawns and improving old ones.) Turf Diseases Rampant trials This past summer has been one bringing great to established lawns. Weather has been fickle to an extreme. After an abnormally dry spring there was an overabundance of rainfall in June, followed closely by extremely high temperatures. These conditions gave rise to turf diseases which have not been so prevalent for several years. Grass in its present con- dition would be most susceptible to winter injury and weed invasion next spring. All lawns should receive careful attention during this fall season when so much can be done toward strength- ening and preserving them. % Nicotine vs. Squirrels, Chinch Bugs Sirs: Here's a sure cure for those who have beau- tiful lawns dug up by squirrels. Make small pouches about the size of a thimble and fill with tobacco dust. (I have taken old canvas gloves and made the pouches by cutting off the fingers.) Plant these small pouches about four inches deep and about every eight or ten feet apart in the sections where the squirrels have been in the habit of digging. The dust seems to permeate the earth and your trou- bles are over. Everyone who has tried this remedy says it has worked wonders. I, myself, have nine huge virgin trees in my lawn and for several years the squirrels almost ruined my lawn, yet I didn't want to kill or harm them. This simple method has entirely elimi- nated the trouble. I repeat the operation each year. Tobacco dust is usually obtainable at all drug stores and the treatment of the soil as described will not harm the turf or kill new grass. Sirs: This year my lawn has suffered an attack of Chinch Bugs and had it not been for LAWN CARE I would not have had a blade of grass by the end of the summer. I would like to say, however, that the solu- tion you prescribe for a 40% nicotine sulfate treatment isn't strong enough. I caught some bugs and dipped them in the one pint to one hundred gallon solution. To all appearances they died, but at the end of about four hours they revived and were crawling around as strong as ever. I next used a solu- tion at the rate of one and one-half pints per hundred gallons and the bugs stayed dead. Two applications of this stronger solution several days apart on good hot days have brought excellent results. The brown spots are disappearing rapidly and by the first week in September I anticipate the complete disappear- ance of any trace of yellow. RALPH B. WILKINS Shoreham, New York.