2 7 th YEAR No 1 34 c7o SKelp TJou fbnjoy a better Grass — Nature 's Air Cooling mer. Fewer mowings will be needed but schedule so that not over a half or three-quarters inch is removed. If the appearance of clippings is bothersome, by all means remove. There is negligible feeding or mulch- ing benefit in return of clippings to the lawn. A heavy mat is harmful. Feeding is generally helpful in early sum- mer. TURF BUILDER at half rate (5 lbs per 1000 sq ft) is suggested. Use the spreader, apply only when grass is dry. If weather is hot, water in well immediately. Watering. A steady growth of grass from a moist soil will provide the greatest cool- ing benefit and lawn. The Deluxe lawn must receive moisture after three to five days of drying weather. A lawn growing on fast drying sands will the prettiest lawn at Lawn — not this beginning of Rate your summer to determine the best program The Deluxe Lawn — the picture lawn of better grasses. Takes two or three years to attain this goal, depending upon the quality of soil, the seed sown, doing right thing at the right time. The Good fashion plate but the lawn for casual living, definitely above average. Unless soil lawn into a Deluxe can be upgraded lawn with proper maintenance. The Utility Lawn — may be the one where growing conditions are not too good. Or the spring started lawn that needs another season or two to develop into a Good or De- luxe lawn. Or it may be the lawn planted tougher grasses where happy children can play to their hearts content. is extremely poor, this the coarser, to Any by lawn can be made giving it proper better care. RARELY DOES A metropolitan news- paper, a slick-paper home and garden magazine and a consumer's buying guide join forces, albeit inde- pendently, to pro- mote a single idea for better living. This happened recently and their common aim was to encourage the home owner to insulate the out- side of his home against the hot summer sun with green trees, shrubs and a good lawn. IHKiiiK A good lawn, from the standpoint of summer comfort, is a thick, heavy turf that keeps the soil cooler and reduces the carry-over heat from day- time into the evening hours. Tests have shown that grass-covered terraces in full sun can be 20 degrees cooler than adjacent paved areas. Of course, the better the turf, the cooler the lawn. The right program of summer care pays off in delight- ing the eye, increasing property value (LAWN CARE NO. 1 3 0) and in pro- viding the cool, relaxed atmosphere that is "so nice to come home to." Cer- tainly those who must tramp the hot city streets during the day are en- titled to enjoy the exhilarating feel of cool, soothing grass at home — maybe even in their bare feet. Proper Mowing In hot weather, it's a good idea to raise the height of cut. An increase to about ll/2 inches is suggested for the Deluxe lawn; two inches for the Good lawn, possibly 3 inches for the Utility lawn. Grass does not grow as fast in sum- Important. Copyright 1954, O M Scott & Sons Co need watering sooner than one on silt or clay. A common fault is to wait until the grass shows signs of wilting. Instead it is advisable to check the "feel" of the soil in a walk over the lawn or to sample it by taking a plug as from a watermelon. If the upper half inch or so is getting dry, start the sprinklers. Some lawn areas need more frequent watering than others; for example, southerly or westerly slopes, or exposures next to the house that are subject to radiated or re- flected heat. Exposed soil and thin lawns where insulation by grass blades lose much moisture by evaporation. Tree-shaded lawns are often moist at the surface but may be almost bone dry in the root zone because of the moisture demands of the tree roots. there little is If there is one best time of day to water a lawn, it is possibly the first thing in the morning. Actually is whenever it's convenient, day or night. There is no harm in watering grass in hot sunshine. Watering in mid-day may be extra beneficial because of the cooling and protective action. to water time the Further suggestions on watering are given in L A WN CARE D i g e st 6. Weed Control. pected intruder, see the next column. If Crabgrass is an ex- If the low growing, vining weeds Most non-grass weeds are readily con- trolled in hot weather with 4-XD, easily and quickly applied with the Scotts Spreader. The cost is so little that no lawn should have unsightly buckhorn or plantain in it, or dandelions, dock, ground ivy, or heal-all. Those fortunate enough to be maintain- ing lawns in the cooler climates, where the thermometer stays under 90 degrees, may prefer the double action of Weed & Feed. like chickweed, speedwell, ground ivy persist after use of other weed controls, a Scutl series should subdue them. Summer Insects may be harmful to grass and annoying to lawn picnickers. The in- secticidal action of Lawn & Turf Pest Control to curtail activities of ants and chiggers. It is also effective in curbing lawn damage of chinch bugs and beetle grubs. Apply it thè easy way with a Scotts Spreader. can be called upon • Sirs: I should like to see an article on the extra cost of upkeep of Crabgrass-filled lawns. They take a lot of extra lawn mower push- ing, toting of clippings. What a job! It must cost if they have to hire it done. Pa. Philadelphia, fl// does. SCUTL-ing on seed, too.—ED C B H O L T EN is cheaper. Save money Crabgrass on the Run EACH SUMMER MORE a nd m o re lawn owners rejoice to find that Crabgrass, the worst of all lawn pests, can be brought under control with anti- SCUTL. This unique granular Crabgrass compound was introduced by O M Scott & Sons in 1 9 5 0. Beginning Crabgrass invasion To conquer Crabgrass it is necessary to understand its habits of growth and recognize it in the early stage of de- velopment. in T he innocent looking plant just beginning the illustration is a typical Crabgrass speci- men, to branch out. There are many varieties of this pest, mainly of the genus Digitaria or Syn- common names are therisma. Other fingergrass. iviregrass, But Crabgrass by any name is most obnoxious. W i t h in 6 or 8 weeks, one plant may spread out in an octopus-like clump to occupy a square foot or two. Left alone to ripen, the one plant may drop as many as a thousand seeds for worse infestation in later years. watergrass, and Some are fooled by Crabgrass in its early stages because the bright-green sprouts are not ugly, though the leaves are broader than desirable grasses. If is in doubt whether your problem Crabgrass, send a specimen to Scotts at Marysville, Ohio; Cranbury, N ew Jersey; or Palo Alto, California. W r ap in foil or wax paper to prevent drying but do not moisten plants. Treatment. greatly reduced T he havoc of Crabgrass is if a SCUTL program is started before the branching and spreading phase begins. Many got a head start by following the pre-emer- gence program prescribed in LAWN CARE NO. 133. Otherwise, SCUTL ap- plications should start as soon as Crab- grass is noticed, and be continued at 5 to 7 day intervals. further Usually a series of three or four applications will suffice though some stray plants may appear in late sum- mer and require treatment. After the second application of SCUTL, a distinct yellowing and then browning of the Crabgrass plants will be noted. If the troublesome grass does not re- spond in this way, then some grass other than Crabgrass is the culprit. The list of immune wild grasses not respon- sive to che7nical control includes: fox- tail, goosegrass, witchgrass and dallis- grass (Paspalum). Should Crabgrass grow unchecked until late summer, its spreading ten- tacles will form ugly clumps shooting THE CREEPING HORROR REPRINTED FROM CHICAGO TRIBUNE AUG. 29. 1953 in July The Lawn Care reader who sent in this cartoon, made this comment on the margin, "SCUTL this horror or two, but after that it's a breeze to clear out the occasional plant. in August?'—ED. so you won't have SCUTL offers two highly desirable benefits in addition to Crabgrass con- trol. Its content of mercury provides antisepsis against many of the disease fungi attacking grass. (If required for disease control only, the interval be- tween applications may well be stretched to 2 or 3 weeks.) Furthermore, SCUTL is useful in the control of creeping, vining types of weeds such as chickweed, speedwell, spurge, henbit, moneywort and the like. At times these latter tend to be resistant to the 2,4-D weed controls but usually succumb to the weedicide action of SCUTL. Shopping List for the Summer Lawn 1. TURF BUILDER—full meal for grass but feed lightly in hot weather. 2. SCUTL—Away with Crabgrass and chickweed; good medicine for sum- mer complaints. 3. 4-XD—to drive out unwelcome intru- ders such as dandelion, buckhorn and plantain. 4. LAWN & TURF Pest Control —easy answer to picnic problems of ants, chiggers, giving grass protection too. A SCOTTS SPREADER—will make it easy to get them onto the lawn evenly and accurately. Scutl particles on matted Crabgrass plant out reddish or purplish, hard-to-cut seeding spikes. Even though the pest will have smothered much desirable grass by then, control will be worth- while in curbing further spread and seed development. Drastic action is needed if Crabgrass has reached this matted stage; usually two or three SCUTL treatments at double rate. Results. Scutl is a specific control for Crabgrass. Its proper use will produce the desired results, no matter how badly the lawn is infested. A firm determination is needed for a summer Lown Spreader A Must THE SCOTT-IT-YOURSELF lawn pro- gram isn't work, it's fun and re- laxation, a good investment of time and funds. The two-wheeled spreader with accessible hopper, handy rate and on- off controls, is the key to the fun-instead-of-work lawn tending outlook. With this in mind, all Scott products have been designed for quick, easy application by spreader. Models suited to all size lawns make precision spreading of lawn f o o d, weed controls, seed or granu- lar pesticides a matter of a pleasant stroll back and forth on your own lawn, at a time of your choosing. Off-Color IF A LAWN STARTS to lose its bright color rapidly as the weather gets hot, it's a good idea to look for the cause. With a bit of observation this usually can be determined. Grass If Moisture is one of the first things to be checked. Superfluous water in the soil tends to drown the deeper roots, resulting in weak stunted growth, even yellow grass. the grass is weakened in hot weather, the maintenance of constant surface moisture is especially import- ant. Daily light sprinklings may be needed so the surface roots do not suffer from critical drying. As the grass recovers, watering can be less frequent and to a greater depth. Lawns are more apt to suffer from a shortage of moisture than from an over-abundance. Critical drying may occur during a few days of high winds and burning sun. If the lawn is to be maintained in deluxe condition, it's better to start watering as the upper half inch or so becomes dry. Grubs, chinch bugs or webworms may attack grass in early summer. Such insect activity should be stopped with Scotts pesticide as soon as noticed. Grass may be nurtured to health by careful watering and possibly a light feeding. Official Report on Sirs: SCUTL in January before Did you happen to see a copy of the paper the North- delivered eastern Weed Control Conference by Dr DeFrance of the University of Rhode Island ? LAWN CARE readers should be interested in their report on 1952 and 1953 experiments in control of Crabgrass with forms of in particular with your phenyl mercury SCUTL Providence ifReader Hobbs' lowing summary Contribution cultural Experiment L G HOBBS fol- the referred to, Island Agri- Kingston. inquiry prompts of the paper 834 of the Rhode formulation. Station, J A DeFrance and S W Hart reported on the problem of controlling Crabgrass which was seriously invading plots used to ap- praise various strains of bentgrasses at two levels of fertility. Half of the turf was re- ceiving TURF BUILDER at approximately 10 lbs per 1000 sq ft in April and Septem- ber. Adjacent areas received twice as much by added feedings in June and August. The 1952 SCUTL applications were made July 7, 14 and 21. Results were reported as very satisfactory — control ranging from 88 to 99 per cent. Last year's application dates were July 9, 17 and 27. Control reported: 99 to 100 per cent. In 1953 it was noted that plots receiving four feedings of TURF BUILDER had substantially less Crabgrass than those receiving half as much.—ED • Sirs: Your product SCUTL did an astounding job in controlling Crabgrass in my lawn. It was my misfortune to be located next to a lawn which was allowed to run rampant with Crabgrass. Through the use of SCUTL it was stopped cleanly at my property line. A R N O LD W A N W AY Cleveland 14, Ohio O M SCOTT & SONS CO. S c V & Rl M A R Y S V I L LE - - O H IO MC-205 52554 E V E RY P A C K A GE OF S C O T TS L A WN C A RE P R O D U C TS B E A RS T H IS T R A D E - M A RK A ND IS S E A L ED F OR Y O UR P R O T E C T I ON