June-, 1930.
"The world is blessed most
merely talk about them".

Vol. 2, No. 6.
men who do things, and not by those who
—James Oliver.

We are very pleased to see the concrete endorsement which
the Greenkeepers Club of New England has given the work being
done by the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Experiment Stations,
in appointing committees to work with the officials at these Stations.
We feel that this is a decided step forward. The work which Prof.
Dickinson and his colleagues have already done is widely known and
the acidity experiments conducted at the R. I. Station for the last
twenty-five years are the basis of much that has been done since.
There is much work which can be done best at such places, under
eyes of scientifically trained men, if they are helped by the greenkeepers themselves, the men in the field.
We would like to see men from the Experiment Stations conduct
surveys in the field, finding out from the greenkeepers themselves
just what their real problems are, and what help they need. We
would like to see a program of experimentation, under supervision
of Experimental Stations officials, carried out on every golf course,
and the results interpreted. And to get all this we would like to see
all golf organizations and clubs contribute to make this constructive
work possible. The opportunity is at hand to get real assistance.
Shall we use it?
WILL YOU send in any news of Brown-patch for the next issue
of NEWSLETTER?

This N E W S L E T T E R is published
monthly by the Greenkeepers Club of
Ngw England, and sent free to its members and their Greens' Chairmen. Subscription price ten cents a copy, or a
dollar a year.
GUY C. \VK.ST
Editor
312 Mt. Pleasant St., Pall River, Mass.

MARSTON B U R N E T T . Business Mgr.
330 W a l t h a m St., West Newton, Mass.

June, 1930.

Vol. 2, No. 6.

SOILS AND SUS-SOILS
Present day Greenskeepers are expected to produce a healthy growth of
grass to withstand the ravages of golfer's footwear throughout the year. In
many cases, the soil on golf courses is
of a heavy clayey nature more suitable
for producing bricks than for getting a
first class turf on it. In other cases it
consists of a pure sandy loam that will
not retain either fertilizer or moisture
in any shape or form. Between these
two extremes we find golf courses laid
out in Peat, Gravel, Chalk and Loam.
Now a greenskeeper, to be successful,
must have a working knowledge of these
soils; in a word he must have an elementary idea of the origin, composition
and general classifications of soils; in
short, a slight understanding of Geology. Let me explain here. Now, the
actual surface of the earth as we see
it to-day in the cultivated parts of the
country consists of mold or vegetable
soil; in other parts we see large tracts
of barren rocks which vary in character,
some are brimstone, sandstone, granite,
slate, etc. The most common must have
originally been formed by and with
water, others have been formed by fire.
Now bearing these simple facts in mind
it is well to remember that rocks are
the mineral constituents of the earth,
beneath any mold or soil that may have
accumulated upon them and that the
most of the soils that we find in our
golf courses are originally derived from
rocks and many of these important properties of the soil can be traced to the
rocks beneath them. It is well known
f r o m the best authorities that every kind
of vegetable soil was once rock which
by the repeated action of heat, cold,
air, and water has been broken down to
a fine state of dust, mud or sand. This
process is known as weathering. But
vegetation has a good deal to do with

this also, for doubtless you have noticed
small lichens growing on the face of
rocks exposed on the cliff or quarry.
We wonder how any plant can live in
such a position, but the secret of it is
that the lichens draw a good deal of the
nourishment necessary for their existence f r o m the atmosphere. Now all this
is weathering and goes to illustrate how
soils are formed.
Having said so much with regard to
the origin of soils I want next to bring
your attention to the distinction between sub-soils and top soils. This is
easy to detect, the top soil acquires its
richness in humus mainly from the decaying of deeper roots, also to the work
of earthworms. Top soils are generally
rich in humus and the elements of plant
life. Fortunate indeed is the greenskeeper whose course is laid out on loam,
the richest soil and well supplied with
humus and the other elements of plant
foods. These soils are usually deep and
not compact, thus admitting of the percolation of water, consequently very
little drainage is necessary. At the
same time they retain moisture during
the summer months and do not dry up
too rapidly. The first necessity for a
good soil on a golf green I consider
to be one that will hold moisture and
the second, one that has power to suck
up water from lower levels by capillary
attraction. Of the requirements sand
has the least water retaining or absorbent power, clay has four times and
humus six times the capacity of sand
to hold moisture. When water drains
away from loam or clay the drainage
is never complete for these soils a f t e r
being watered retain some little moisture, but on very sandy soil you lose
even that little amount of moisture.
The moral of this is to change that soil,
either by fertilizer or top dressings of
good loam. With regards to great
cohesion, I am convinced that this is
sometimes brought about by over rolling with a heavy roller in some shape
or form, thus causing bad drainage,
sourness and coldness.
Having said so much about soils I
think that you will readily agree that
the ideal soil f o r producing a suitable
turf for golfing purposes the whole
year through, having due regard to
climatic conditions during the year, is
a medium loam. For such a soil is fine
grained in texture and has the power
to lift water easily by capillary attraction during dry summers, at the same
time is sufficiently open for air to enter
freely and water to percolate during

wet weather, and in such a soil you do
not get the bad faults of clayey or
sandy soil.
There are three things which are absolutely essential for the growth of good
grass, 1st, humus; 2nd, warmth; 3rd,
moisture. To sum up in a few simple
words it means you must have nitrogen
in your dressing which must change into nitrate before it is available for the
roots of the grass plants.
Lastly, I'll conclude that these are
my own simple convictions in regard to
soils and foundations for a good course
and greens.
BILL LINDSAY,
Manchester (N. H.) C. C.
PREPARING COMPOST
TOPDRESSING
At this time scarcely two greenkeepers prepare compost in the same way.
Here at Cohasse we are very fortunate
in having plenty of good fertile land
adjoining the club grounds, this having
previously been a farm. Therefore we
can readily and economically avail ourselves of sufficient topsoil with which
to build up our compost piles.
The base of the pile is a thick layer
of topsoil, which is then covered by
manure, then more topsoil, and so on,
until the pile has been built the desired
size. One part manure is used with
two parts topsoil. This pile is turned
with forks once or twice a year to mix
it well together, we using an older supply which we keep on hand.
We have a large barn nearby in
which we keep several yards of dry
compost, and here also we have a Royer
compost machine, and on rainy days,
or during other broken time, we run
this material through that it may be
ready when needed. The Royer machine
was not designed to screen compost but
to pulverize it and separate the large
or medium sized stones f r o m the finer
material, but by placing a large screen
of five-eighths mesh about five feet
from the f r o n t of the machine, we get
very satisfactory results,, as nearly all
stones large enough to be objectionable
rebound off the screen and are thus
prevented from becoming mixed through
the topdressing. Certainly, a few
stones up to the size of a white bean
go through the screen, but I have found
it best to sweep the greens after each
application of compost no matter what
type of screen is used. For power we

have a one and a half horse power electric motor attached to the scaffolding
above.
Two men work this machine to the
best advantage; one to pass the compost to within a few feet of the machine, while the other shovels it into
the hopper. In this manner we can
prepare three yards of material per
hour, which seems to be a very great
saving over the old methods of screening. Also the compost prepared in this
way is so much finer and can therefore
be spread more easily.
I am well aware that few greenkeepers
have such a valuable supply of topsoil
available and in many instances are
handicapped by lack of shed room for
storage, «etc. which so simplifies the problem of preparing compost.
E R N E S T B. LORD,
Cohasse Country Club.
FIELD DAY AT RHODE ISLAND
EXPERIMENT STATION
The first Field Day for greenkeepers
and green chairmen was held at the
Rhode Island Experiment Station, Kingston, R. I., on Monday, May 26. After
a short meeting at which acting President John Barlow welcomed the gathering to the college, and Dr. Odland
explained the program for the day, the
gathering visited the experimental
plots. There are several series of plots,
including the fertilizer plots established
in 1905. Other more recent plots include variety and strain tests, fertilizer experiments, seed production tests,
etc. These are all very interesting and
should be visited by many.
Following lunch, a greenkeepers'
meeting and f o r u m was held, with Director B. E. Gilbert as chairman. The
principal speaker was Prof. Lawrence
S. Dickinson of the Massachusetts
Agricultural College. Prof. Dickinson
pointed out that greenkeepers often do
not realize what they are operating—
"a f a c t o r y " — a big investment with
small personnel. The chances of error
are much greater because of the small
personnel, and unfortunately the error
doesn't show up immediately usually,
and because of this, it takes time to
correct errors. Possibly some greenkeepers are trying too hard to produce
good turf, overlooking many little
things for good greens. Real problem
is not only to produce good turf, but

TORG NEWS
The Toro Manufacturing Co. at
Minneapolis prints and mails to every
man owning TORO Equipment a
small magazine every sixty days.
Every man likes to see his name
in print and his picture in the
columns. We offer to each of you an
opportunity of both. Simply send to
us one or many snap shots of your
equipment, your favorite pose with a
few words as comment and we will
rush it to them for the August issue.
If you do not receive your copy
regularly, please advise us at once.
It is free for the asking.

New England Toro Co.
247 Newtonville Ave.
Newton, Mass.

WORTHINGTON
MOWER
COMPANY
STROUDSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA

Your

NEW ENGLAND
Representative—-

E. R. SAWTELLE
ONE STATE STREET
BOSTON
Telephone Hubbard 2424

LAWN MOWERS

Fairway Quint or Trio for fairways
and roug'ii. Super Roller and New
Aristocrat for greens.

JOHN J. NYHAN
Distributor
122 Cypress St., Brookiine, Mass.
Pennsylvania Lawn Mower Works
Established 1877
Philadelphia

1 000

GOLF COURSES
SOW

SCOTT'S SEEDS
Write for quotations

O. Ms Scott & Sons
Company
MARYSVILLE, OHIO

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A elub of the Boston district has
had great success and no Brown-patch
from using ten pounds of Nitrophoska with a hundred pounds of
Milorganite, as the monthly topdressing. On greens where sulphate was
used there was plenty of Brownpatch.
A fine little leaflet is being issued
by the Mallinckrodt Chemical Work,
St. Louis, on Brown-patch.

"Dow's Fertilizers"

We are manufacturers of Bone
Meal, Tankage and Mixed Fertilizer
of the highest quality. We carry all
the standard formulae. Special
formulae made upon request. May
we figure with you?

John C. Dow Company
121 Beverly St., Boston, Mass.

JACOBSEN
Power Lawn Mowers
Power Putting Green Mowers
Power Mowers for Tees and
Approaches with Attachment for Spiking Greens
Handled by Dealers Located
Throughout New England
JACOBSEN
MANUFACTURING CO.
507 West 56th Street
New York City

HOVEY & CO.
Specialists In

GOLF COURSE GRASSES
AND EQUIPMENT
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Lark - Pelican
Double Rotary
Emerald Cord Rubber Hose
Sulphate of Ammonia (Koppers)
V. C. Fairway Fertilizer
Fancy Recleaned Grasses
Worthington Mowers
MacAndrews Green Seeder
When in the city visit our
showrooms in the shadow
of the Custom House.
150 MILK ST., BOSTON, MASS.
Tel. HANcock 1454 - 1455

ESPOMA
(Brand)

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Ideal complete organic fertilizer
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Peat content helps to hold moisture.
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55 DEARBORN STREET
SALEM, MASS.
Tel. Salem 2317

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also happiness and pleasure. Must work
with nature, not against nature. All
grasses mature and then drift along and
dry up for the winter. If we postpone
maturity we are helping the golf course
f o r the time being, but we must watch
out for the future. Prof. Dickinson advised not to seed on thick turf, as the
seed may germinate, but will probably
not live. On poor soil seed alone will
not work, it needs fertilizer also.
Mr. A. N. Peckham, who is the largest grower of bent grass seed in the
East, told of his experiences as a farmer growing bent grass seed.
Following the forum there were
demonstrations of golf course machinery
and equipment by several dealers,
among whom were Woodworth Bradley,
Edward Lohr of the N. E. Tor© Co. and
John Nyhan.
Mr. Peckham led a trip to a few of
his fields where he produces bent seed.
Nursery rows of stolons of several
strains were seen, and a large field of
Velvet bent was of especial interest.
A trip to the partially completed
Bonnet Shores Golf Course under
leadership of Mr. Woodworth Bradley
completed the day's program.
The officials of the R. I. Experiment
Station should be complimented upon
their first Field Day and its interesting
program.

greens to start the next nine holes, but
the fire has prevented new work so f a r ;
but, I still hope to do some seeding this
year, and will do so if nothing else happens.
ROLAND F. ROBINSON,
Cranston Country Club.

AN APPRECIATION

The June meeting was held at the
Unicorn Country Club, Stoneham, Mass.,
on June 2. At a business meeting following lunch, a joint meeting of the
club and the Connecticut Greenkeepers
Association was discussed.
Committees were appointed to confer and cooperate with the Mass. Experiment Station, and with the R. I.
Experiment Station. The Massachusetts
committee is James McCormack, Chr.,
T. W. Swanson and Charles Parker; the
Rhode Island committee, R. Wallace
Peckham, Chr., Thomas Galvin and
James Lawson.
At the tournament held in the afternoon, prizes were won by:
Low gross, Jim McCormack, gross of
80; largest gross, Charles Parker, Belmont, 119; 2nd largest gross, M. Burnett, Albemarle, 118; Guest prize, T.
Howe, Tatnuc-k; 1st low net, John McDonough, Salem, 103, 35, 68; 2nd low
net, E. B. Lord, Southbridge, 105, 32,
73; 3rd low net, H. J. Moran, 93, 18,
75; 4th low net, Paul Wanberg, Weston,
105, 30, 75.

On Sunday, May 4, 1930, the Cranston Country Club suffered a loss by fire
of the Professional's shop, locker room,
repair shop, tool house, barn, and a
full line of tools and machinery used
f o r golf course work. This was a handicap hard to explain. However, realizing that work must be done as usual,
I went to work taking an inventory of
tools destroyed. I put in an order to
the New England Toro Company three
hours after the fire, and the next day
at five o'clock I was pleased to see nearly the full order delivered by the Providence Toro representative, Mr. Edward
Lohr. As usual we were ready to mow
greens and fairways on time. I feel
very grateful to the New England Toro
Company, its manager, Mr. Clapper,
and Mr. Lohr, who spared no expense
to help us in our great emergency. Our
new building is now nearing completion, and we are in hopes of moving in
very soon. I wanted to put in some new

ANNUAL LAWN DAY AT M. A. C.
Will you be among the hundreds present at the Annual Lawn Day at the
Massachusetts Agricultural College on
July 31? Keep the date in mind!
The program follows:
Meetings held in French Hall, Room F
Thursday, Juiy 31, 1930
9:30 a . m . — " T h e Lawn Mower"
Lawrence S. Dickinson
10:30 a . m . — " T h e Lawn, From
Foundation to T u r f "
Lawrence S. Dickinson
11:30 a.m.—Discussion period on
Typical Lawn Troubles
12:15 p.m.—Luncheon at the College
Dining Hall (Cafeteria)
1:30 p. m.—"Lawn Fertilizers"
Howard B. Sprague, New Jersey
State Agricultural College
3:00 p. m.—Inspection of Turf Plots
4:15 p. m.—Livestock Parade
JUNE MEETING

New Reduced Prices for

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Car Lots
$35.00 per ton
Ton lots
$40.00 per ton
Less Quantity
$2.50 per 100 lbs.
all prices F.O.B. Boston, Mass.
f

"QUALITY"

LAWNS, GOLF and
Materials

Grass
Seeds

Fertilizers
Manures

At these low prices no golf course
should be without this wonderful
fertilizer.

COLLOIDAL PHOSPHATE
SALES COMPANY OF
NEW ENGLAND
126 Newbury St.

Boston, Mass.

Chemicals

Fungicides
Mowers
60 CONGRESS STREET
BOSTON, MASS.
Telephone Liberty 6021

JACOBSEN
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for
GREENS,
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APPROACHES

Diamond E Brand Seed

Catalog mailed on request.

Distributors of
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20 Lewis Wharf
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Sa H i i s a i s i a H S H m
ma

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THE MARCH OF PROGRESS

Three years ago—the firm of Woodworth Bradley
was a toddling tot in the Business World of Golf.
Today—a young giant—The Largest Golf Course
Construction and Supply House in New England.
Our Success has been due on our side to Honest
Work in the Construction field, and Honest Merchandise
in the Supply field.
FAIR PRICES AND SERVICE
Our Success has been due to the Greenkeepers and
Club Chairmen whom we have been pleased to serve.
Also our competitors have been fair to us and we
in turn to them.
To those of you who are not our customers—
We Solicite Your Business.
KEEP NEW ENGLAND BUSINESS IN NEW ENGLAND

worth
1
8

SEEDSMAN

.
136 So, Water St., Providence,
R, L
P. O. BOX 1534—PHONE GASPEE 9789
Fwn-wJ-hiraor for
fr>,v the
thf=> Golf
finlf C
otis-se
Everything
Course

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