This NEWSLETTER is published
monthly by the Greenkeepers Club of
New England, and sent free to its members and their Greens' Chairmen. Subscription price ten cents a copy, or a
dollar a year.
GUY C. WEST
Editor
312 Mt. P l e a s a n t St., Pall River, Mass.

MARSTON BURNETT . . Business Mgr.
W y a n t e n u c k G. C., G r e a t B a r r i n g t o n , Mass.

December, 1932

Vol. 4, No. 12

We are pleased to have this opportunity to wish each and every one of
our readers a very Merry Christmas,
and a Happy and Satisfactory New Year
to come.
All of us can do our share to help
this country of ours "come back" by
shopping at home, buying American
products. Where all other things are
equal, why not keep our money in New
England, and trade with the dealers who
pay the taxes here, and help to keep our
local institutions living. But, above all,
keep American dollars in America.
There is a circle to all this matter of
economics which hits us all. We are
all interested in golf and golf courses.
Golf, being a sport, and something of a
luxury as played by the member of a
private club, can only flourish when
there is Prosperity. There can be no
Prosperity while there is Poverty.
There can be no Prosperity while there
is much Unemployment. There can be
no real Prosperity while this present
era of low wages, and wage cuts, and
price cuts, continue. There can be no
real Prosperity until the farmer who
raises the raw product, the manufacturer
who makes something of it, and the
dealer who sells it, all can make a profit.
The dealer only can sell when there
is a demand for his product, there will
only be a demand when the prospective
customer has the means to buy the
product, and the prospective customer

only will have the means as wages and
salaries are raised, not lowered. What
is vital to Prosperity is vital to us, as
with Prosperity assured, our tasks will
be easier, our jobs will be safer, and
our salaries more adequate.
There are ways and means by which
we all can help to bring back Prosperity. By buying American goods, goods
made in the good old U. S. A., we can
stimulate business. By paying our bills
promptly we can keep our credit sound,
and help to keep the dealer from borrowing money to keep going. By patronizing those dealers who in the past have
given us service and often credit, we
can help to keep their businesses stable.
We should recognize that cut prices often mean weaknesses, not a volume of
business.
A speaker at a recent meeting uttered this new slogan "Live and HELP
live". Cooperative competition should
be the leading thought among business
men. Price cutting sooner or later
brings down not only the quality of the
merchandise but it takes the bigger
and stronger seller down after the smaller and bargaining seller has fallen. We
as buyers should be cognizant of these
facts.
And so we urge not only that you be
good citizens, that you take an interest
in your government, and reduction of
taxes, but that also you remember these
fundamentals of economics. We ask
the buying of American products, the
keeping of American money here in
America. Certainly the reluctance with
which the debtor nations pay us the vast
sums which they owe us should impress
us with the need of keeping our money
here in our own country.
By keeping our money at home we
help to keep American farms tilled,
American factories running, and American dealers working, we help to bring
along that day when real Prosperity is
with us again, and hence we help Golf
and ourselves.

NEW CONSTRUCTION AT
SACHUEST G. C.
When this golf club was first laid
out the greens were seeded with R. I.
bent. Gradually they were one by one
covered with stolons from an excellent
strain of creeping bent. This bent gave
a very satisfactory putting surface, if
it was topdressed four or five times
during the first months, and kept closely
mowed. Probably it is as immune from
brown-patch as any grass grown for
greens.
However, after visiting the plots at
Rhode Island State College, and playing some of the fine courses around
Boston, I became keen to have at least
one green surfaced with velvet bent
comparable to the eleventh at Braeburn
and those at the home of Kernwood velvet, the Kernwood Country Club, Salem,
Mass. I secured two sods of Kernwood
velvet and now have three generations
and several hundred square feet of sod.
My number seven green was of
freaky construction, a weak imitation
of one at St. Andrews, falling away
from the shot, with only one place for
a cup in 8,000 square feet.
It was heartily disliked by all golfers,
dubs and pros alike. Last year I used
an old discarded tee to build a kind of
formal backstop, that an occasional ball
might stop within putting distance of
the cup. This was a stop gap, not a cure.
This Fall, despite the Depression, I was
able to convince the Committee that a
major operation was necessary, and that
no great expense was involved; and I
was permitted to completely remodel
and resurface the green with velvet bent
after October 1st.
The only excuse for giving details of
reconstruction is that some of the
methods may help some beginners in
using stolons.
We worked the first week constructing a substantial back to the green, a
semi-circle forty yards long, eight feet

high in the center, leaving the front
half of the green in play, for the temporary green which I had constructed
proved none too satisfactory. With a
sod cutter and tractor, two men were
able to remove, roll up, and put aside
about 3500 square feet the first day.
The difficult problem was where to put
the tons of sod with the least possible
handling.
The only impractical thing we had to
do was to sod the back bank before it
had settled, as it was certain to be uneven. The alternative would have been
infinitely worse. Prompt sodding prevented the banks from washing, and the
piled up rolls of sod from disintegrating,
leaving only the putting surface ready
for stolons.
By using a road scraper behind the
tractor we were able to get a true grade
on the putting surface, and pack the
ground so firm that settling was out of
the question.
When first we used stolons, we were
taught to cut them fine, and distribute
evenly over the surface; however, such
a method leaves many places with little
or no roots. It is much better to tear
the stolons apart in as small pieces as
convenient, leaving some root on each
piece, distribute evenly, and roll in so
that the roots unite with the under soil,
and cover with screened loam, if time
permits.
This Fall the rain came down in torrents, no less than five heavy downpours
in three weeks set the stolons even when
not covered at all. Also mild warm
weather prevailed, so the stolons got a
splendid start, and have been topdressed with soil to protect from Winter
frosts. A light covering of seaweed is
a great help to prevent freezing and
thawing during Winter months, where
it is possible to get the seaweed.
In remodeling this green, I have made
it simple, natural, and with every part
visible from where the third shot
should be played in a par five, 545 yard

hole. The fad of contouring the greens
until there is no place to cup has been
grieviously overdone; they are distinctly
painful rather than pleasurable to the
average golfer.
As we did this reconstruction during
the slack season, the extra cost was
very little; we kept the course playable,
and completed the new work in approximately three weeks.
R. Wallace Peckham.
DECEMBER MEETING
The December meeting was held as
a joint meeting with the Rhode Island
Greenkeepers' Asso&iation, at the Narragansett Hotel, Providence, on December 5th. Following luncheon, Lawrence
Hay, as President of the R. I. Association, welcomed the New England Association, and introduced Dean G. E.
Adams of Rhode Island State College.
Dean Adams explained the Short Course
for Greenkeepers to be given this Winter
at the State College. (Program for this
Course is given elsewhere in this issue.)
The enrollment is limited to 24 because
of lack of more laboratory space.
Among the speakers who will be present at part of the course are Dr. Monteith of the Green Section, and Prof.
Dickinson of the Massachusetts State
College. Much of the Course will be
built up around the laboratory.
Professor H. F. A. North, as the
next speaker, told of the work which
had been done on the experimental
plots at the R. I. Experiment Station
this past season. A new experiment has
been started, a comparison of fertilizer
ratios on three varieties of bent kept
at putting green length. A new building has been built to house equipment,
etc. The plots seeded in 1905 showed
no sign of thinning out; roots were just
as deep on acid plots as on alkaline;
accumulation of old roots on acid plots
was more evident; ammonium sulphate

works best in warmer part of season,
nitrate of soda in cooler parts. Other
results noted: On Kentucky Blue, finer
quality and thicker turf comes from
rotted manure compost. Compost has
benefited creeping bent more than R. I.
bent. Arsenate of lead controlled earthworms and chickweed. The seed mix
ture plots showed that Colonial bent
and Kentucky blue are best permanent
grasses, for other conditions red fescue
can be added. For earthworm control
on fairways five pounds of arsenate of
lead per 1000 square feet is recommended. Fescues and bluegrasses are unfitted to close cutting. Plots of No.
14276 velvet from stolons and f r o m
seed show great similarity. Seasonable
damage from sod web worm in velvet
bent showed trace in May, very little
in June, fair attack in July tapering off
in August, heavy attack in September,
tapering off in October. In the new
section, the best fertilizer ratio in covering ground was 10-12-4, used as a preseeding fertilizer.
Dr. T. E. Odland spoke of the experimental work and explained its relation
to the funds which paid for the work.
If more funds were supplied, they could
be used to advantage. Work to be
taken up would be done in cooperation
with the Rhode Island Greenkeepers
Association.
At the business meeting, Roy W.
Elder and Harold C. Durkin were
elected Associate Members.
The next meeting will be the Annual
meeting, with election of officers, reports of officers and committees, and
will be held at the Hotel Statler, Boston, on January 9th. A banquet will
be supplied by the club for members.
Woodworth Bradley and Gerald
Simonetti of Providence have recently
incorporated as Woodworth Bradley,
Inc. with office and store at 156 South
Main Street, Providence, R. I.

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RHODE ISLAND STATE COLLEGE
Kingston, R. I.

WINTER

COURSE FOR GREENKEEPERS
January 30 — February 3, 1933
In response to requests which have been received from individuals and the
Rhode Island Greenkeepers' Club there has been arranged a one-week course of
lectures and laboratory work designed to assist those interested in the development
and maintenance of golf courses in solving the many problems which arise in
this work.
An applicant for this course must be a member of a greens committee, a
greenkeeper or have had experience in the work connected with the care and
management of golf courses.
,
.
No entrance examinations are required. The number oi students is limited
to 24. A registration fee of $3.00 will be required of all attending the_ course.
All lectures and laboratory exercises will be held in Agricultural Hall.
Lunch may be obtained at the college cafeteria.

10:00 - 10:30 A. M.
10-30 - 10:45 A. M.
11-00 - 12:00 M.
1:00 - 3:00 P. M.

10-00 - 11:00 A. M.
11-00- 12:00 M.
1-00 - 3:00 P. M.
10-00 - 11-00

M.

11-00 - 12-00 M.
1-00 - 3-00 P. M.
10-00 - 11:00 A. M.
11-00 - 12-00 M
1:00 - 3:00 P. M.

PROGRAM
MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 1933
Registration. Room 31. Second floor.
Greetings. Room 41. Third floor.
PRESIDENT BRESSLER.
DEAN ADAMS.
The State Survey of Golf Courses.
DIRECTOR B. E. GILBERT.
What Is Soil Acidity? Methods of Testing Soils for Acidity
and Phosphorus.
L. A. KEEGAN.
(Bring samples from your course for testing..!
TUESDAY, JANUARY 31
Grasses Found on the Golf Courses of Rhode Island and
Types and Varieties Used in the Rhode Island Experiments.
¡1. K. A. NORTH.
How Plants Live.
H. W. BROWNING.
Seed Identification and Testing.
H. E. A. NORTH.
L. A. KEEGAN.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1
Soil Types and Their Adaption to Golf Courses.
L. A. KEEGAN.
The Use of Lime Materials on Turf.
T. E. ODLAND.
Fertilizer Mixtures and Composts.
T. E. ODLAND.
L. A. KEEGAN.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2
Control of Weeds in Turf.
T. E. ODLAND.
Insects Injurious to Sod, with Methods of Control.
G. B. DURHAM.
Why Cost Accounts?
PROFESSOR L. S. DICKINSON,
Amherst, Massachusetts.

FRIDAY.. FEBRUARY 3
10:00 - 11:00 A. M. Insects Injurious to Sod, Continued.
G. B. DURHAM.
11:00 - 12:00 M.
Causes of Plant Diseases.
LESTER E. ERWIN.
1:00 - 2:00 P. M. Landscaping of Golf Courses.
DANIEL A. CLARKE,
Proprietor, Red Oaks Nursery, Fiskeville, R. I.
2:00 - 3:00 P. M. Questions and Discussions.
After each lecture there will be a period for group discussion.
As the enrollment must be limited to 24, application for enrollment should be
made at once to G. E. Adams, Dean of Agriculture, R. I. State College, Kingston,
R. I.
OUR HONOR LIST
Our honor list includes those members
who have contributed at least one article to the NEWSLETTER during the
last four years. Is your name on this
list?
Marston Burnett Alex Ohlson
John Counsell
Michael O'Grady
Denis Crowley
Thomas O'Leary
Thomas Fahey
Charles Parker
Howard Farrant William Partridge
James Ferme
Wallace Peckham
Elmer Fuller
Elliot Pierce
Thomas Galvin
Everett Pyle
Martin Greene
Roland Robinson
Edwin Hansen
George Rommell
Lawrence Hay
John Shanahan
Paul Hayden
Daniel Snow
John Latvis
Clifton Sowerby
William Lindsay
Lloyd Stott
Ernest Lord
James Sullivan
M. D. Maxwell
T. W. Swanson
William McBride Patrick Tameo
James McCormack Carlton Treat
Robert Mitchell
Paul Wanberg
Harold Mosher
Guy West
Charles Mullaney Frank Wilson
Robert Mitchell of Kernwood reports
that his course barely escaped serious
damage from the very high tide of the
last of November. The old foundation
stones of the building which burnt at
Kernwood this past Fall have been
used for rip-rap work at the sides of
the fifth and sixth holes. A new embankment has been built at the seventh
green from marsh sod, which was cut
with a Champion sod cutter, with the
kn^fe set to cut as thick as possible, 3
inches.

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The highest grades of Bent Grasses, Fancy Re-cleaned Red Top,
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85 STATE STREET
Boston, Mass.
The old drains on the 11th, 13th, and
14th holes at Braeburn choked up during the storms of the past Fall, and
much work has been done lately getting
them in working condition again. There
will be extensive Winter sports at
Braeburn this year as usual.
Old Adam was a lucky hound, his days
were filled with rest, it is a cinch Eve
never found a blonde hair on his vest.

r

«

Newport Country Club,
Newport, R.I.

I t o l e » ill

h o U P s "

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If you are faced with demands for lower maintenance costs, if
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present equipment, then it will pay you to investigate the
Toro line now, and get the facts and figures ready for the next
meeting of your Board or Committee.

NEW ENGLAND TORO COMPANY
1121 Washington Street
WEST NEWTON, MASS.

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