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. Pleasant St., Fall Paver, Mass.

H O W A R D D. F A R R A N T Business Mgr.
132 Russfert Rd., West Roxbury, Masi^'r
February, 1933
FEBRUARY

Vol. 5, No. 2
MEETING

The February meeting was held at
the Statler Hotel, Boston, on Feb. 6th,
Mr. Henri D. Haskins, Fertilizer Control Chemist at the Massachusetts Experiment Station spoke on "Fertilizers
for Golf Courses". Mr. Haskins pointed
out that in any study of fertilizer for
any vegetation, a study of the soil
types was first necessary, as a soil well
suited to the growing habit of a plant
lessens the problem.
The
greatest
problems are cases where the soils are
unfitted mechanically, and certain soil
constituents such as silt or clay may be
wanting, and must be replaced, or
organic matter substituted.
A soil to be desired should possess
good water holding properties, with
available plant food, and enough organic
matter. There is often the problem of
too much water, or the lack of drainage.
After suitable tile has been installed,
capillary attraction will usually supply
these areas with sufficient water. The
use of lime should receive more attention on the golf course.
Soluble iron and aluminum compounds
have been found to be toxic to clover
roots.
These compounds may become
toxic even to bent and fescues if concentrated enough.
Altho the tolerance for soil acidity
of certain grasses has been stressed,
the fact that most plants are more or
less tolerant of a wide range of soil reaction should not be forgotten.
Many of the plants of the Grass
family are very susceptible to soluble
iron and aluminum compounds. Soluble
phosphoric acid compounds will render
such toxic compounds insoluble, and
they are then unable to exert their toxic
effect.
The soil of any green with a pH between 4 and 5 should be limed, preferably with limestone of a dolomitic

nature. A soil too acid is not best for
the bacteria which are so important in
the establishment and maintenance of
soil fertility, and does not respond to
treatment so well. Ammonium sulphate
acts best as a source of nitrog'en when
used on soils containing a liberal amount
of carbonate of lime.
A soil is very much handicapped if
it does not contain a liberal amount of
organic matter with which to feed its
bacteria.
In considering fertilizer, it may be
best to review some of the functions, of
the various plant food elements. Nitrogen stimulates leaf and stem development. An excessive amount is apt to delay fruit and seed formation. I t is quite
possible that too much nitrogen with too
little of the other plant food elements
will produce a plant weakened in its
ability to withstand disease organisms
and the various unfavorable changes
that are common to our seasons.
Phosphoric acid promotes maturity
and is essential to seeds. Potash is essential to the formation of sugar and
starches in wood development. The
leaves and stems of plants contain much
potash. Calcium is necessary in normal
leaf development, and it neutralizes
acids in plant juices. Magnesium promotes the formation of chorophyl in
plants.
The recent trend in fertilizer grades
has been toward fertilizer grades of
much higher analysis than formerly,
often with forty to sixty per cent of
available plant food. These concentrated
fertilizers have given good results when
used intelligently.
The rare plant food elements are of
importance, and the continual use of
concentrated fertilizers might cause a
deficiency of these elements. Many of
the fertilizers and manures used in the
past have contributed these elements.
Recent investigations have shown that
certain of these rare plant food elements
have had a decided influence in plant
growth. It may be necessary in time to
use in our fertilizer mixtures those of
the rare elements which we find are
necessary and depleted from our soil.
As every soil is a problem, no one
fertilizer or grade of mixed fertilizer
can give the same results under all
cases. The fertilizer should be selected
with the aim of securing a uniform and
vigorous growth to keep the plants
healthy and also to discourage weeds.
A complete fertilizer will probably be
desired at least once during the year.
There are many mixtures which would

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give general satisfaction. An effective
and economical mixture with an analysis
of 7-5.7-2.5 would consist of 880 pounds
of cottonseed meal, 400 pounds of ammonium sulphate, 640 pounds of 16%
superphosphate and 80
pounds
of
muriate of potash. Cottonseed meal is
low, but some urea, tankage, fish,
castor pomace, processed ammoniates or
milorganite could be substituted.
I n mixing fertilizers it should be remembered that nitrate of soda, nitrate
of lime, nitrate of potash, basic slag
phosphate, wood ashes, cotton
hull
ashes, and carbonate of potash all contribute to an alkaline soil, while sulphate and chloride of ammonia and
urea tend to make a soil more acid.
Remember that good drainage, maintenance of a proper soil reaction, the
use of enough org-anic matter, are as
essential in a successful system of soil
management as is the selection of proper
fertilizers.
A list of unmixed fertilizer materials
that are best suited for golf greens
with some data is appended.
RHODE

ISLAND

SHORT

COURSE

Probably one of the most enthusiastic
groups that ever was on the campus of
the Rhode Island State College was the
groun of greenkeepers that attended
the first Short Course for Greenkeepers
held from January 30 to February 3 inclusive. Held largely as an experiment,
the Course proved conclusively that the
College and Experiment Station had information of great value to the greenkeepers attending, and this first Course
should be only the start of many more
annual courses to come.
Much of the value of this Course was
due to the informality, in that there was
much discussion along all of the lines
presented. A visit to the turf plots
proved of interest. We were also pleased
to have Professor Dickinson of Mass.
State College and some thirty of his
classes with us on Thursday. We were
pleased to note the very fine spirit of
fellowship and the very earnest desire
to help which characterized all of the
faculty who lectured.
As the program was printed in the
December N E W S L E T T E R , we will not
take the space to reprint it, but will
give you in this issue and future issues
some of the interesting lectures which
were presented.
Director Gilbert spoke on Monday
morning on "The State Survey of Golf

Courses", and pointed out that the
number of courses had increased in the
last five years from 22 to 40. There are
less of the rougher grasses used now
than in 1927. More clubs have nurseries.
Practically all courses now have water
at the greens, but in 1927 only 13 out of
22 had water. There have been very
little changes in the fertilizer practices
used in the last five years, but the use
of lime is more prominent now.
I t is
possible to use too much sulphate of
ammonia and get the soil too acid. New
materials are used for the control of
brown-patch now.
We have learned
more in the last few years in disease
resistance.
Prof. Lawrence Dickinson brought
out several reasons why the greenkeeper should keep costs:
1. Because he is maintaining a
factory.
2. To maintain a balance between
budget and maintaining standard.
3. To know definitely if management
operations are apparently or truthfully efficient.
4. To understand and
anticipate
hidden costs.
5. To know distribution of total cost.
6. For estimating cost of course
alterations and new construction.
7. Cost records will keep you on the
budget; budgets are fine if commonsense is used.
8. Cost keeping is the first step
towards an independent grounds' account.
9. It is a defensive power for the
greenkeeper.
10. It can be used as a ward against
efficiency experts. Time is not saved unless used.
11. To make greenkeeper more valuable to club.
12. We can use cost accounting as an
offensive force as advancement
Professor Dickinson showed that the
average 18 hole golf course divided
their labor dollar as follows: 6 cents for
tees, 37 cents for greens, 12 cents for
fairways, 24 cents for miscellaneous
work, 7 cents for new construction, 8
cents for traps, and 6 cents for rough.
On Friday morning, Mr. Lester E.
Erwin gave an interesting talk on the
"Causes or Plant Diseases". Mr. Erwin
spoke of the history of Plant Pathology.
Some people still believe that disease is
caused by the weather ; it is rather a
specific organism.
Plant Pathology is
young, only a little over fifty years.
Plants are as susceptible to disease as

^v

A

animals, even more so possibly.
Diseases are classified according to
cause:
Parasitic, (most diseases are caused
by micro-organisms, these are unable to
make their own food, therefore are
parasitic).
Various kinds, such as animal, insect,
true parasitic, slime molds, bacteria
diseases, true fungi, water molds, sac
fungi, stalk fungi, imperfects.
Non-parasitic, caused by some physical agent, or cultural practice, (malnutrition) ,
environmental
conditions,
poisons, plants living on trees as mistletoe.
Factors which influence plant diseases are Temperature, soil and air;
moisture; humidity; soil acidity; and
soil fertility. Control of plant disease is
through cultural methods, chemicals,
and resistant varieties.
ANNOUNCEMENT
GOLF
Mass.

Stale

OF

Amherst,

Mass.

The exhibit will be strictly educational
in character. Modern appliances including three types of power gang
greens mowers will be displayed.
The usual popular Forum will be included every evening. A strong prog'ram
of speakers, including many from outside the College, is being arranged, details of which will be announced later,
Every person in the golf field will
find many things of interest.
The members of the Class of '33 feel
it a privilege to invite all the members
of the organization and their friends
who may be interested.
Greenkeeper with seven years' experience, thirty years working on turf,
would appreciate hearing of club needing experienced man. Address
XYZ,
% Newsletter.
IMPORTANT

NOTICE

We take pleasure in announcing the
appointment of Mr. Howard Farrant as
Business Manager of
the
NEWSL E T T E R . Mr. Burnett who has carried
cn in this position so faithfully for over
three years has been forced to resign,
Call

at

C O N T R O L O F W E E D S IN TURF
by Dr. T. E. Odland
The weed problem is one of the most
important ones with which the greenkeeper has to contend. W e may divide
the recommendations for control into
two classes—prevention and cure.
Weed

By the Class of '33 Greenskeepers Winter School to be held at Stockbridge
Hall March 11th and 12th.

ri^

Every member should plan to be
present with his green chairman at the
combined meeting of the Massachusetts
Golf Association and the Greenkeepers
Club at Braeburn on Feb. 27th.

THE

SHOW

College,

due to his distance from Boston.
We
feel that the club owes Mr. Burnett a
great debt for his fine work. W e ask for
Mr. Farrant the same cooperation
which our members and advertisers
gave Mr. Burnett.

Greenkeepers

Club

Prevention

Needless to say we should try to keep
from introducing weed seeds when
building greens or in applying fertilizer
or compost later on.
The use of fresh
manure is one of the chief sources of
weed infestation on lawns and other
turf. Many weed seeds will pass through
an animal without having its germination lessened in the least.
The use of soil for composts which
has been taken from weed infested land
is another source of weeds in fine turf.
Where it is possible to build a soil
sterilizer this will usually prove a good
investment on the golf course.
Getting

Rid
Golf

of

Weeds

on

the

Course

Hand weeding is the final resort
when everything else has been tried.
Certain special fertilizer mixtures
may be used. The use of sulphate of
ammonia as a nitrogen carrier has in
most cases proved a better weed control
method than the use of nitrate of soda.
Tests at this station as well as at a
number of other stations, especially in
England, indicate that this ability to
control weeds is due as much to something in the material itself as it is to
the effect it has in making the soil
more acid.
Sulphate of iron has also
been found effective against different
weeds especially by English workers.
The mixture chiefly used has been 3
pounds of sulphate of ammonia and 1
nound of sulphate of iron to 1000 square
feet of turf.
booth

at

Amherst

Show.

Lead arsenate has been found effective against chickweed in a number of
experiments. Used at the rate of 30
pounds per 1000 square feet at this
station when the land was plowed it has
kept earthworms out of the plats almost free of chickweed. As a top dressing about 5 pounds per 1,000 square
feet should be used.
The Ohio Station Bi-monthly Bulletin, December, 1929, reports that 1 to
2 ounces of sodium chlorate in a gallon
of water has controlled ground ivy and
speedwell.
Chlorates usually kill all
plants unless very carefully applied.
Other commercial weed killers such as
Herbicide, Atlaside, Weedex, etc. are
often very useful when it is desired to
kill all plant growth including grass
and weeds.
Classification

of

Weeds

Annuals: Weeds that start from seed,
produce a crop of seed and then die the
same year. Examples are—crabg'rass,
chickweed, poa annua.
Biennials: Weeds that require two
years to complete the life cycle.
Examples are—burdock, some plantains,
and thistles.
Perrennials: Weeds that spread both
by seeds and roots. They live over from
year to year.
Examples—dandelion,
some plantains, and quack grass.
Most

Troublesome

Weeds

The Green Section under date of
J a n u a r y 17, 1933, sent out a summary
of a survey made of the worst turf
weeds in the United States. In returns
from 39 states the following list of
worst weeds was made up:
Lawns—Dandelion, Crabgrass, Plantains, Chickweeds, Rumex spp.
Pastures—Thistles, Plantains, Dandelion, Plantains, White Clover.
Putting greens—Crabgrass,
Chickweeds, Dandelion,
Plantains,
White
Clover.
Fairways—Dandelion, C r a b g r a s s ,
Plantains, Chickweeds, Rumex spp.
Roughs—Dandelion,
Thistles, Plantains, Ragweeds, Rumex spp.
For Rhode Island conditions, we
might add on lawns, Yarrow, HealAll ; for putting greens, Pearlwort,.
Knotweed; Yarrow, and Poa annua; for
fairways, Heal-All; and for Rough,
Yarrow and Heal-All.
SOIL ACIDITY
1
By L. A. Keegan
There is no simple explanation of
what soil acidity is. I t is a very complex
problem varying with all sorts of con-

ditions. I n this humid section of the
country nearly all soils are sour or acid
unless they have had some sort of treatment. The heavy annual pereipitation
which we have in the East, from 40 to
45 inches of rain per year, washes out
the materials which make a soil sweet.
This means then t h a t they must be constantly replenished in the form of limes,
seaweed, poultry manure or other calcium containing mixtures.
Soil acidity keeps some plants from
growing at all, others are not affected
by the acidity so much but all may be
effected when the acidity becomes so
great that it keeps plant food from becoming available to the plants.
When
a soil gets to be very sour it holds back
and retards the plant from getting full
value from fertilizers.
W h a t is the difference between very
acid, acid and sweet?
Acidity is
measured in pH which may be compared
to degrees F. on a thermometer. The
zero point may be taken as pH. 7.0. A t
this paint a soil is neither acid nor alkaline, it is neutral. Points above pH. 7.0
such as 7.1 or 8.0 are alkaline. Points
below p H 7.0, and this is where we find
most soils, are acid or sour. There is
one difference between this scale and
the thermometer scale. Starting at 7.0
and going either way the divisions to
each point below
(or above) g-o in
multiples of 10. That is if there are 10
divisions from 7.0 to 6.0 there are 100
divisions from 6.0 to 5.0 and 1000 from
5.0 to 4.0.
This shows quite clearly why a soil
may still be sour but much more
strongly sour in one case than in another. Also why it takes a lot of lime
to raise a soil from 5 to 6, but very
little to keep it there.
This pH is
measured in a variety of ways, the most
accurate being by means of a delicate
electrical apparatus. For field and gen*
era! use indicators are used. These are
delicate dyes which change color for
different degrees of acidity and when
used properly will give a value close
enough for field use.
For instance, one indicater readily
purchased by any one has color changes
as follows:—As it comes it is a greenish
liquid. Applied to a soil it changes to a
wine red for a p H of 4, to orange for a
p H of 5.0, yellow for pH 6.0, green for
a pH of 7.0, and blue for pH 8.0. W i t h
use fractions between can be distinguished as for instance yellowish green
or greenish yellow.

Don't

Starve

the

Grass

FERTILIZE a n d ECONOMIZE

0 WD E

with
Is c a r r y i n g

LAN - FER

on.

His seeds a r e d e p e n d a b l e .
H e has a l w a y s s e r v e d his

(8-6-2)
Special G o l f Course

A n d w i l l c o n t i n u e to do so.

FERTILIZER

Supplying
Howden

also
Super-Phosphate
Castor

Bone

Pomace

Mea!

Chemicals

and
ARSENATE
write

OF

for

RIVER

NEWTON,

Now

on

the

asks

for

your

If

you

do

not

mailed.

receive

one

please

address:

LEAD

N.

Fertilizers

CHARLES

best.

P r i c e lists n o w b e i n g

HOWDEN

M, F. LANSILL
86

only the
respectfully

support.

prices.

Special

customers

honestly.

S E E D S M A N
18 G l e n h a v e n R d . - T e l . P a r k w a y 3 4 6 7

PKY.

West

Roxbury,

Mass.

MASS.

Market

T h e Q u e e n of all Grasses

uye^V
ELVETV^
l y QA%
Pure - Germ. Q Q %
v-*-»-/

c c9xanp n
tey'
Bstr
" t e n million t o t h e p o u n d "

P R O D U C E S a lush green velvety
t u r f , c o m p a c t , u p r i g h t a n d fine.

1933 Catalogue
We

will

soon

Golf

Equipment,

and

Supply

We

hope

this

before

the

S P R E A D S above and below ground
w i t h vigorous creeping stems.

A

careful

additions
decided
Every

our

annual
Fertilizer

catalogue.

T R U E i n p u r i t y o f species a n d
consistent in color a n d texture.

C O S T S less i n q u a n t i t y r e q u i r e d t o
sow, top-dress a n d w a t e r .

issue

Accessory,

will

be in

end of this
reading

to

our

order

will

line

downward

trend
will

your

hand

month.
show

as

well

in

receive

neiv
as

a

prices.
our

best

S O L D only through reliable
houses in U n i t e d
States
Canada.

seed
and

attention.

G R O W N only and warranted
as a d v e r t i s e d w h e n p a c k e d

pure
by

New England Toro Co.

r-Humus Co. of Newton, N. J.
Write Us for Name of
Nearest Dealer

Inquiries

are also

solicited.

1121 W a s h i n g t o n Street
West'

N'ewton;

Mass.

HOVEY'S

SEED

ATTENTION ! !
Mr. Greenskeeper:
S

Watch for our supplementary list to
our complete catalogue, listing price

E

changes and present market prices on

Q
U

European and Domestic Grasses, Fer-

R
V
I

tilizers, Fungicides, etc.

A

When thinking of your Golf Course Re-

L
Î

quirements, think of

HOVEY'S

T

c

E

ila&vey & C o m p a n y
E v e r y t h i n g in Course
Est.

Equipment

1834

150 M I L K ST., B O S T O N ,
Tel. H a n c o c k

MASS.

14,54- 1 4 5 5

Complete Catalog Mailed O n Request

ALWAYS

DEPENDABLE

Y