New Jersey Golf Course Report Vol. II, No. 4 August, 1969 Notes on New Ryegrasses Norlea Norlea perennial ryegrass was devel- oped by R. M. MacVicar at the Central Experiment Farm in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was superior to common per- ennial ryegrass in tests in this state in the following characteristics: 1. Greater winter hardiness and better resistance to pink snow mold. 2. Slower vertical growth requiring somewhat less mowing frequency. 3. A more attractive, dark, rich green color in fall and spring. 4. Slightly easier to cut. 5. Less competitive to bluegrass seed- lings when used as a companion grass. 6. Less persistent as a companion grass with Kentucky bluegrass. 7. More attractive and compatible in mixtures with bluegrass. Manhattan Manhattan perennial ryegrass was re- leased by the New Jersey Agricultural Experimental Station in August 1967. It is a leafy, persistent, fine-textured rye- grass with greater density and a slower rate of vertical growth. Manhattan has an attractive, rich dark green color. NK 100 Developed by Northup-King and Com- pany and released in 1962. It originated from germplasm obtained from a Wales selection S-23 and Oregon perennial rye- grass with selection for persistence, leafy growth habit, turf quality, and attractive bright, medium dark color. Pelo Developed by D. J. vander Have in the Netherlands. It was released in the TURF PRODUCTS COMPANY HILL DALE ROAD PINE BROOK, N. J. 201-227-1581 Chet Huey United States in 1964 by Northup-King and Company. This variety was evalu- ated as N-106 or NK-106 and was some- what superior to NK-100 in New Jersey. Pelo is more resistant to Fusarium snow mold and has a bright, moderately green color. It is leafy, attractive, fairly winter hardy, persistant, and is reported to have good tolerance to rust. Dr. C. Reed Funk Makes You Wonder, Doesn't It? Reprinted courtesy, MONSANTO —via Bill Smart’s Fore-Ground Hudson Valley GCSA. The payroll deduction for your Social Security has been increased starting Jan- uary 1, 1967, to 4.4% based on earnings up to $6,600. Since Monsanto makes an equal contribution to your Social Secur- ity, the company’s payment will also in- crease on that date. In 1966, you paid 4.2% on $6,600, or a total of $277.20 to the Social Security fund. In 1967, with the .2% increase, you will pay $290.40 into the fund. If you make $6,600, or more a year, you and company put in $580.80 each year as a total. Let’s explore this payment a little further. Suppose you just started work here and your age was 21, and suppose you work until you are 65. If there were no more increases in Social Security payments, that would mean total contributions by you and the company of $25,555.20 during the 44 years of your employment. If the contributions were placed in a trust fund accruing 4% interest per year, the interest over 44 years would amount to approximately $22,500. That means at age 65 you would have at least $48,055 in your account. With that money in the bank drawing interest at 4%, you would withdraw $160 per month for the rest of your life in interest alone and never touch the principal. If you chose to spend all you had ac- cumulated in your account, you would draw about $560 a month for 10 years before you ran out of funds, and in ad- dition you could work and earn as much as you pleased without losing this in- come! The maximum amount payable now under Social Security is between $124.00 and $135.90 a month. Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Big Brother Watches by Don Marshall Noticed recently how much harder it is to just plain do your job in the pres- ence of “Big Brother”—your town, coun- ty, state, or federal agency? For example: don’t burn anything—air pollution; don’t, however, pile anything—health regula- tions; don’t spray bugs—toxic residuals; don’t hire anyone under 18—Child Labor Laws; don’t water when needed—water restrictions; don’t pay time for hours not actually worked—Federal Wage & Hour Laws; ground all plugs, mask all spray- men, pay all men only their set rate, all supervisors are to do only 20% manual labor, turn off power on hot days, kill noxious weeds—but not with chemicals or fire. Obviously, all of the above are well meant somewhere in their derivation. However, it is the alls’, anyones’, and onlys’, that begin to hurt. Almost all of of the above legislation has been passed to control metropolitan industrial growth with a sense of order, however, some, such as the air pollution code, have been passed without even researching alterna- tive methods before enactment. Yet, here we sit attempting to run an essentially agricultural business in a city. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to pass that “There ain’t no way”. Al Rathjens 1912-1969 It was obvious that he considered it a rare privilege to be responsible for a small portion of this earth; and just as evident that he intended to leave it better than he found it. His success was apparent, and his personality offered all a share in it. Turf Clippings The Second Annual Supt. Picnic was very much a repeat of the First event: a good time was had by all attendees and the weather was much improved. Sev- enty-five adults were present out of our guarantee of one hundred. Last year the story was the weather and excuses abounded; this year it’s plain apathy and very silent. As mentioned elsewhere the weather lately has been something out of science fiction. Red Williams swears he’s got Brown Patch growing in the club parking lot. Art Elmers has again spent a busy summer attempting to retain his title as the only man to water in water. Fungi- cides are moving like they’s just been in- vented, and the “bargain prices” of previ- ous years are beginning to dry up. Clos- ing of courses has been commonplace under the extremes of wet conditions, and golf car chairman have called Supts’. every name they can muster. Joe Flaherty, Jr. and Bob Kapherr have been attempt- ing to burn off some fairways only to find that in this weather, at least, there’s a hell of a lot that Poa can survive. At best the general weather conditions have been receiving adequate media coverage, something that oftentimes is omitted, putting the long suffering Super in the position of explaining to the members of the “air conditioner syndrome” exactly what it’s been like outside. Montclair G.C. and Echo Lake C.C. have the unhappy fact in common that both were robbed within 48 hours of each other. Echo Lake had its safes cleaned out, but Montclair took the un- orthodox claim. Don Marshall’s Cony truck was stolen right out of his home driveway. Now as far as being obvious is concerned they might just as well have stolen that “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” vehicle, but when it was recovered later at the 40th in N.Y.C. all that was missing was the two-way radio and tools. If you’ve never reclaimed a vehicle from one of the N.Y.C. Auto Pounds, your life is not complete. Sure could have used those two cases of Benlate I ordered last fall! Pete Pedrazzi is starting a new main- tenance building in the near future. Jim McNally and Ray Hansen are both nearly done with their automatic system con- versions. Gary Player was lucky enough to have his picture taken with Jack Martin at a recent exhibition at Subur- ban. Copies available at 50¢ while they last. Howard Anen at Rock Spring and Joe Flaherty at Baltusrol both hope to be underway with automatic systems soon. As has been reported many other places, the Penn State Turf Field Days are off this year. That Instant Shade outfit seems to be doing quite a business in rapid trans- formation of insipid golf holes. Talk about making an impression with the Members, just try throwing a sudden 6 inch, 35 foot oak in the path of Joe Smith, who has always played the sixth to the right! One thing to watch for is those trees that look so great out in the woods don’t always pan out that way when they have to stand alone. Applications are now being accepted for the position of Educational Director with the National Association. They hope to reach a decision by October 1. The article on Karl Ostberg’s drainage work at Upper Montclair appears in the latest national issue of Soil Conservation. Report to the Chairman July 1969 Dear Mr. Chairman: In general, all things considered, and taken as a whole, I guess you’d have to say that we haven’t had the month we might have wished we could have had, if of course we could control those things. Actually, it was bad. I guess you could say it started with the rain, and if it ever stops, I think we can say it ended there. We had 6.32 inches in the last ten days of the month, preceded by 4.57 inches in the first twenty. Sir, I know you don’t believe it, but it was wet out there! Yes, we did cancel ladies golf for an entire week, which I realize is an unheard of practice; but really Sir, don’t they have something to catch up on sometime? As I think you discovered when you walked in on the card game in the shop, we were unable to put in the man hours this past month that we certainly would have liked to. I, for one, am at a com- plete loss without my July night watering seven nights a week. In fact, we had two of our more diligent workers quit because our slightly shortened schedule just happened to come out to less per week than Unemployment. If you have looked at the financial statement, I’m sure you noticed that disease has been a problem. The fact that we spent all of this year’s fungicide budget and half of next year’s all in one month must mean something! If I told you we lost 10 applications to immediate thundershowers, I’m sure you would be discouraged. What I really shouldn’t tell you is that from the 20 applications we put on, we didn’t get much control any- way. Perhaps it is true that these new fungicides really do depend on a change in the weather as you know I have al- ways maintained. It is possible that by the middle of next month we will be able to cut the fairways, although I’m not quite sure with what. Those members, who have complained that their handicaps have tripled on 4" fairways should certainly remember that it’s only a game. It was thoughtful of the golf chairman to send out that letter suggesting that they play neighboring clubs. Certainly saved wear and tear here, and it’s funny how those black clouds seemed to only be above us. We have been promised that those fancy new greensmowers we bought for $6000 this spring will be working prop- erly by this fall. The fact that we are losing $300 to $500 per week not using them has been taken into consideration by the manufacturer, and the resulting letters and telephone calls are lengthy enough to seem sincere. I should have informed you before you took your course inspection trip last week and got stuck that our roads were all washed out. If you had driven on a number of the fairways you would have discovered an excellent gravel base from what used to be the roads. Once again, I think a properly placed word on your part to certain Board Members to the effect that the roads are increasing their acreage in the absence of pavement would be acceptable. We are certainly thankful for Mr. Looney’s donation of four wheelbarrows. We sure were sorry about the error we made in regard to the Member-Guest at the end of the month. We thought it was great that they played anyway, even though we thought the course should have been closed. But the thing that most amazed us was the way the Presi- dent found a way for the golf cars to get through over our protests that it couldn’t be done without damage. It’s only a small shame that he allowed them out without letting them know the route that would accomplish this feat. We are sure, however, that with continued practice under these same conditions they are bound to make it. Apologies are due the Club for my lack of service at the practice area last Saturday. It’s just that we were in the middle of entertaining some former col- lege classmates of mine, all as successful as I am in their fields—Wall Street and chemicals; and I just didn’t feel it would be proper to leave to pick up the balls. As you know I left the hospital while my wife was in labor early in the month, just to make sure the dispensing machine was functioning properly. Why does the Pro shy away from this opportunity for distinction and heroics? Well Sir, that’s about it. Sure was sorry to hear the Manager was stung by a bee from that nest near the porch you told us about in June. We’ll get to it just as soon as conditions are right. Peter Poa, Supt. Ed. Note: The above is intended as pure humor. Any comparison with persons living or dead is possible, hut not inten- tional, or advised.