What Kinds Of Grass Are Best?

Although it may sound incredible, a reliable estimate is that 80 per cent of the lawns in the United States are seeded with the wrong grass. Walk into any garden center, hardware store or supermarket in mid-May (an unfavorable time for lawn seeding, as explained in the next chapter), and you will see counters piled with packages and bags of grass seed. It's the same in Texas or Minnesota, California or Maine. Each package has a label, but all too many shoppers, if they look at the label at all, are merely checking the price. No thought of what is in the package: grass seed is grass seed to them.

It is fortunate, in a way, that most of the seed they buy is Italian or Common Rye, a species which will sprout and grow in midsummer heat. Even though the grass itself is about the poorest thing possible to sow for a quality lawn, and even though it will be killed out the first winter, at least it will produce a quick green cover on the soil— and almost without attention. Such a show of summertime green is better than a smother of weeds hiding a few scraggly grass seedlings, which might have been the product of sowing quality seed for a permanent lawn at that season. But this, of course, refers to an improperly sown and carelessly tended lawn 1

Although Common or Italian Rye grass accounts for about 80 per cent of all the seed sold, this species is not worth the effort of planting, at least for a permanent lawn. There are places, however, where it has value. For example, rye grass is used to good effect for a temporary lawn at international fairs and expositions, where a turf is wanted for only three or four months. That is exactly the kind of lawn common rye grass produces—an annual lawn. Countless lawn-makers have been encouraged to sow rye grass as a soil-building crop; this is a valid use under certain circumstances (as already discussed in Chapter 4).

Even the so-called Perennial Rye is not truly perennial north of the Ohio River. I have seeded this species in tests for eighteen years in northern Illinois. Each spring finds at least 95 per cent of the grass dead. South of the Ohio River this grass may pull through occasionally, but it makes a poor, coarse turf when it does survive. Great things are claimed for a variety called Pacey's Rye, said to be a true perennial. Although I have grown this in tests, I never could distinguish it from ordinary perennial rye. I asked a British seedsman, a big supplier of this variety to the American trade, how he explained this. First looking around furtively, he confessed,

"There is no difference: we merely screen out the smaller seeds from Perennial Rye and call this Pacey's."

In the South, common rye-grass seed is sometimes sown in fall on a dormant, brown turf of Zoysia or similar grasses; this is done to produce a green effect in winter among grasses that are a good green only in warm weather. As a winter lawn, grown by itself, Common Rye grass is not bad, but the effect pf a mottled mixture of green and dead brown is anything but attractive.

I have been calling this annual grass by two names, Italian and Common. Actually, these are the same grass. It was originally called Italian, although very little seed has come from Italy recently. For some reason, after nearly a century during which the name Italian became firmly fixed in the public mind, federal authorities decided that this was deceptive and ruled that the species be called Common Rye grass, thereby confusing everyone. By whatever name it is called, rye grass does not belong in a good lawn.

Three Against Rye Grass

One widely recommended use for common rye grass is for a temporary lawn. Hundreds of thousands of pounds are used for this purpose every spring and summer, usually around new homes that are completed late in the season when the owner feels he cannot plant a permanent grass with any chance of success. I strongly denounce temporary lawns, and especially the use of Common Rye grass, for three reasons. The first is the fact that the roots of Common Rye grass give off a poisonous exudate—a water-soluble acid which, if present in soil, checks the germination of seeds of other grasses. The existence of this toxic substance has been known for centuries. The Bible mentions sowing tares in the field of an enemy to poison his soils. Authorities identify tares as a rye grass called Darnel (botanically, Lolium temulentum).

These poisonous substances were mentioned in lectures in Europe at least thirty years ago. Similar reports have been made in scientific publications on grasses, both in the United States and England. No less an authority than Dr. Fritz Went, a leading plant physiologist, noted the effect without positively identifying the chemical responsible. I heard a paper on this subject at the meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences in August of 19S6.

Fortunately, this acid is water-soluble and can be washed out of the soil. Usually, it causes no trouble if the old sod is plowed under at least three weeks before the permanent grasses are sown, and if 2 inches of water are applied to the area before reseeding. In practice, however, most temporary lawns are retained up to the last minute, and no time is left for the troublesome acid to disappear. When the good seed fails, the dealer is blamed. By the time the lawn-owner realizes the seed has actually failed, it is often too late to repair the damage that season.

My second objection to sowing a temporary lawn is that often it looks good enough to tempt the owner to forget about a permanent lawn, in the hope that the temporary one will survive the winter. The temptation may be strongest when so-called Perennial Rye is used, but this species, too, is winter killed in the North.

My third, and biggest objection to the temporary lawn, is that it is an unnecessary waste of time, energy and money. It probably will be in place at best two months. On the other hand, by the use of modern methods of irrigation, by proper pre-planting seed treatment and by use of better suited, more vigorous grass species, a permanent lawn can be planted at any time of year. As will be explained later, today we can get Merion Kentucky Bluegrass to germinate in 6 to 10 days in midsummer or in fall. Thus, fall seeding can be made late, so late that under old-time methods we would expect the new seedlings to be killed by frost.

But just for the record, if rye grasses are used, they should be seeded at a rate of 5 pounds per 1,000 square feet for winter lawns in the South, 8 to 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet for temporary lawns in the North. At this rate, the cost of seed for the temporary lawn will be higher than if you had planted pure Merion!

Bluegrass The Champion

Now let's talk about the grass that has been described as the "backbone" of northern lawns for more than a century. It is Common Kentucky Bluegrass (botanically Poa pratensis), which is the "parent" of such varieties as Merion, Parks, Delta, Arboretum and Newport. Common Kentucky Bluegrass is a sod-forming perennial grass, usually dark green in color, with an extensive root system made up of long rhizomes. In old sods, roots may penetrate 3 to 4 feet, although most of the roots will be found in the upper 4 inches of topsoil. The leaf tips are V-shaped, sometimes described as boat-shaped.

This grass has been dominant in that part of the United States which is bordered by a line running from Kansas City east, and from the Ohio River north. In its "adopted home," the state of Kentucky, this grass is not really good except in spring and fall. Its two serious faults—summer dormancy and susceptibility to leaf-spot diseases—have been overlooked because of its excellent appearance in spring and fall. Not all Kentucky Bluegrass lawns behave the same, however, because of the natural heat-resistance of some sods due to local conditions.

Kentucky Bluegrass itself is not a fixed, uniform strain or variety. It is a "complex" or natural mixture of thousands of variations in the original species. Agronomists used to claim that it did not vary because of its peculiar method of setting seed (apomixis) which involves no cross pollination. This belief did not take into account that even an apomictic species will show at least one mutation in 50,000 individuals. And with far more than 50,000 individual plants in almost any pasture, the chances for mutations are greater than was once thought possible.

I have seen as many as a hundred variations in grass plants grown from a single pound of Kentucky Bluegrass seed. Similar variations occur regularly in every lawn. When planted under difficult conditions, such as on a playground receiving minimum maintenance, only the toughest, best-adapted individual plants survive. Unfortunately, seedsmen did not know how to take advantage of this natural selection. As a result, little progress was made in improving Kentucky Bluegrass until about 1928, when Dr. Vernon T. Stoutemyer, working at Iowa State College, proved that desirable mutations could be isolated.

All About Merion

Merion Bluegrass (or Merion Kentucky Bluegrass, the full official name forced on it by federal authorities) is an example of the type of natural selection just described. About the same time that Dr. Stoutemyer was working at Iowa State, Joe Valentine, greens-keeper at the Merion Golf Club near Philadelphia, was examining the fairway of that club. The summer had been particularly hard on grass, with temperatures in the 90's for weeks on end, and with no rain for months.

His Common Kentucky Bluegrass fairways were in deplorable condition, with not a trace of green anywhere. With wells running dry, it was impossible to water. Rounding a corner, he suddenly stopped short. In front of him was a patch of grass so green that it seemed out of place in the sea of brown. At first he thought a hidden spring had both cooled and watered this oasis, but on investigation he found the soil as dry as it was everywhere else on the course.

Just a few weeks before, the United States Golf Association had asked greenskeepers to be on the lookout for superior grasses, and to send samples to the new turf trials at Arlington, Virginia. Joe Valentine packed up a few square feet of sod from this green patch and mailed it to Arlington. Out of this sample has come all the Merion in commerce today, one of the spontaneous mutations which happened to be recognized by an experienced turf man as having desirable qualities.

Starting as a superior strain, Merion has retained its leadership. There are better grasses in the breeding trials of several turf centers, but these are probably five to ten years away from introduction. Even when they come out, they will not be sold by firms that must have a million pounds before they can touch a variety. These new grasses will be introduced by alert smaller companies which can handle a crop of 20,000 to 50,000 pounds as a specialty. So, until these new grasses are available in vast amounts, Merion will probably hold its leadership as the country's No. 1 turf grass for bluegrass territory.

Glutton For Nitrogen

The first requirement of Merion, as already pointed out, is for nitrogen, lots of it. To support its vigorous root and top growth, it needs at least 4 pounds of actual nitrogen to 1,000 square feet. That amount is three to four times more than we used to recommend for Common Kentucky Bluegrass. In defense of that grass, it should be said that it, too, will produce an excellent lawn if fed as heavily as Merion. However, with high-nitrogen feeding, Common Kentucky Bluegrass becomes susceptible to certain diseases; thus it must be treated with turf fungicide early in summer before leaf-spot diseases begin.

The reason Merion can utilize so much food is readily seen when its roots are exposed. They penetrate 4 to 5 feet deep in rich soil, forming a dense mat of hair roots at least three times as heavy as that of common bluegrass. Even if a layer of sod a full inch thick is stripped from a field of Merion, these underground roots possess so much vigor that within six weeks the surface will be healed over, forming a practically solid sod again.

For this reason, Merion is one of the best grasses to use where the lawn is likely to be injured by foot traffic, recreation or otherwise. It heals and re-grows so rapidly that golf-greens workers often do not have to replace divots.

The color of Merion is unique—a rich, deep green when well fed. Something I have discovered about it is that when extra iron is supplied in an iron-deficient soil, either in chelated form or as ferrous ammonium sulfate, this makes it more resistant to rust. (See below for information on rust.) Merion's habit of growth is rather unusual —the leaf blades growing sideways rather than erect. The individual leaf is about one-third wider than leaves of other bluegrasses. In a thick turf, these two characteristics are powerful helps in fighting crab grass, the lawn's worst enemy. Crab-grass seed (as explained in a later chapter) cannot germinate in shade. By actual light-meter readings, I have discovered that the average light reaching the soil under Merion is less than one-third that found under common, Arboretum, Parks or Newport bluegrasses.

Merion does its best when cut 1 inch long, no higher. If allowed to grow to the 2-inch height sometimes recommended for Common Kentucky Bluegrass in summer, it will not do well.

Inhibiting Rust

Its major disease weakness, as stated, is rust. The organism that causes this air-borne disease is Puccinia graminis, the same species that attacks wheat. It is thought that a specific strain of this fungus may be responsible for Merion's trouble, even though infection takes place only at the time true wheat rust spores are flying.

I have been observing rust on Merion for about five years, and have studied everything printed or said about it by various investigators. Out of these observations, I have put together a picture of the conditions that bring it on, and what can be done to avoid this unattractive malady.

The greatest encouragement to rust is inadequate lawn feeding. A starved Merion turf is most likely to be attacked. I have never seen a lawn fed annually with 4 pounds of nitrogen that developed this trouble.

The second factor is overwatering. Merion does not like too much moisture. I have one 50-by-50-foot plot, now in its fourth year, that has never been watered artificially. Even during short periods of drought in midwestern heat, it has never flagged or wilted. West of the Mississippi, during dry periods, it will probably need watering, but in the humid East this should never be necessary, even during a short drought. The long dry spell that hit New England in the summer of 1957 was a real test. In many places Merion was the only grass showing a trace of green.

The third rust factor is improper (insufficient) mowing. Because this grass makes rather short growth, you may be tempted to skip a mowing or two. Resist this impulse because rust at first attacks only young growing tips of plants, so if tips are mowed off regularly, trouble will be checked before it starts. Rust spores require seven to ten days to develop, hence a lawn mowed regularly—at least once a week—is seldom attacked. The clippings, of course, must be raked up. A lawn with a mat of decaying organic matter on the surface has been known to harbor rust spores and permit a secondary infection after the original attack had been checked. Also for this reason, organic fertilizers should not be used where rust is prevalent.

A Little Merion Goes A Long Way

Merion is sown at the rate of 1 pound to 750 square feet. This is less than half the seeding rate usually recommended for Common Kentucky Bluegrass and its varieties, Arboretum and Newport, and one-third less than the rate for Parks and Delta. Thicker seeding is unnecessary and may produce too many plants to the square foot. This lower rate usually more than offsets the higher cost of the seed.

Incidentally, when commercial seedsmen sow fields of Merion for seed production in the Pacific Northwest, they sow at the rate of 10 pounds to 1 acre, or about 1 pound to 4,000 square feet. Even at this light rate, Merion grows together and forms a solid turf within a year.

Other Kentucky Strains

There have been a number of selections of Kentucky Bluegrass since Dr. Stoutemyer made his first isolations years ago. The best-adapted of these is Delta, a selection made in Canada. In its second year from seed, Delta is no better than Common Kentucky Blue-grass. It does have the advantage of much quicker germination (it has sprouted in as little as three days) and tremendous seedling vigor. Since Merion is a rather slow starter, unless the seed is soaked (soaking is described in a later chapter), Delta is an excellent companion grass for it. A mixture of the two will start in a hurry, produce a good cover the first year and improve with age. Delta alone is a better grass than a straight lawn of common blue the first year, but not necessarily the second. Its quicker start does enable it to get the upper hand on weeds.

Parks Kentucky Bluegrass, which originated in Minnesota, shares some of the seedling vigor of Delta, but not to the same degree. It does well along the Canadian border, but in tests at Purdue University and elsewhere in the Middle West, Parks could not be distinguished from common.

Arboretum is merely a taller-growing strain of Common Kentucky Blue. At first it showed promise south of the Ohio River, but later tests have failed to support this finding.

Newport is "just another variety," according to most experts.

Since the Common Kentucky Bluegrass strains other than Merion do not show marked superiority, the question is whether they are worth the extra cost. If they do not command too high a premium, the answer is yes. Because these selections must be grown as a crop in a cultivated field, and rogued to keep out off-types, they are usually of high purity and high germination.Common Kentucky Bluegrass and all its variations are sun-loving grasses. All forms, as well as the other Poa species, prefer a soil pH of 6.5 to 7.3.

Other Grasses To Consider

Here are some observations on other grasses.

Canada Bluegrass: This species had quite a vogue in the late 1930's because it was supposed to be hardy at very low temperatures. However, since Common Kentucky Blue and its varieties can tolerate the lowest temperatures experienced in Continental United States, about the only place that Canada Bluegrass should be of importance is in the state of Alaska.

Rough-Stalked Meadow Grass (Poa trivialis): This looks like a poorly-fed Kentucky Bluegrass. It is much lighter in color, unless given extra iron to green it up. The leaf has the typical boat shape of other bluegrasses. However, this is one species that does not like a sun-drenched site. In northern New England, it will tolerate full sun, but from Boston south, it tolerates less and less direct sunshine, in the latitude of New York, it burns out completely in midsummer.

It is a fairly good shade grass and has been an ingredient in shady mixtures for years. The weakness of rough-stalked meadow grass in such locations is that it prefers good fertility and a moist soil. Most shaded areas are under trees, whose roots rob the soil of both moisture and food faster than grass can absorb them. As a result, unless liberally watered and fed regularly, Poa trivialis is not long lived in such a location.

Several years ago, when the crop of all Kentucky Bluegrasses was short and high priced, some seedsman used this species in regular lawn mixtures under the name Danish Bluegrass—a cognomen not recognized by the federal government. These mixtures failed miserably in the sun, due to the poor heat tolerance of Poa trivialis. In the shade, if this species is to be seeded alone, sow it at the rate of 1 pound of seed to 250 square feet of lawn area.

Annual Bluegrass {Poa annua): In a later chapter this species is discussed as a weed, which it is considered in many places. Years ago, when Common Kentucky Bluegrass was retailing at about 40 cents a pound, I recall seed of Poa annua imported from Germany that retailed at $1.60 a pound. Today, it is considered a pest.

Actually, this grass is a "sleeper." Some day I expect to see Poa annua again selling at a premium, but not until we learn how to grow it and keep it alive. It has many good qualities. The color is a vivid emerald green, perhaps the brightest, freshest shade in any turf grass. It grows very early in spring. It is, in fact, a winter annual that germinates in October and grows in spurts during thaws all winter long. It is fully mature by May or June and then begins to ripen seed.

The big objection to annual bluegrass is that it dies out soon after seeding and leaves bare spots in the turf. This is not, however, the natural habit of the plant. If we can learn how to keep Poa annua healthy (the use of turf fungicides is important) I see no reason why it should not make a splendid summer lawn.

It has the perfect habit for a desirable turf species. It can be maintained at any height down to 1/2 inch. It will even set seed at that height. The tallest it grows is about 2 inches, so even if it is not mowed, it remains at "lawn height." (This is the grass that the gyp-artists usually offer as a "sensational" new grass that "never needs mowing.") But some day we may see Poa annua as the No. 1 lawn grass wherever bluegrasses do well.

The Fescues

Fine-leaved Fescues: Some of the most important advances in turf-grass breeding have been in the group of fine-leaved fescues. Because of unique qualities, possessed by no other group of high quality turf grasses, these new types have been, and will continue to be, of great value to the modern lawn-maker.

As a group, they have fine, rolled leaf blades that are rather tough to mow. In the less desirable varieties the leaves tend to droop rather than to grow upright. The plants do not form a strong matted sod. Older varieties, including the once much-valued Chewing's Fescue, are a dull dark green which seems even darker in the shade, where fescues are usually planted.

The value of the fine-leaved fescues in the lawn comes from the fact that they are quite drought-tolerant, do well in poor soils and survive better in shade than any other species except Poa trivialis. Since areas under trees are usually both dry and low in fertility, even when they are given extra food and water, the old fescues were accepted despite their poor appearance. Now that newer, better varieties are available, they are being widely planted, even when they must blend directly with other grasses.

Chewing's Fescue: For many years this was the only fescue worth planting. One of my first projects in the seed business was to attempt to discover how this highly perishable seed (very susceptible to heat) could be brought from New Zealand with a minimum loss of germination. By rerouting shipments so as to avoid passing through hot country wherever possible, we managed to boost germination by 10 per cent, quite a feat in its day. Later, seed growers in the Pacific Northwest took up its culture, until today highly viable seed is not as hard to find as it once was. Nonetheless, this is one grass that loses its power of germination rapidly, so, when buying it, be sure to check the analysis and germination test date on the package.

Chewing's Fescue is still widely planted because the seed is in liberal supply and it is cheaper than that of the newer fine fescues. The deep color and lack of ability to heal when injured are against it. It usually dominates any shade mixture planted under trees because of its ability to get along with little moisture and food, whereas Poatrivialis, the other commonly used shade grass, quickly disappears when food and water are not adequate.

Do not mow this grass shorter than 1 inch, unless you live in New England, where it may stand a cut as short as 1/2 inch. Sow at the rate of 5 pounds to 1,000 square feet.

Creeping Red Fescue (Festuca rubra): This is the original parent fescue species from which Chewing's was selected. The original European Red Fescue has been selected and reselected by seedsmen in the Pacific Northwest until today's creeping red is much improved over the original type. Oregon-grown red fescue has some advantage in that it heals better when injured. Both it and Chewing's are inferior to the following fescue varieties:

Illahee Fescue: A selection out of Oregon Creeping Red, it has somewhat better color and increased disease resistance. The color blends better with bents and bluegrasses, but it is still a fescue and cannot tolerate the heavy feeding and watering needed by these other grasses. When overfed and overwatered, it develops leaf-spot diseases and eventually disappears.

Penn State Fescue: This variety had not been intended for release by Penn State University, but was sent out for testing to various experiment stations. Several growers who acquired stock thought it so much better than the parent strain that they insisted on introducing it, despite the University's objections. It is slightly better than Illahee in both color and disease resistance, but much less so than the officially approved variety, Pennlawn.

Pennlawn Fescue: This probably represents the maximum improvement possible within this species. It blends well with Merion in color and in texture. It will tolerate more fertility than other fescues, although if planted where it is in direct competition with Merion, and fed at the same rate, it will gradually disappear. It is probably the best of all shade grasses for the North and has even done well in some locations south of the Ohio River. In mixtures with other grasses, it serves to fill in areas where poor soils, droughty conditions or shade do not allow other species to do their best.

It will tolerate a 1-inch cut, along with Merion.

All fine-leaved fescues should be sown at the rate of 4 pounds to 1,000 square feet as a minimum. The seeds are rather large and run far fewer to a pound than other turf grass species.

Broad-leaved Fescues: Although these are commonly considered hay or pasture grasses, there are two tall fescues, varieties of meadow fescue (Festuca elatior, variety arundinacea) which are sometimes used for lawns. These two are Alta Fescue and Kentucky 31 Fescue. The latter is often blended with cheap mixtures of grass seed, such as Ryegrass and Timothy, solely so the label can be marked with the magic name Kentucky. Careless buyers, seeing that word and not reading or comprehending the rest of the line, think they are getting a Kentucky Bluegrass, which is not even a close relation.

When grown as pasture grasses, both Kentucky 31 Fescue and Alta Fescue are coarse, ugly and of little value as sod. They produce enormous roots that pile up to form a strong, heavy mat capable of supporting considerable weight.

One place where these grasses have definite value is in off-street parking areas so important around large suburban homes or small estates. The cost of paving such areas with blacktop or concrete is considerable, and most homeowners dislike the bare look of large expanses of these materials. Because the broad-leaved fescues are tough, they can bear the weight of a car with ease, even when wet with rain. A good indication of their toughness is their use for airfields. An emergency strip of Alta Fescue has taken the impact of at least one big bomber, to my knowledge, and both turf and bomber survived the impact. For the private airstrip, handling only lighter planes, this is the ideal sod. No other grass is available that will grow over as wide an area of the United States, will survive such heavy punishment and support so much use as these fescue varieties. They should not be planted in mixtures because they are so aggressive they crowd out the finer grasses.

For tough service-lawns these fescues are excellent. They must be seeded quite heavily, as much as 5 to 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet. When the plants are crowded at this rate, they are partially stunted and make a fairly fine-textured lawn. For the man who wants to keep up a reasonable appearance around his home with a minimum of fussing and expense, this is the grass to use.

Unlike the fine-leaved varieties, tall fescues prefer heavier soils. However, because of their vigorous root systems, they are often planted on sandy or gravelly soils. For example, Alta fescue is a standard lawn variety for the sandier areas of Long Island. Under such conditions it must be fed heavily to keep thriving.

The Beautiful Bents

Bent Grasses: Once the luxury lawn grasses of the big estates, the bents today are largely relegated to the golf greens of country clubs, where professional turf men are available to take care of their exacting demands.

The choicer grades of vegetatively propagated bents probably produce the finest turf in the world. The most perfect lawn it has ever been my privilege to see was planted to Velvet Bent, on an island off the coast of Maine. Fortunately for the owner, there were no disease problems and the lawn practically took care of itself except for regular feeding and mowing. Not everyone who owns a bent lawn is so fortunate.

Until recently, the use of bents was limited by the disease factor. Fungi often killed out all top growth and severely injured the roots. No single chemical controlled all the different diseases. Thus accurate diagnosis was necessary—something beyond the skill and knowledge of most lawn-makers. As a result, most home lawns planted to bent lasted about two years before the owners plowed them under in disgust.

Even after bent had been turned under, the owner's troubles were not over because some of the plants survived and worked their way into the darker turf of bluegrass, where they produced disfiguring lighter patches.

The development by the Mallinckrodt Chemical Co. of a multipurpose turf fungicide (called Kromad) for the professional greens-keeper—who also had trouble diagnosing the diseases of bents— did much to improve results with these temperamental grasses. With the licensing of Vaughan's Seed Company to distribute a modified Kromad for amateur use under the name of Formula Z, bent-grass lawns again came within the reach of the home gardener—but only if he was willing to spend the time and money necessary for disease control. This is possible if Formula Z is applied about four time-at ten-day intervals, during the period when bent diseases are building up. This does not sound difficult, but the chemical is not cheap and time to apply it may be precious. (Turf diseases are taken up in detail in Chapter 13.)

Nothing Could Be Finer

Certainly, at its perfect best, nothing is finer than a bent lawn. For the retired man or for someone with leisure time, it can be a fine hobby. I would not recommend one larger than 2,000 square feet in area, unless the owner is willing to practically make a career out of its care.

No one can deny the beauty of a really healthy, vigorous bent lawn. That overworked simile—like a green velvet carpet—really describes this type of turf. It can be had by daily watering (every day that rain does not fall), mowing every three or four days, feeding heavily and spraying for disease control as recommended. The soil or ground surface must be absolutely even, since bents are mowed at 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch and the least irregularity in the soil surface means a skinned spot. A seven-blade mower must be used. Clippings must be swept up religiously to prevent building up a thatch on the surface.

The types of bent that have surface runners must be top-dressed once or twice a year to keep them in firm contact with the soil. This can be done whenever the grass is in active growth. Most bent lawns must be raked vigorously every second or third year to get rid of inadvertently accumulated clippings, dead surface roots and other loose trash which might build up a thatch of organic matter. Golf course operators use a device that cuts out bits of the turf. This allows the plants to make new, revitalizing growth. For home lawns vigorous raking should be sufficient.

In New England and along the Canadian border, bents will not tolerate shade. Farther south, they seem to tolerate some shade, but must have four hours of direct sunshine a day. In shady locations, disease control must be watched more carefully.

Bents are very shallow rooted and grow mostly on the surface. Hence they can thrive on almost any type of soil as long as they are kept moist. A well-drained sandy loam is ideal. The shallow roots do pose the problem of keeping them moist all the time. For this reason, almost every good bent lawn I know of is equipped with underground sprinklers for easy watering. The task of dragging a hose around to keep a bent lawn watered is just too much of a chore. Daily waterings are the rule, except that, in normal New England summers, every other day may suffice. The Maine-island lawn I mentioned is never watered, but is constantly bathed by mist and fog.

Most bents can be seeded at the rate of 1 pound per 750 to 1,000 feet. A common illusion is that bent grasses must have acid soil. While these grasses do tolerate some degree of acidity, any reading below a pH of 6.0 is likely to mean poor growth. A pH of 6.5 to 6.9 will give a better lawn. Urea is preferred for feeding this grass because it does not affect the pH. A weekly watering with a weak solution of urea plus a spring feeding with some mixed commercial fertilizer will be satisfactory. The newer all-element urea-form mixtures, however, are the perfect answer, for only one heavy application is needed in early spring.

Types Of Bents

Selections of Colonial Bent (Agrostis tenuis): The true, old-time Colonial bent is perhaps no longer available. Selections from it, including Highland, Astoria and Rhode Island Bents, still survive. Of these, Highland is by far the easiest to grow but the least attractive. Unless the grass is cut fairly high, the basal sheaths, which are quite chaffy, give the lawn a burnt appearance. Colonial Bent does well with a cut of 1 to 1¼ inches.

None of the Colonial Bents creeps vigorously, but Astoria does produce a strong turf that tends to spread. It can be had in seed form, like the other Colonial Bents. Since a pound contains over 8,000,000 individual seeds, it goes a long way, usually 1 pound to 1,000 square feet.

Creeping Bent (Agrostis maritima and A. stolonifera): This is usually planted from stolons or runners taken from an established sod. There are a number of named varieties, including Congressional, Washington, Metropolitan and others. The variety Seaside can be propagated from seed.

All of the creeping bents, to repeat, require vigorous raking about every third year in order to keep them healthy. They tolerate very close mowing.

Velvet Bent (Agrostis canina): It may be that Raritan Velvet Bent is the finest of all lawn grasses. It grows well in both sun and shade, perhaps the only one of the fine turf grasses that does. It will thrive whether mowed short or long, and blends well with other grasses. If the seed were not so expensive (about $5.00 a pound for the last I bought) it would or should be widely used. I vividly remember this batch of seed: the simile, "like green velvet" was too apt. Visitors to the building where this was planted must have come equipped with scissors because bit by bit this scrap of green velvet vanished, probably stolen to reproduce its color elsewhere.

A Weedy Relative

Redtop (Agrostis alba): I resent the fact that redtop must be classified, if only technically, with the bents, but that is the botanical fact. It is difficult to explain how this coarse, weedy plant can have anything in common with the luxurious bents. Nonetheless, redtop is a bent relative. Next to rye grass, Redtop is probably the most overrated species in commerce, creating more problems than it solves. It is highly touted as a "nurse" grass in lawn seed mixtures. Because it starts quickly and produces a show of green it is supposed to "fill in the turf" until slower-growing species can take over. The theory is that it keeps out weeds but I consider it a weedy grass. It is far more persistent in a lawn than the broad-leaved weeds that can be mowed out. Redtop lives on, spreading both by underground stolons and surface runners. For a year or two, far from nursing the new sod, it competes aggressively with it for light, air, food, and water.

If I may give away a trade secret: redtop is probably included in most grass seed mixtures to cut down complaints. Most lawn-owners are impatient, and if a Common Kentucky Bluegrass seeding takes twenty to forty days to come up (as it may in cool weather unless the seed is soaked before planting), they will come back to the seller and weep loudly that the seed sold them was "no good." The seedsman hopes that a bold, quick showing of redtop will keep the customer happy, allow the slower grasses time for germination, and, in the end, not hurt the lawn too much.

Actually, Redtop is probably a better temporary turf species, where one is really needed, than is rye grass. At 3 pounds to 1,000 square feet, it probably costs even less to seed than does Common Rye.

Timothy (Phleum pratense): This hay grass is mentioned only as a cautionary notice to the buyer of lawn seed. Any time the name timothy appears in a "lawn" mixture, drop the package and leave the store. If you buy, you are doing business either with someone who does not know his business or is deliberately out to cheat you. Timothy is a weed in any lawn and a thief of fertility and moisture. It will crowd out desirable grasses like a Berkshire shoat with both feet in the trough. It has no place whatever in any package of grasses for lawn seeding.

The Zoysias—Fact And Fiction

Zoysias (Zoysia japonica and Z. meyeri): These are perhaps the most controversial grasses in commerce today. By flamboyant advertising worthy of a horticultural Barnum, Meyer Zoysia has been blown up to the dimensions of a God-given miracle bestowed on a lawn-happy world. Since these advertisements read as though they were written to give reality to the dream of every lawn-maker, millions of dollars have been spent for this "wonder grass." Herewith are facts and fiction, brought into focus for the protection of the prospective buyer.

I have grown several zoysias, both from seed and from plugs as well as from sprigs. Plugs are round or square pieces of sod; sprigs are individual, rooted plants. A seven-year-old patch of zoysia in my lawn is one of the oldest plantings in the North. In the growth of this particular patch, it is possible to determine the value of these exotic species for northern lawns.

Meyer Zoysia was developed at the U.S.D.A.'s great Beltsville Station. Perhaps the nearness of Washington, D. C, is responsible for some of the misconceptions about the hardiness of this particular grass. Most Northerners regard Washington as a southern city, while Southerns think of it as being in the North. Another factor which may have affected the thinking of many turf experts is the fact that Meyer Zoysia is a seedling of Zoysia japonica, which did not come from Japan (as its name suggests) but from Siberia, where it has survived temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees F. There is no question about its hardiness anywhere in the United States. Meyer Zoysia was named in honor of Frank N. Meyer, plant explorer for the U.S.D.A., who first collected the seed in Korea in 1905.

The parent grass, Zoysia japonica, is quite coarse. An experimental plot of this which I grew in Western Springs, Illinois, from seed supplied by Beltsville, was destroyed in its third year of life by a field hand who mistook it for a coarse weed that had invaded a turf of some desirable species. Zoysia japonica is certainly no beauty I

Zoysia meyeri is, however, a fine-leaved selection which so closely resembles Merion that in midsummer the two cannot be identified as separate grasses, except by picking a blade and holding it against the light. When this is done, the fine hairs on the leaf edge identify the zoysia.

Winter Brown

If hardiness and summer appearance were the only criteria, Zoysia meyeri would rate close to the top in any contest for a perfect turf grass. Unfortunately, its ability to survive sub-zero weather is not reflected in its appearance when dormant in winter. Once it is touched by frost, it turns a dead tannish brown—about the color of a faded cocoa fiber door mat. As one owner of a Meyer zoysia lawn near Chicago said to me, "That is sure the deadest looking grass I've ever seen."

My difficulty in distinguishing the Merion and the original plugs of Meyer Zoysia in my own lawn ends with the first frost. The zoysia areas appear as dull, dead patches of brown in the rich dark green Merion sod. What is significant about these patches is their size. I put them in as 4-inch round plugs. Except for one adventuresome runner which has grown about a foot out from the center of the mother plug, the largest single patch is today 5 inches across, seven years after planting. True, the zoysia, with its short growing season in a northern lawn, is up against tough competition when grown with Merion, which remains green for months after zoysia is brown and resumes growth at least two months before it.

Once dormant, zoysia is as reluctant to begin growth in spring as it was eager to go dormant in fall. In the Middle West, the blades do not begin to show a uniform green color much before late May, with the first greening apparent the early part of that month.

Meyer Zoysia has been highly touted as the answer to the weed problem. This is certainly true south of the Ohio River, but not in northern regions. In several turf plots under my observation, it was badly invaded by Poa annua, a weedy grass that starts growth early. But Meyer Zoysia will resist crab grass, a weed that grows in summer when zoysia is at its best.

I have planted this grass as sprigs (the best way, incidentally) and as plugs, plus one plot put down in 3- by 12-inch strips and another as solid sod. The strips, spaced 3 inches apart, took two years to cover the area completely, and, even then, the spaces between the original strips were thin. Sprigs (long runners broken out of the sod), if sown thickly enough, produce a good sod the second year.

North vs. South

South of the Ohio River, in full sunshine, either Meyer Zoysia or Emerald Zoysia (a brighter colored variety) probably makes the most satisfactory of all lawns.

In this area, Zoysia is vigorous, healthy and weed resistant. It tolerates heat and drought, and, if fed, makes a truly beautiful lawn. To sum up the case for and against it, let me repeat the answer I gave to a question on zoysias at the Williamsburg Garden Symposium a few years ago: "A man in the North is a fool if he plants zoysias; if he lives south of the Ohio River, he is a fool if he doesn't."

Like all general statements, this needs modification. Around a summer home in the North, where early spring and late fall color are unimportant, zoysia certainly will produce a trouble-free, low maintenance lawn. For certain public parks, such as fair grounds, summer theatres, outdoor operas and other places open for only a short season in summer, it seems to be the ideal grass if Poa annua is controlled. My objection to it around homes is that, in the north at least, it makes a short-season lawn, shabby when other grasses are often at their best.

During the early days of zoysia promotion, one or two turf authorities recommended mixtures of Meyer Zoysia with Merion, or overseeding zoysia with rye grass in winter. I have seen such mixtures and find them completely unacceptable. I prefer the uniform dead cocoa-mat color of dormant zoysia to the mottled green-and-tan mixture, which has the effect of a lawn that is dying rather than of one in dormancy. The problem of getting a good catch (good germination) of common rye grass in a zoysia turf certainly never was thought out carefully by the advocates of this scheme.

Disreputable Mondo

Mondo Grass: This is not a grass at all, but a "graveyard weed" from the South that has been the subject of such extravagant advertising that the Federal Trade Commission stepped in and served notice that the claims were fraudulent. Although they have been toned down as a result of this action, Mondo grass is still being advertised as a beautiful lawnlike ground cover for both North and South.

If only a prospective buyer of Mondo grass could see the ugly specimens of this weed in my test plots I They are a dirty dull green, largely due to the fact that the foliage is not too vigorous and grows very little. As a result, they do not seem to be able to shed the dirt and dust that collect on them.

I ordered some for testing, but I am not certain of the species of the "grass" sent to me. Mondo is the name of a genus to which the southern lily turf was once assigned, but this has since been changed to Ophiopogon. There are two species in commerce—Ophiopogon jaburan, which has leaves 2 feet long and a half-inch wide, and O. japonicum, with leaves 12 inches long of dull, dark green and with small pale lavender flowers. Except for the length of the leaf, this might be the plant I received. Mine flowered only once, a washed-out lavender that I found most unattractive.

Whatever its species, I can testify that the plants I tested do not meet the qualifications of a lawn grass. Mondo will die almost at once if mowed. If not mowed, it produces long, messy leaves that droop in doleful fashion. No wonder this is a popular plant for planting on graves in the South! It is hardy and will survive in many northern areas, but practically every other claim for it should be taken with a big grain of salt.

Clover—Yes And No

White Clover {Trifolium repens): My father, whose ideal of a perfect lawn was an unbroken sward of White Dutch Clover, would turn in his grave if he could hear some of today's arguments about the place of clover in a lawn. Not too many years ago, home gardeners measured the quality of a lawn mixture by the percentage of this non-grassy legume it contained. At that time, clover was considered essential because it filled in the lawn in midsummer when Common Kentucky Bluegrass gave up the fight against leaf spot diseases and heat, and slumped to rest. Without clover, there was no lawn.

I can still recall my boyhod delight of rolling in a sweet-scented clover lawn, and the switching I got for staining my white shirt with its green leaves. Although this nostalgia does tempt me to say a good word for clover, I cannot overlook its very serious faults in modern lawns.

The inclusion of this plant in a turf ruins it as a playground for children, unless they are dressed in green clothes which can be washed. No other lawn plant stains like clover. In addition, it is slippery underfoot, so that a child—or an adult—running around while playing a game is likely to take a tumble at any time. Many object to clover's "disfiguring" white flowers, although I find them attractive, as do many people. The most serious clover fault is lack of resistance to anthracnose, a fungus disease. This may suddenly kill out large patches of clover in the lawn. But then, a year to ten years later, without reseeding, up pops clover again. These volunteer plants come from hard seeds that lie dormant for long periods of time. For this reason, once a lawn has been seeded to clover, you will have it, again and again and again. Hence it is not a good idea to say, "I'll try clover for a year or two and get rid of it if I don't like it."

Two In Favor

If clover is not used in a play area, it does have two advantages. First, being a true legume, clover harbors certain beneficial bacteria that live on its roots, and the roots are able to extract and fix atmospheric nitrogen. For this reason a clover lawn, particularly a rough-mown "meadow lawn," can often be maintained without additional fertilizer. To make sure the essential bacteria are present, an artificial nitrogen culture (available at seed stores and garden centers) should be mixed with the seed before sowing.

The second advantage is that the leaf of the clover plant is broad and throws considerable shade. This tends to keep the soil cooler, slowing down evaporation of moisture. These effects delay the time when Common Kentucky Bluegrass goes dormant during the summer.

The introduction of improved grasses such as Zoysia meyeri, Merion Kentucky Bluegrass and Pennlawn Fescue, which retain a bright green color throughout the summer, has eliminated much of the need for clover. Too, these prize grasses demand so much nitrogen that clover alone could not supply enough to keep them going. The decline in popularity of clover is evidenced by the fact that I do not know of a single grass seed mixture sold in the United States which today includes it. Some firms sell the seed separately, so we know that some clover is being planted, but we no longer judge the quality of a mixture by its clover content.

For those who have clover and want to get rid of it, there are chemicals that will kill it selectively without injuring lawn grasses. Even those homeowners who want to retain it should read, in Chapter 14, the section on selective weed killers and avoid those which are injurious.

The Role Of Grass-Seed Mixtures

The gardener without years of experience will do well to consider planting a mixture of grasses rather than a solid turf of a single species. If he knows exactly what he is doing, and understands how to control the diseases which might attack his particular single species of grass, the chances are it will survive and thrive without serious injury. But the beginner rarely has the necessary skill and knowledge for this, and, even when he does, he often runs into unforeseen trouble. If conditions change—such as an extremely wet or dry year—a solid turf of one species may suffer severely, whereas one containing several grasses will pull through in good shape.

Disease is a good example of the type of problem a mixture may help avoid. The fungi which attack grasses are quite specific in their action. That is, some will attack fescues but not bluegrasses, while others attack bents but not fescues. Except for rust, which is largely airborne, most of these turf diseases are spread by contact from one blade to another. If the turf is made up of more than one species, this plant-to-plant contact is broken. I have seen one section of a lawn, seeded wholly to Common Kentucky Bluegrass, go down by late June when attacked by helminthosporium leaf spot, while another part of the same lawn—planted with Chewing's Fescue and Highland Bent in addition to the bluegrass—showed only an occasional area affected by the leaf spot. Both areas were maintained exactly the same.

Another advantage of mixtures is that they tend to adjust themselves to the varying soil conditions often found within a lawn, and also to differences in sun and shade. It is not uncommon for the same lawn to have one area that receives three hours of sunshine while a short distance away it has sun all day long. One of the very real problems a seedsman has, for example, is in recommending a grass to the man who doesn't know what a sunny lawn is. I have actually studied lawns which the owner claimed received sun "all day long" and found they had four hours or less. This is often true in cities, where the line of parkway trees and the house form barriers that cut off the sun until late in the morning and then block it again early in the afternoon.

Frequently, spots of poor soil occur in an otherwise good lawn. Underground rocks that cannot be blasted out produce dry spots. If a grass like Creeping Bent is used on such a lawn, the presence of such sunken rocks shows up as yellowish green areas in the turf.

The development of the newer fescues—Illahee, Penn State and Pennlawn—was a real boon to the new homeowner. These blend well in color and texture with other grasses, yet endure quite different conditions. What is probably the most generally satisfactory mixture I have tested for the areas where bluegrasses do well is a blend of not less than 40 per cent Merion, plus Pennlawn Fescue and Delta Bluegrass. This mixture seems to do well in rich soils where Merion and Delta will predominate. If any part of the area is shaded for more than three hours a day, or is poor and dry, the Pennlawn dominates the sod. In the first year of growth, Pennlawn and Delta will seem to have suppressed the Merion, but in the second year, if the lawn is in full sun, the Merion will push out the other grasses.

Smother Grasses

I repeat, for emphasis, my earlier objection to the inclusion of the so-called "nurse grasses" in mixtures. These are usually rye grass (either common or perennial) and Redtop. Today, specialists like Dr. William Daniel of the Agronomy Department of Purdue, one of the most knowledgable turf men in the country, prefer to call these "smother grasses." They were originally included because they produced a turf the first year. To do so, they had to be aggressive and vigorous—the very thing we do not want in nurse grasses. They compete so strongly for food, light, moisture and air that the slower-growing permanent grasses scarcely have a chance.

Some Typical Grass-Seed Mixtures Sold In New England, Mid-Atlantic States And Middle West

The following seven lists (lettered A through G for convenience) offer brief guidance on "typical lawn seed mixtures" found in Stores nowadays. These are not necessarily my notion of ideal mixtures; they merely represent what most of you will have to choose from. This approach should be of maximum helpfulness, since buying individual grass species and mixing them at home is not practical for most lawn-makers. Actually, if you buy the mixtures offered by reputable seedsmen, you can be quite certain of getting your full money's worth.

The figures in these lists do not add up to 100 per cent; in each case the balance of the mixture, which I have omitted, represents weed seed, inert matter and "other crop" seed.

Mixture A

58% Italian Rye grass

20% Perennial Rye grass 12% Kentucky 31 Fescue 2% Highland Bent

This is a cheap "promotion" mixture sold in chain stores, etc. It would not make a good lawn. The only reason for including Highland Bent and Kentucky 31 Fescue (the latter is often mistaken by careless shoppers for Kentucky Bluegrass) is to give the blend a deceptive air of quality. In this percentage, Kentucky 31 will merely be a nuisance grass.

Mixture B

38% Kentucky Bluegrass

21% Delta Kentucky Bluegrass 30% Creeping Red Fescue

5% Redtop

This is a good general mixture, which might have rated as "deluxe" a decade or so ago.

Mixture C

30% Creeping Red Fescue

18% Highland Bent

18% Kentucky Bluegrass

11% Poa trivialis

10% Delta Kentucky Bluegrass 9% Pennlawn Fescue

This is a mixture for light shade, or for sandy, poor soils where fertility cannot be built up economically.

Mixture D

35% Creeping Red Fescue 18% Highland Bent
 
12% Pennlawn Fescue

9% Chewing's Fescue

20% Poa trivialis

This is a mixture sold for "dense shade," but which probably would not grow where it had less than two to three hours of direct sunshine daily. (Where cost is not a factor, substitution of Velvet Bent for Highland in such cases would result in a definite improvement.)

Mixture E

42% Merion

19% Pennlawn Creeping Fescue 11% Delta Kentucky Bluegrass

11 % Creeping Red Fescue

10% Redtop

This is a quality mixture incorporating all the better new grasses for lawns in the bluegrass area. (The redtop in this mixture is probably for psychological effect on the user, to give him a show of green in a hurry. Substituting more Merion would give a better mixture.)

Mixture F

38% Kentucky Bluegrass

38% German Mixed Bent. 19% Redtop

This is a widely used formula for New England.

Mixture G

77% Kentucky Bluegrass 18% Redtop

This is a formula recommended by Ohio authorities.

Although mixtures of different bent grass varieties are sometimes recommended, they are not really desirable. Most bents are propagated from stolons and it is difficult to produce a good mixture. Also, the bents tend to differ strongly in color, producing a mottled effect if the lawn's various strains of bent grow equally well.

Contaminated Seed

Many lawn-owners do not read the analysis on the package of seed. If you do and think the package does not contain what it should (after opening it), your state seed inspector is the man to contact, usually at the state capitol. Although poor seed is sold, usually the contents of the package agree pretty well with the analysis tag. Most states have rigid seed laws. They were passed originally to protect the farmer, not the homeowner, but the same law applies. Few packagers of seed would risk mislabeling.

Where the buyer really gets cheated more often than he thinks is when he buys grass seed in bulk. Even where the dealer is honest, mistakes are common in dumping the wrong seed into the bin. When buying in this way, you have no way of telling what is actually in a mixture.

Chips Off The Chapter

Are you one of the eight out of every ten whose lawn is made up of grasses unsuited to your conditions? Do you read the labels on seed packages?

1. Common rye grass—99 44/100 per cent undesirable!
2. Bluegrasses—best for most.
3. Merion—the champion...if conditions are right. It needs—and will reward—special attention.
4. The fescues and the bents play invaluable roles.
5. Use zoysias with discretion and you'll have no regrets.
6. Clover—loved or despised.
7. Grass-seed mixtures combine and balance out the assets and liabilities of the different grasses; thus they are ideal for almost all home lawns.   Be sure you use a mixture suited to your climate, soil, etc.

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