LAWNS AND WEEDS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 8 April 1930, Page 3

LAWNS AND WEEDS

AN EXPERT'S ADVICE LECTURE 13V Dli, HILGENDORF "Lawns" was the subject on which Dr. F. W. Ililgendorf, of Lincoln College, lectured to the Canterbury Horticultural Society last week (reports the "Times"). Dr. Ililgendorf said that one'of the first things to remember was that all grasses had their own special "level cf fertility." A lawn was really the hardest used piece of grassland. The ground was continuously, being impoverished, nothing being put back. There were several lawns at Lincoln College which the speaker had watched. After years and years of cuffing, without anything being put. back, they had changed their nature as the level 'of fertility lessoned. Chewing's Fescue, Danthonia, .and Brown Top formed the lawn par excellence, on account of the low level of fertility needed. Brown Top did not thrive'unless it had plenty of water, and in Christchurch in flio not and dry spells Brown Top was liable to dry up and sometime die off altogether. Chewing's Fescue was hardier as far as drought was concerned. Those were the ideal lawn grasses. When mixed, they provided a good twitch, lawn, and their combined properties stood up to the conditions and provided a good close mat of turf. It was a great thing to have a good close mat of grass, and thus exclude invasion by weeds. It was impossible to exclude woods entirely, but a. close mat of grass minimised their ingress. Dog's Tail and Poa pratensis were also used extensively, and ryegrass for its quick growing properties, which the Brown Top and fescue lacked. Most seedsmen realised that the basis of. the lawn mixture must be Chewing's Fescue and Brown Top, though proportions of the others mentioned were ' generally added. No clover should bo introduced into any lawn. The best lawn, if one did not' wish for immediate results, was the mixture of Chewing's Fescue and Brown Top. The present time was the best to sow a lawn. It was a good thing to give the ground some working over the summer before. Manuring for grass alone was a ticklish subject. White clover seed was to be found in almost all the soil in the country and would come up whenever conditions presented themselves. White clover seed resisted water and the result was that some of the seed had in an experiment, germinated after eighty years. The point was that several of the more widely used manures gave assistance to the seed, and a lawn so manured was likely to be filled with white clover. Sulphate of ammonia was a manure which encouraged the grass, while killing the "flat" weeds which grew on lawns. Lawn weeds were invariably Hat, and >one pinch of the sulphate in the middle of a Hat weed, such as a dandelion, and that weed would be killed. A good way to ensure that the sulphate of ammonia should be evenly distributed and not put on in any such quantity as to kill the grass in one spot, was to mix it with double its quantity of sand. That was the basis of the '"lawn sand" bought from shops. Another ingredient was sulphate of iron, which, though not actually doing the grass good, killed any moss in a lawn, with great certainty. Weeds could be killed quite easily with weed killers, much more easily than grass. The blades of grass stood upright, and the poison tail off the blades and had no great effect. At the end of his talk, Dr. Ililgendorf answered several questions. Some of his answers were: — Sulphate of ammonia is best applied in the spring. Chewings Fescue and Brown Lop should bfl mixed in the proportion: 20 pounds Hrown Top and 40 Chewings! Fescue, to the acre. , To get rid of "fairy rings. They were caused by a fungus. The fungus crows in one 'particular spot, and the "spawn'" fall round it. The next crop of fungus grows round the edge of the ]iii(r. °The spawn is so thick that it makes the ground impervious, and the grass dies. There was usually a luxuriant 'growth of grass inside the ring, where the fungus growth had given the earth a rest. Sulphate of iron was the cure, but the ground must be wet. That necessitated prising up the ground, which had to be done very carefully, so as to save the lawn.