BOWLING NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19753, 28 September 1927, Page 16

BOWLING NOTES.

PRESS TEAMS DEFEATED. LAYOUT OF CARLTON GREENS. TREATING GREEN SURFACES. Much depleted from the original number of ten or eleven teams the representatives of the Press and Printers took the field at Carlton on Saturday with only about half the number. This was due, no doubt, to the uncertain state of the weather. However, those who roiled up were awarded with a good afternoon's sport on a green which, considering the weather of late, was in delightful playing condition. Carlton won every game, but three of the visiting rinks, in charge of Qnin, Ki!gour and Adeane, were defeated by very small margins only. In a high scoring game the Kilgour-Clarke contest- was very even, the scores being 28 all with one head to go. Carlton took the points on the last head. The Carlton No. 3, Ritchie, was a source of trouble to Kilgour all day. G. Hosking, Carlton, had the biggest win of the day, and secured a 12-points advantage for the club. His lead, Sireman, a visitor from Christchurch, gave a great display in the No. 1 position. In the latter stages by way of variation he took his own bowl off the kitty at times with well-directed drives. The Carlton Green.

To anyone who has not been to the Carlton green since the end of last season a veritable transformation is presented. The familiar sheltering hedge at the top end has disappeared, and a new and wellgrassed seven rinks green is seen. The view from the balcony of the pavilion over four greens in a continuous line ia unique. The new green shows a wonderful so,;o of grass, even though it has been recent fy topdressed and made only smc« the end of last season. Like the bottom green this green will be also a "one-way" green. However, with 50 rinks to come and go on the club will not be seriously handicapped in the matter of accommodation and resting area with the slight handicap o£ two greens playing one-way only. On one of the greens there is the somewhat unusual sight of heaps of grass lying all over the surface. Were it not for the length of the growing grass, one would conclude the green had been scythed, but information discloses that this grass has been hand-weeded as it is not of the lasting variety, being Poa Annua, which disappears about January or February. It has been decreed wiser by the green officials to take it out now and so givo the more lasting grasses a chance to mature. On the same green a remarkable contrast of colour in the grasses is noticed. This is caused 0} a belt of fescue being sown all round the green for about 50ft. in. The grass on the inner rectangle is New Zealand brown top. The fescue is sown qn the outer edges to cope with the extra wear and tear on those parts. This is certainly a good idea and one that could be copied by other clubs. The club is holding the usual tournament on Labour Day, entries being restricted to 24 teams. Use of Sulphate of Ammonia.

Apparently American authorities have exploited the use of sulphate of ammonia to such an extent that its use on Scottish greens came about. The following article is taken from an Australian bowling journal- "Regarding the use of sulphate of ammonia for American lawns, and before the use of such large dressings of sulphates are tried in this country, some data of the circumstances in which they were used in America would be necessary as the climate, rainfall, and physical and chemical conditions of the soil vary greatly in different parts oi that continent. In the Glasgow district, where the soil is mostly clay, or is of a heavy nature, and the rainfall is 42m. a year, no greenkeeper would care to tackle the result of a dressing of one-and-a-haif hundredweight of sulphate of ammonia an acre a fortnight. Here, where a hard-wearing turf on bowling greens is essential throughout the playing season, the use of sulphate ammonia has been practised for some time past. The success of the treatment has been such that during the hottest and driest spells of last year our greens were quite green and finished the season in perfect order. "During the spring treatment the greens are lightly dressed with a bowling green mixture of seed obtained from a reliable source. This has overcome successfully the loss of sea-pink and other maritime plants that may have been in the original turf, so that with the local grasses that have established themselves in the greens we have a sward of very composite nature, but under our treatment a good wearing one for public service. The soil being naturally acid and the rainfall heavy during winter and spring, a badly-worked green would soon become sour, quite different from a green well worked and with an acid balance kept in it We keep our greens aerated by thorough piercing and this is done by'a special piercing fork, which has four prongs about four inches apart of half inch rounded steel, usually eight to nine inches long when new The green is pierced by this too! in the autumn, the method being to start in one corner of the srreen and work diagonally across it in rows about six inches to a foot apart. Regular Dressings Given.

" The greens are sanded with seaside (wind swept) sand at the rate of four to ! five tons a green, and dressed with three hundredweights of bone meal to each green Nothing more is done until March when the greens are thoroughly harrowed. The piercing and harrowing I contend to be essential to check any sourness, fairy rings and moss that may be due to excessive rainfall, undue rolling, or overdosing with manure. Throughout the playing season a dressing of 71b. or 31b of sulphate of ammonia is given each green every two or three weeks, and i watered in" This works out at one and | a-half hundredweight per acre during the | playing, season from May to September. : an <| we have proved that it keeps our 1 rinks perfectly green and enables them |to wear well—and everyone knows the | abuse a public green gets. "•"A small dressing of sulphate of am J mom* retains the moisture and if previoos j dressing's have been given so much the | better as I think the del iq Descent nature | of sulphate of ammonia enables the sou jto hold the moisture. Care should be { taken in os:njt sulphate of ammonia a* | gre?t damage may hie done bv careless i distribution, over-dosing, and not using i sufficient water to dissolve it." j The r>nks representing the Press and Printers w!l play again*? team* from th* Herr.uera Club, at Bemoera, on Saturday THE LEAOFE CODE. FINAL MATCHES OF SEASON. The RugJjr Leaga# season is fast riraw t ir.g to a dose. and next Saturday the final 1 cjab ma*.'..he. will be pla>»d Possession «of the Stormoot Merowta 1 Sh.eld will i» ! lieHded 5-x»t Newion. w Miners of the j club championship, and Richmond, i winners of the Boope Booster coir pet; tion j This match, which carries with it the { champion of ihamtHom haowr, ts very t j>opui.ar w'th the crub te-ams #©3!t a|? Ed, .as i each r«t> vet a portion of the gate j receipts.. | On Saturday week Auckland wt ? l U ' railed »;pon to defend the Northern t. nror Cup against Sooth Auckland. Although ' Bailer has been irmted to send a team j to Auckia&d, *q defi&ji# advice whether | Usa tr.p will U made a&* boaa