Golf Green Research and the War

Abstract

THE revised values which the war places upon various activities have caused the managers of the Board of Greenkeeping Research to review the position of the Research Station at St. Ives, Bingley, Yorks. The experimental plots at this centre have been built up over a period of eleven years, at a cost of more than £26,000, and have provided valuable new knowledge about the ecological interaction of plants grown in compact formation, and about the practical treatment of greens. Much of their scientific value lies in their long term of treatment, and it is gratifying to learn that they are to be carried on, even if the need for economies should curtail the Station's other activities. It is also useful to remember, in the present intensity of the war effort, that the Station has contributed to a fundamental understanding of grass ecology which could be applied to increase food production on some of the poorer grassland of British uplands. Its researches on pests and diseases of grassland could quickly be turned to the aid of agriculture, and the Station has further adapted itself to war conditions by working on the best methods of pasturing sheep on golf courses, and giving advice upon minimum upkeep during the present difficult times.