Greenkeeping Research

Abstract

THE report of the Board of Greenkeeping Research for 1937 (from the Board's Research Station, St. Ives, Bingley, Yorks. 2s. July 1938) shows an increasing amount of advisory work and original investigation at the St. Ives Research Station and at other centres. The Station lives within its income, but research work cannot be greatly extended with the present financial arrangements, as advisory work makes the first claim upon revenue. More advisory work was, moreover, accomplished in 1937 than in any previous year. The volume of research papers does not appear to reflect this policy, however, and a general account of work in progress will be found in the report, and also in a paper by the Station's director, Mr. R. B. Dawson (J. Roy. Hort. Soc., 63, 8 ; August 1938). A promising line of investigation concerns the use of potassium permanganate on lawns, to destroy moss and expel earthworms ; further developments will be awaited with interest. Supplies of seed of St. Ives creeping red fescue, the first of a series of improved strains of lawn grasses, are now available to greenkeepers. This strain has greater leafiness and density of growth than the existing varieties ; it has good winter colour, and reasonable resistance to fungal disease. Successful courses of instruction in the science and practice of greenkeeping have been prosecuted at the Station, and practical demonstration has been greatly improved by the establishment of a permanent exhibition of implements for the treatment of lawns.