Research on Lawns

Abstract

INVESTIGATION of the particular ecological problems which relate to lawns began in America towards the end of last century. It was not until 1920, how-ever, that such research was prosecuted on a national scale in that country, and not until 1925 that any adequate provision was made in Great Britain. The report for 1938 of the Board of Greenkeeping Research, St. Ives Research Station, Bingley, Yorks. (pp. 1–77, price 2s., July 1939) shows to what adequate development the investigation of green-keeping matters has now attained. There are approximately 1,600 experimental plots at the Station, to inquire into the response of grass varieties to manurial and mechanical treatments, to control pests and diseases, and to select the most suitable varieties of grass for various purposes. Seed of the new strain of St. Ives Creeping Red Fescue is grown and distributed, whilst an improved strain of Agrostis tenuis should yield upon a small commercial scale in 1939. Experiments on the control of pearlwort and other weeds are in progress, the effects of sulphur as a dressing for heavy ground are being investigated, treatment of the soil with potassium permanganate for the control of earthworms has proved satisfactory, and various diseases of turf have also been studied. The Station now maintains an extensive permanent collection of greenkeeping implements, and has ‘museum’ plots of grass and weed species— features which are of great value to students who attend the two courses of instruction which are held during the year. Letters and advisory visits have reached higher maxima than in any previous year, and the results of the Station's researches are published in its Journal and in various reprint publications.