The Ideal Grass
Those wise persons who direct the Green Research Com- mittee at Bingley Hall in Yorkshire have now further enhanced the reputation of that most congenial . variety of grass known as red fescue. (Incidentally, it or its cousin was one of the grasses that Tennyson had the hardihood to put into verse.) The importation of turf from distant places is a most expensive operation, as those who have laid down bowling-greens of the famous Cumberland turf know well. The greater seeds- men, of course (for not wholly altruistic reasons), have always recommended the sowing of greens and lawns rather than the turfing of them. Recent advances in the science of grass breeding has strengthened these arguments. A very pre- sentable bowling-green or putting-green can now be made in short space by the agency of seed ; and on behalf of keepers of golf-courses large quantities of red fescue, which is the basis of the best mixtures, are grown for seed both at Bingley Hall and by seedsmen in general. Of course, different varieties of grass are needed by different soils and climes ; and now our researchers are making experiments with good results as far afield as South Africa and New Zealand. Accounts of these may be found in the latest journal of the Committee, a very interesting publication for the specialist.
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