TORO NEWS FOR GOOD GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENTS TORO MASTER MODEL A TRACTOR Here is a tractor without competition in the light tractor field. Like the Model B it is not simply a pleasure car chassis called a tractor, but is built for a special job, namely golf course maintenance, and has ample power for any legitimate load. It handles with ease seven mowers up any grade where golf course turf can be grown. The 15-inch rear wheels afford ample traction under any conditions. In short, the Master Model A tractor is the tractor for the club that wants a real machine for the job. Like all Toro equipment, the Model A tractor is built with a wide margin of safety. TORO MASTER MODEL B TRACTOR A real outfit built from the ground up to handle its job well. The Toro is a golf course tractor all the way through, with heavy chassis, special radiator; a brute of a rear end that can almost pull stumps without tearing it up; 15-inch tires on the rear wheels; all steel dump body holding one cu. yd.; starter. It is in every way a thoroughly dependable, handy all around tractor. This machine is furnished regularly with steel tires front and rear. May be had with pneumatic tires in front and steel in the rear, or pneumatic tires all the way round, or steel in front and Barth in the rear, or pneumatic in the front and Barth in the rear. Rubber tires extra. When it is equipped with pneumatic tires in the front and Barth in the rear it makes an excellent truck as well as tractor. 1932 TORO TROJAN MOWER The only mower to respond to the pres- ent day demand for a higher ground speed with the customary reel speed. The Trojan mower is equipped with outstand- ing advantages-three point suspension on the knife assembly, making it unneces- sary to adjust the mower oftener than once a week; cast lugs in the wheel affording traction under any conditions; scraper for the rear roller; double edged bed knife; wider reel blades affording longer wear; six blade reel; reel blades riveted, not welded, thus retaining the temper which is not the case with a welded blade; use of dogs practically eliminated, overcoming the principal source of trouble; fine roller adjustment; perfect cutting at higher ground speed. And most important, Toro mowers are equally useful on fairway or in the rough. They will go through where other mowers fail. TORO ROTARY SPRINKLER In making comprehensive tests with all kinds and types of sprinklers, we found that the rotary gave by far the most uni- form coverage. With either high or low pressure, the spread equalized over the entire area. Like everything else Toro ever built, extra strength has been added to meet difficult operating conditions. The worm gearing has been strongly improved and is guaranteed for two years. Try these new Toro Rotary's. You will like them. Your 1932 Catalog is Waiting. Write For It. Toro Manu facturing Co. 3042 - 3160 Snelling Ave. Minneapolis, Minn. TORO STANDARD PUTTING GREEN MOWER Without Attachments $55.00 This excellent machine, which, to use a hackneyed expression has been widely imitated but never equalled, needs no in- troduction to club officials or greenkeepers anywhere in the United States. The Toro greens mower is and has been in a class by itself. Toro greensmowers eight and nine years old are still in operation with years of service ahead of them. This super- latively fine mower has been reduced in price this year. Avail yourself of the op- portunity to round out your greenmowers, making them 100% Toro at comparatively small investment.
Transcript
TORO NEWS FOR GOOD GOLF COURSE SUPERINTENDENTS
TORO MASTER MODEL A TRACTORHere is a tractor without competition in the light tractor
field. Like the Model B it is not simply a pleasure car chassiscalled a tractor, but is built for a special job, namely golfcourse maintenance, and has ample power for any legitimateload. It handles with ease seven mowers up any grade wheregolf course turf can be grown. The 15-inch rear wheels affordample traction under any conditions. In short, the MasterModel A tractor is the tractor for the club that wants a realmachine for the job. Like all Toro equipment, the Model Atractor is built with a wide margin of safety.
TORO MASTER MODEL B TRACTORA real outfit built from the ground up to handle its job well.
The Toro is a golf course tractor all the way through, withheavy chassis, special radiator; a brute of a rear end that canalmost pull stumps without tearing it up; 15-inch tires on therear wheels; all steel dump body holding one cu. yd.; starter.It is in every way a thoroughly dependable, handy all aroundtractor.
This machine is furnished regularly with steel tires frontand rear. May be had with pneumatic tires in front and steelin the rear, or pneumatic tires all the way round, or steel infront and Barth in the rear, or pneumatic in the front andBarth in the rear. Rubber tires extra. When it is equippedwith pneumatic tires in the front and Barth in the rear itmakes an excellent truck as well as tractor.
1932 TORO TROJANMOWER
The only mower to respond to the pres-ent day demand for a higher ground speedwith the customary reel speed. TheTrojan mower is equipped with outstand-ing advantages-three point suspensionon the knife assembly, making it unneces-sary to adjust the mower oftener than oncea week; cast lugs in the wheel affordingtraction under any conditions; scraper forthe rear roller; double edged bed knife;wider reel blades affording longer wear;six blade reel; reel blades riveted, notwelded, thus retaining the temper which isnot the case with a welded blade; use ofdogs practically eliminated, overcomingthe principal source of trouble; fine rolleradjustment; perfect cutting at higherground speed. And most important, Toromowers are equally useful on fairway orin the rough. They will go through whereother mowers fail.
TORO ROTARY SPRINKLER
In making comprehensive tests with allkinds and types of sprinklers, we foundthat the rotary gave by far the most uni-form coverage. With either high or lowpressure, the spread equalized over theentire area.
Like everything else Toro ever built,extra strength has been added to meetdifficult operating conditions. The wormgearing has been strongly improved andis guaranteed for two years. Try thesenew Toro Rotary's. You will like them.
Your 1932 Catalog is Waiting.Write For It.
Toro Manu facturing Co.3042 - 3160 Snelling Ave.
Minneapolis, Minn.
TORO STANDARDPUTTING GREEN MOWER
Without Attachments $55.00This excellent machine, which, to use a
hackneyed expression has been widelyimitated but never equalled, needs no in-troduction to club officials or greenkeepersanywhere in the United States. The Torogreens mower is and has been in a class byitself. Toro greensmowers eight and nineyears old are still in operation with yearsof service ahead of them. This super-latively fine mower has been reduced inprice this year. Avail yourself of the op-portunity to round out your greenmowers,making them 100% Toro at comparativelysmall investment.
EDITORIAL COUNCILALEX BINNIE ChairmanFRANK ERMER
M. E. FARNHAM
ALFRED E. LUNDSTROM
WALTER C. REED
Single Copies Twenty-Five Cents.Yearly Subscription Three Dollars,
(Registered U. S. Patent Office)
The NATIONALGREENKEEPERROBERT E. POWER,
Pruidmt and Editor.FRANK H. PELTON,
Sur~tary.C. F. LOWE,
Tr~aJur~r,M.]. Fox,
AuiJtant Stcr~tary.
Official Organ of the National Association of Greenkeepers of America
MARCH, 1932VOLUMEVI-No.3
Published monthly at 405 Caxton Building, Cleveland, Ohio.Contents copyright, 1932, by The National Greenkeeper, Inc., Publishers.
Entered as second-class matter, Aug. 115, 19118, at the post office, Cleveland, Ohio, under act of March~, 1879All Rights Reserved - None of the contents of this Magazine, either wholly or in part, may be reprinted without permission.
ContentsGOLF COURSE MAINTENANCE BUDGETING
By John MacGreAor hh h __ h_h
.(
NITROGEN - WHAT IS IT?By Professor M. H. Cubbon h_h __ h hhU h 8
A LAST TRIBUTE TO MY FRIEND W. J. ROCKEFELLERBy Al Sch ard L h _ h h h h 12
WILLIAM J. ROCKEFELLERBy Sylvanus Pierson Jermain_hh_h h 12
SOME THOUGHTS ON GREENKEEPINGBy M. E. Farnharn h hh h h 13
HOW I TREATED MY GREENSBy Harry A. BurkhardL h h h __ h h 18
SPRING WORKBy Joseph Ball. h __ h h h_ 19
MINNESOT A GOSSIPByH. E. Stodola, Secretary h h __ h_hh h 20
MID-WEST NOTESBy C. E. TreAillus, Secretary h_ hh __ h hh __ hh __ 21
FRED BURKHARDT SAYS: h _ 22PACIFIC COAST GOSSIP
By Arthur LanAton h __ h_h_h_h __ 23
CANADIAN NEWSBy J. H. Evans 24PHILADELPHIA NEWS
By M. E. Farnharn, Secretary h __ h h h 25NEW JERSEY NOTES
By John Anderson, President hh h __U 26TRI-STATE GOSSIP
By John Quaill, Secretary hhh_h_Uh_U_h __ h 27CLEVELAND DISTRICT NEWS
By Walter E.~Knowles, Secretary hh h hh 30MACGREGOR SOUNDS KEYNOTE OF SUCCESS 31MARKET PLACE AND BUYERS' GUIDE 32
Officers---National Ass"'n of Greenkeepers of AmericaJohn Morley, President
Youngstown Country Club2248 Selma AvenueYoungstown, Ohio
Fred A. Burkhardt, Sec'y.-Treas.Westwood Country ClubBox "A"-Rocky River Sta.Cleveland, Ohio
John MacGregor, Vice-PresidentChicago Golf ClubP. O. Box 717Wheaton, Illinois
DIRECTORS
John Anderson, West Orange, N. J.Carl Bretzlaff, Indianapolis, IndianaEdward B. Dearie, Chicago, Ill.M. E. Farnham, Philadelphia, Penna.Leo J. Feser, Wayzata, Minn.
John Quaill, Pittsburgh, Penna.Wm. Sansom, Toronto, Ontario, Can.
TRUSTEESJoseph Williamson. Chairman,
Columbus, Ohio, (1 year)
Grange Alves, Cleveland, Ohio, (3years)
John Pressler, Pittsburgh, Penn., (2years)
DISTRICT VICE PRESIDENTSELMER F AFFELDT, Engineers'
Country Club, Roslyn, Long Island,New York.
A. E. ARNOLD, Masonic Country Club,Grand Rapids, Michigan.
C. J. AUGUSTO, Del Monte CountryClub, Del Monte, Calif.
G. W. BARNES, Banff Springs GolfCourse, Banff, Alberta, Canada.
C. G. BARTON, Sylvania Golf Club,Toledo, Ohio.
ALEX BINNIE, Shoreacres Golf Club.Lake Bluff, Ill.
JAMES BOLTON, Berkshire CountryClub, Reading, Pennsylvania.
MICHAEL BISSEL, Montclair GolfClub, Montclair, New Jersey.
ALEX BOYD, Rainier Country Club,Seattle, Washington.
A. L. BRANDON, Saint Charles Coun-try Club, Saint Charles, Illinois.
PAUL BROCKHAUSEN. New BlueMound Country Club, Wauwatosa,Wisconsin.
THOMAS BRYDON, Kahkwa CountryClub, Erie, Pennsylvania.
J. O. CAMPBELL, Wethersfield Coun-try Club, Hartford, Conecticut.
JAMES CONNAUGHTON, Monroe GolfClub, Pittsford, New York.
CARL DAVIS, Moonbrook CountryClub, Jamestown, New York.
E. E. DAVIS, Meadville Country Club,Meadville, Pennsylvania.
M. L. DePARLIEN, Gulf Stream GolfClub, Delray Beach, Florida,
THOS. E. DOUGHERTY, SpringhavenCountry Club, Chester, Pennsylvania.
GORDON W. EARL, Ogdensburg Coun-try Club. Ogdensburg, New York.
CHARLES ERICKSON, MinikahdaClub, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
FRANK W. ERMER, Ridgewood-Willo-wick Golf Clubs, Cleveland, Ohio.
LEWIS M. EVANS, Tam O'ShanterGolf Club, Canton, Ohio.
O. E. EVANS, Country Club, York-town, Virginia.
R. E. FARMER, Brynwood CountryClub, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
D. ALLEN FRASER, Berkshire Huntand Country Club, Lenox, Mass.
FORD GOODRICH, Flint Country Club,Flint, Michilmn.
JACK GORMLEY, Van Schiack IslandCountry Club, Cohoes, New York.
JOHN GRAY, Essex Golf and CountryClub, Sandwich, Ontario, Canada.
J. E. HAMMER, JR., Memphis Coun-try Club, Memphis, Tennessee.
HARRY HANSON, Maple Bluff Coun-try Club, Madison, Wisconsin.
H. HAWKINS, Lakeview Golf Club,Port Credit, Ontario.
ROBERT HENDERSON, Country Clubof Buffalo, Williamsville, N. Y.
G. HOLMQUIST, Fort Wayne CountryClub, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
FRANK J. HOSNER, Glendale Golf andCountry Club, Saginaw, Michigan.
ARTHUR J. JENSEN, Fargo CountryClub, Fargo, N. D.
CHAS. S. KESSELRING, MoundsvilleCountry Club, Moundsville, WestVirginia.
FRED LARRENCE, Deal Golf Club,Oakhurst, New Jersey.
M. W. LAWRENCE, West End Coun-try Club. New Orleans, Louisiana.
GEORGE LIVINGSTONE, Bell MeadeCountry Club, Nashville, Tennessee.
HUGH LUKE, Garden City CountryClub, Garden City, New York.
SAMUJo~L LYLE, North Hills CountryClub, Ferguson, Missouri.
JEROME MACDONALD. PalmettoGolf Club, Aiken, South Carolina.
TOM K. McCLENAHAN, Mayfair Golfand Country Club, Edmonton, Al-berta, Canada.
JOE P. MAYO, Pebble Beach CountryClub, Pebble Beach, California.
Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.TOM V ARDON. Yacht Club, White
Bear, Minnesota.RICHARD WATSON, Chevy Chase
Golf Club, Washington, D. C.BONNIE WEAVER, Burlington Golf
Club, Burlington, Iowa.GEORGE WELLIN, Tumblebrook
Country Club, New Britain, Conn.
JACK WELSH, Wakonda CountryClub, Des Moines, Iowa.
SAM WHITING, Olympic Club. SanFrancisco, California.
WALTER WOODWARD, SennevilleCountry Club, Montreal, Quebec,Canada.
4 Tbe Natioual Greel1keeper March, 1932
FAIRWAY
PRICE, ON
CUTTING
BULLDOG
ON
SMOOTHPULLING,
NEW IDEAL
HAS THE EDGE
ON
THE
MOWER
EASY
Get these points on the new Ideal Bulldog:
1. Costs less-Operates for less- 'Villiastlonger.
2. Pulls easier, because excess weight is avoided.
3. Cuts smoother, hecause the high speed, 7-blade Bulldog units hug the ground withoutbouncing-and follow every contour. _Light
and speedy, yet rugged enough for thetoughest job.
Availahle in 7-gang, 16 ft. cut; 5-gang, 11}1ft. cut; and 3-gang, 7 ft. cut.
So sitll pic-there arc no springs or gadgets. Sostrong-these new mowers nlean year after yearafter year of good cutting - with hardly apenny for repairs.
FINER GREENS WITH THEIDEAL POWER GREENS MOWER
~I an v of A rnerica's finest clubsha ve purchased the Ideal PowcrGrecnsmower because it does themost perfect job of cutting pos-sible- incidentally they apprc-ciate the labor-saving featureas well.
GOLF COURSEEQUIPMENT
IDEAL POWER LAWN l\'IO\VER COl\1PANY, 444 I{alamazoo Street, Lansing, Mich.Factoryllrancllc:<
.,13 W. Chicago AvC'nu.,Chicago, Ill.
2:n Lafa)-.,Ut. Sireeti';ew York City
161 V.:'tter ~treetFerndille (Uetroit), !\Iich.
UmJlcrs in All /'rincil"JI Citi ••:<
MARCH1932
VOLUME VI
NUMBER III
~he NATIONAL
GREENKEEPEROfficial Organ of The
National Association
of Greenkeepers of
America
Golf Course Maintenance BudgetingBy JOHN MAcGREGOR, Greenkeeper
Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, Illinois
Read at tbe 6tb Annual Educational Confcr£'11ce of tbe National Association of Gre(,llkl'£'pcrsof America, be/d at New York Cit,y, January 19-22.
GREEN KEEPER MUST KEEP
HIS COSTS
ceeded. This sounds like account-ing, but it is not accounting at all.It is just a matter of keeping trackof what you are doing so you your-self day by day will know withouthaving to depend on anybody else,what you are spending.
IF A green keeper was an account-ant he would not be a green keeper,bu t this does not mean that agreenkeeper should not be a cost-keeper, because he should. And tokeep his costs he must have, not acomplicated accounting distribu-tion systetn, but a simple, efficientset of records whereby in from fiveto fifteen tninutes tin1e at the endof each day he can distribute his
labor charges and material charges to the placeswhere these costs should be charged. I believe I amsafe in saying that until about three years ago verylittle cost-keeping was done by any greenkeeper,and about the only reason in the world why it wasnet done was that the greenkeeper felt that he wasdoing a man-sized job in keeping the course in con-dition.
Perhaps I might also say that the average green-keeper, myself included, when we first institutedour system, faced the daily recording of figures anddistribution of his costs with some question as towhether he was capable of book work. Myexperi-ence shows that it is far simpler than the majority
JOHN MAcGREGOR
Oil/' of All/erica's for/'lIIo.~1gr/'ellke/'pcrs, wbo bas gillell ill-ICl1.lil'e sllld)' 10 Ibe problelll oj
syslelllalizillg golf course111a': III/' ",//lce.
WHEN Mr. Morley, our presi-den t, wrote and asked if I wouldtake a place on this program, I im-med ia tel y ad vised him that itwould be a pleasure and an honor todo so, and that I would select as mysubject, uGolf Course MaintenanceBudgeting. "
There has never been a time inmany years when this matter as-sun1ed the importance that it doestoday. In every club in the UnitedStates, aln10st without exception,the question of making the dollardo a bigger job in the way of greensmaintenance is a vital one con-fronting not only the directors ofthe club, but naturally the green-keeper himself.
This of all time is the time whenthe green keeper can demonstratethat he is not only an expert on grasses and coursemaintenance, but a business man capable of con-serving his employer's money yet giving results intime of need. And when I talk about golf coursemaintenance budgeting, I atn talking about a toolwhich will enable you to materially reduce outlayin the majority of cases without sacrificing thoseplaying conditions so necessary to keep your men1-bers proud of their course.
The moment we face budgeting in connectionwith greenkeeping, a picture necessarily arises offigures-of not only forecasting expenditures, butof carefully keeping track of them as they aremade, to see that the forecasts have not been ex-
6 The Natiollal Greenkeeper March, 1932
of us thought it would be. Now, today, conditionshave changed. Instead of saying, ((Keep the courseperfect no matter what the cost," the club says,((Keepthe course perfect but don't exceed a certainamount."
Club officials generally, recognize that if theirclub is to continue to operate, maintenance costsboth on the golf course and in the club house willhave to be materially reduced. This cannot bedone by cutting quality of food or the conditionof the course, because that would cut down patron-age-and we must have two things today-maxi-mum patronage available and minimum operatingexpenses on all sides. Many of our members towhom the necessity has not previously beenbrought home are faced with a problem entirelynew to their experience, the necessity of reducingcosts and yet maintaining desirable conditions atthe club.
If, within the next two years, and I advance itas a prediction, every greenkeeper has not installedand put in operation for himself an efficient systemof daily cost-keeping, he will have a difficult timecontrolling his costs, and consequently a difficulttime in holding his position.
BUDGET EXPENDITURES MUST BE ITEMIZED
WHEN you used to speak of budgets, they meantsomuch money appropriated for maintenance, andthe man in charge of the greens came about as closeto the figure as he found possible. No thought wasgiven to the items and expenditures-for instance,how much it would cost to mow the greens for aday, a week, a month or a year, and certainly therewas no daily attempt to control and govern thesecosts, which after all is the import,ant part ofgreens maintenance budgeting.
A business, no matter what its character, cannotbe successfully operated without efficiency. Thisapplies to golf course maintenance, or the profes-sion of greenkeeping, and efficiency simply meanssetting a certain amount to spend and a certainquality to be achieved, and then attaining your ob-jective without spending as much as has been ap-propriated, if possible.
To work out a simple form of cost-keeping, it isfirst necessary to organize yourself and your basicwork-have a system in your labor operation-justlike a factory. Allot to each man a certain task orcombination of tasks-estimate approximately the
cost of each job each day. When you have donethis, you have a foundation upon which to estimatelabor costs for each month, and a total for the year.
It is relatively simple to estimate how many menare necessary to successfully maintain your cours~-to allot each man a reasonable amount of work todo and seethat the work isdone efficiently. In otherwords, don't watch your men to see that they areworking, but watch the men's work to see that it isdone properly and in sufficient volume. This solvesthe problem of the superintendence of men over awidely scattered area to a greater degree than any-thing I have ever encountered. This is provingitself a far more practical and economical methodof operation than working men in gangs or crews.
A man who has a certain amount of work to doeither does that work on time and properly, or heis replaced. It results, too, in the elimination of theunfit and the creating of a picked crew after a sea-son's work.
Now when you have figured and estimated abouthow much money is necessary for labor, your at-tention must then be turned to upkeep-to fertil-izers, fungicides, vermin eradicators, sand, gaso-line, oils, grease, power, machinery parts and re-pairs and other smaller items classed under miscel-laneous. Approximately estimate this, and thenadd it to the cost of labor and upkeep, and that willbe your budget for the ensuing year.
ASK }")R EXCESS BUDGET TO MEET EMERGENCIES
HOWEVER, in view of the uncertainty of weatherconditions and the always present possibility ofdrought and insect pests, to play safe it is well toask for a thousand dollar reserve fund which, whileyou don't intend to use it under normal conditions,will be there to prevent you exceeding your budgetin case of emergency.
When it comes to the distribution of labor andupkeep, this is either a daily job or it is valueless. Toaccomplish this you keep a diary of your day's oper-ations, and the cost of the different work done. Itis surprising how simple it is to keep the cost ofoperation if you will carry a diary in your pocketand make your entries from it promptly.
With this diary it is simple to determine the costof the different items. The next step is to haveavailable a monthly cost sheet, and take the itemsdaily out of your diary and distribute on these costsheets asconcisely aspossibleand in the proper divi-SIOns.
March, 1932 The National Greenkee per 7
One way of handling the monthly cost sheet isto divide it into eight headings, for instance, greenmowing and green sprinkling would be one head-ing. Enter separately all of your other major oper-ations, including rough cutting, fairway mowing,etc., so each will be allotted a column.
Now if your entries are made daily, it is an easymatter to total from time to time and seehow youare running against your budget. You will havethis information if your Green chairman shouldwant to know, and if he doesn't want to know, youshould know anyway.
At the end of each month, every greenkeeperoperating under this plan knows from his ownnotes how much he is over or under his budget tothat date. It is hardly necessary to call your atten-tion to the fact that upkeep items are totalled onceeach month.
GREEN KEEPER KNOWS DAILY WHERE HE STANDS
e5l1Y experience has been, operating under thissystem for two years, that where I used to have towait until near the end of the succeeding month to
find out from the accountant what I had spent, Inow know daily, weekly, and the first of eachmonth exactly where I stand. At the end of theyear, the different items in each group are pulled offand compiled on one sheet, and the total yearlyoperations submitted to the Green committeechairman.
I believe that four years ago if anybody had putthis cost-keeping budgeting proposition up to meas an absolute requirement in connection with mywork, I would have been greatly worried. I wouldhave feared the accounting part of the task andquestioned as to whether or not I was capable ofhandling it to the satisfaction of myself and my em-ployers.
Today, after two years' experience, I want tosay to you in all sincerity that the cost-keepingor record-making or whatever you want to call it,has not been in any sense a burden on me, and Ihope never again to have to operate a golf coursewithout my own figures to tell me constantly whatI am doing, and enable me to control costs andexpenditures. Thank you.
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Nittogen'--' What Is It?Factors Affecting the Accumulation of Nitrate Nitrogen in Soil
By PROFESSOR M. H. CUBBONMassacbusetts State College, Amberst, Mass.
Read at tbe 6tb Annual Educational Conference of tbe National Association of Gree11keepersof America, beld at New York City, January 19-22.
M. H. CUBBON
'X'ho has 111 at!e a closestudy of soil cOllllilivl1Sand tbe actiol1 of bacteriail1 the growth of fil1e turf.
~
,~ ...
acid, nor too cold. Nature usually hassoils that are quite acid, and very oftenwet and cold, yet plants are expected tofind the nitrates they need. In the caseof greens, man often makes conditionsworse instead of better, unintention-ally, of course.
Let us look more into the details ofthe requirements for nitrate produc-tion in soil. Since the process is one ofoxidation, plenty of oxygen must bepresent. Soil that is packed or wet hasIittle and sometimes no air (oxygen)space. Plants growing on wet soiloften show yellow leaves and look
sickly, largely because they cannot get the nitrogenneeded. When forced to do so by conditions, bac-teria can take the oxygen away from nitrate anduse it to support themselves, and, of course, plantssuffer because the nitrogen is no longer available. Inmost cases the harm done by a wet soil is indirectrather than direct, but this does not prevent it frombeing serious.
Heavy soils (silts, clays, loams) are the ones thatpack worst. The remedy is to. incorporate sand,organic matter, or any material which will loosenthe soil. Packing is much worse when soil is wet.Packing due to persons walking over greens is muchmore severe than the rolling which the greens nor-mally get.
Ordinary temperatures are satisfactory for theproduction of nitrates. By ordinary is meant above60° F. Acid soils require somewhat higher tem-peratures than 60, while neutral soils are able to
NATURE has put bacteria into soilin many different varieties and kinds,each to do a rather particular job.There are certain organisms whichwork on one type of organic matter,and others for different types. There isa division of labor; the products whichone group discards as waste materialsanother group requires as food.
When organic matter is decayed bysoil organisms, it produces simple sub-stances, mostly gases. Of these gasesthe one that concerns us most is am-monia. Regardless of how complexthe organic matter may be the nitro-gen in it ultimately reaches the ammonia condition.As many as a dozen different groups of organismsin soil produce ammonia from organic nitrogen.Thus if one grou p happens to be indisposed anotheris there to do the work. Nature has generously pro-vided for a plentiful supply of ammonia.
Plants normally cannot use nitrogen as ammonia,hence it must be changed to a usable form. Thisform happens to be nitrate nitrogen. Nitrates areproduced from ammonia by a process of oxidationby two groups of bacteria. Such bacteria are spe-cialized workers. If conditions are unfavorable tothem the production of nitrates must stop becausethere are no other organisms to do this particularjob.
NITRATE BACTERIA ARE SKILLED WORKMEN
LIKE many skilled workmen, nitrate bacteria arequite particular about the conditions under whichthey labor. Thesoil must neither be too wet, nor too
NEXT MONTHIn the April issue of the NATIONAL GREENKEEPER, several interesting papers read at the New York EducationalConference will be published, among them being, "The Care of Trees," by Homer L. Jacobs-"Soil Structure of
Putting Greens," by Kenneth Welton-and "Economy on the Golf Course," by John Quaill.
8 March, 1932
The National Greenkee per 9
Don't
Use Urea on Your GreensUrca is rccommended hy the U. S. Golf Associa-tion. It contains 46% nitrogen (55.9% ammonia)in the same soluhle organic form as nitrogen inliquid manure. It is both quick-acting and long-lasting, and docs not leave any undesirable resi-ducs in the soil. It gives the grass a healthy,dark green color, and produces unequalled results
in spring, summer or fall.
yourfairwaysWHENEVER a club neglects its
fairways its players soon neglectthe club. For, to its playing menlbers,a club is no better than its course.
Don't neglect your fairways. Thickenup )Tour turf and produce luxuriantgrowth by the use of Nitrophoska-theconcentrated, complete fairway ferti-lizer. Nitrophoska is econonlical-fourtimes as rich in nitrogen, phosphoricacid and potash as the ordinary conl-plete fertilizer. One ton is equal inplant-food to four tons of ordinary fer-tilizer. l\tloreover,all of its plant food issoluble and quick-acting. And, becauseit is granular, it is as easy as .wheat tobroadcast. Early spring application of200pounds per acre produces nlarvelousresults on fairways-gives you betterturf at low cost. Order NitrophoskanOlV fronl your supply dealer or direct.S)Tnthetic Nitrogen Products Corp.285 l\1adison Avenue, New York, N.. Y.
produce considerable nitrates as low as 50°. Thismay account for a difference in starting time inspnng.
SOIL ACIDITY IS IMPORTANT FACTOR
~y FAR the most important single factor in th~production of nitrates is the soil acidity. Acidity isexpressed in terms of pH value, confusing thoughthe term may be. pH 7 is neutral, and any pHvalue less than 7 is acid. The smaller the numberexpressing pH value, the greater the acidity, or themore acid the soil. pH 4 is therefore more acid thanpH 5. Soils rarely get below pH 4, while pH 5 istoo much acid for most plants. pH 6 is perhaps alittle. too high for the best greens conditions, every-thing considered.
In most soils, bacteria do not produce nitrateswhen the acidity is stronger than pH 5. Consider-able variation among soils occurs and in some casesexceptions do happen. This is typical of the com-plex conditions found in soils. If there were novariables the science of fertilizing soils would soonbecome exact. As it is, nobody can put his fingerdefinitely on some of the problems confronting us.
The amount of nitrate accumulating in the soilfrom organic fertilizers and materials dependspretty largely on the ratio between nitrogen andcarbon. If too much carbon is present in propor-tion to the nitrogen, nitrates do not appear in thesoil for sometime after adding the organic material.Organic materials with less than 4% nitrogen usu-ally produce this absence of nitrates. Peat mosscomes in this class. Many times it has tended to givepoor results, which could have been avoided if alittle nitrogen had been added with the peat. Afterthe bacteria have worked on the organic materialand have largely decayed it, some nitrate has achance to accumulate. These so-called toxic effectsof peat are therefore only a shortage of nitrogen be-cause the bacteria which decay the peat take nitro-gen away from the plants.
AVAILABILITY OF ORGANIC NITROGEN FERTILIZERS
C["'HE question of how quickly organic nitrogenfertilizers become available can be partly answeredas follows: Nitrate accumulation from organicnitrogen sources is closely related to the amount ofwater-soluble nitrogen in the organic material. Inthe case of cottonseed meal compared with driedblood on soil 3 (Massachusetts) you will notice that
cottonseed accumulated nitrates faster than diddried blood. The water-soluble nitrogen in eachfertilizer is practically the same, but the proportionof water-soluble nitrogen in cottonseed meal tototal nitrogen is much higher than in dried blood.
Again exceptions occur in this respect, but it isfairly safe to say that nitrate nitrogen accumulatesfrom organic materials practically in proportion tothe amount of water-soluble nitrogen contained.
The rapidity with which nitrate nitrogen ac-cumulates in soil is the best single measurement wehave for the productivity of that soil. In makingcontrolled experiments it is the common practice toadd to soil some nitrogenous fertilizer such as sul-phate of ammonia, keep the soil at favorable mois-ture and temperature for a time, and then deter-mine the amount of nitrate in the soil. In the tablesfollowing are given summaries of experiments inwhich nitrate accumulation was studied. This ac-cumulation is stated as a per cent of the originalnitrogen added to the soil. The important thing inall tables except the last is the time factor.
Nitrate AccumulationMgms. of nitrogen
Description of added per Per cent nitrogen changed to nitrate afterSoil 100 gms.. soil 10 Days 15 Days 20 Days 28 Day:.
Basic silt loam - 10 72 82 88 9430 33 53 70 92
Neutral finesandy loam ____ 10 55 86 90 109
30 14 32 53 71Medium acid loam _ 10 31 53 63 97
30 10 18 22 39
Nitrate Accumulation In Alabama Soils% nitrogen changed to nitrate after
pH values 10 Days 20 Days 30 DaysSoil No. L 5.2 15 32 66
5.6 66 93 100Soil No. 2 5.9 42
6.2 91Soil No. 3 5.6 33
6.8 96In this experiment 4 mgms. nitrogen were added per 100
grams of soil. In both experiments nitrogen was supplied assulphate of ammonia.
Nitrate Accumulation In MassachusettsSOIL No. I-Fertile sandy loam. pH value 6.12. 8 milli-
grams nitrogen added from various substances.
Per cent nitrogen changed to nitrate inSource of Nitrogen 4 Days 6 Days 10 Days 14 Days 22 DaysCottonseed MeaL 0 .7 0 21.2 16.5Castor Pomace 0 8.5 13.7 22.9 15.0Urea 4.8 16.1 48.1 88.2 114.2Dried Blood 2.03 0 33.6 68.2 114.2Milorganite ---- 9.1 18.1 45.0 27.9 55.0Grass ClippingL 13.0 31.6 45.5 33.7 44.7
