K E W S [ L E W S K

A GREEN COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN SAYS FAIRWAYS AT BROOKLINE THE SPOTLESS HORSEMAN

NOVEMBER MEETING FALL WORK AT NEW BEDFORD

NOVEMBER 1 9 3 2

This N E W S L E T T E R is published month ly by the Greenkeepers Club of New England , and sent f r e e to its mem-bers and thei r Greens ' Chairmen. Sub-scription price ten cents a copy, or a dollar a year . GUY C. W E S T Edi tor

312 Mt. P l e a s a n t St., Pa l l River , Mass .

MARSTON B U R N E T T . . Business Mgr. W y a n t e n u c k G. C., Grea t Barring"ton, Mass .

November, 1932 Vol. 4, No. ¡1 A GREEN COMMITTEE CHAIR-

MAN SAYS:

I t has been an education and a pleasure to a t tend the meetings of the Greenkeepers Club of New England . I t has given me the oppor tuni ty to ex-change ideas with some of your ve terans and listen to the humorous stories of your friend, John Shanahan .

I wan t Mr. Cassidy to a t tend as many meetings as possible, as it gives him more dignity, and he also comes back wi th more knowledge of his problems and bet ter able to supervise his work.

Las t year I visited twenty-seven golf clubs, not to play, bu t to seek in-format ion . As I looked over the courses, i t b rought home to me the f a c t that 1 our greenskeepers a re not ord inary men. They mus t be very efficient and have sound judgement in order to ac-complish such good results .

The crit icism I would make is t h a t you boys a re too modest. T u r n on the l ight . Give yourselves more publicity. Drive it home to the Golf Clubs, th rough the i r Greens sections, t h a t you are no longer greenskeepers . T h a t t e rm doesn't mean a n y t h i r g . You are Course Super-intendents . The t ime is gone by when you work with your hands . All work on a golf Course comes under your super-vision, and t h a t requires brains , and you are the b ra ins ! Your t i t le puts you on a h igher s t andard with the Directors and members, and this leads to in-creased salaries.

Golfers organize clubs f o r pleasure. Your organizat ion was formed, not only to promote good fellowship, bu t fo r the purpose of pu t t ing your occupation on a h igher basis.

I. C. Judkins , Chai rman, Greens Committee

Needham Country Club.

FAIRWAYS AT BROOKLINE ^

We have some f a i r w a y s here a t Brookline which are very good, also some are very poor. Our low f a i r w a y s and the hollows are considered good but our main fight is the hills and knolls which a re of solid ledge, and we have seeded, fer t i l ized and loamed these spots almost an average of twice a y e a r and we get resul ts fo r the t ime being. Then comes a dry sp?ll and we a r e r i gh t where we s ta r ted f r o m with the lack of wa te r . Many have said, "Why don't you run hose or pipe wa te r to these knolls?" In the first place, these knolls a re many and it seems to happen away f r o m any pipe lines. Secondly, to r un pipe to most of these places or n e a r them would mean blas t ing your way f o r proper dra inage, and this costs plenty, bu t we are bi t by bi t g'aining by creeping a line here and rounding a hill the re to get wa te r to serve the needed spot, and I feel sure before long the need of a good wa te r system fo r our F a i r w a y s will be the next big step.

Our approaches we have kept watered two to th ree hundred fee t in f r o n t of the greens and wi th fer t i l izer and loam they have come along splendidly, and with this to prove how mois ture will has ten bet ter conditions, I feel sure i t will h u r r y up our f a i r w a y system.

When we speak of hills and knolls, we da not mean we neglect the other spots of f a i r w a y s but we do t r y to con-cent ra te on the weak places. We have applied about a thousand ya rds of loam

here and there to f a i r w a y s wi th fer t i l -izer and some seed, the seed has been mostly Fescue used on knolls, and we used f o u r different kinds of fer t i l izer , the loam applied was screened and mat ted in. We feel t h a t screening the mate r ia l saves us money, as picking-stone by hand and damage to uni ts amounts to more t h a n the screening.

All in all when we can have a good f a i r w a y w a t e r i n g system we th ink i t will more t h a n pay f o r i tself , by less care to the f a i rways , needing less seed and loam and labor.

Howard D. F a r r a n t .

A REWARD FOR HONESTY, INTEGRITY AND CHARACTER

Quoted from Collier's, the National Weekly, for March 27, 1926

THE SPOTLESS HORSEMAN By Grantland Rice

"Pop" Geers, Sir Galahad of the t u r f , was winning at seventy- three . The m o n u m e n t they ' r e ra is ing to " P o p " Geers, ve t e ran champ re insman, is a m o n u m e n t to in tegr i ty , hones ty and spor tsmanship. One man in Cleveland has given

$250,000 toward it, and contributions have been coming in f r o m all pa r t s of t he world.

I t will be in l a rge p a r t a monument to honesty, in tegr i ty and cha rac t e r— beyond the reach of all the money ever harvested.

P a r t of the inscr ipt ion will read something like th i s :

Dedicated to the, memory of Edward Franklin (Pop) Geers—The Silent Man of Tennessee, the greatest reinsman that ev.er lived and the only competitor ever heard of who remained a star and a champion for over f i f t y years.

In th is long span there was never the sl ightest h int of t r ickery, cheating, goa t get t ing, rule breaking, rule evasions or any th ing else not ordered in the spi r i t of the code.

F o r Pop Geers possessed in tegr i ty almost beyond belief. I t was so marked t h a t even his closest r ivals in any race were wil l ing to leave the set t lement of any issue to Pop 's s ta tement , wi thout a rgumen t or debate.

100 Per Cent Fine If the re was any point a t issue in a

race, the judges would of ten ask Pop wha t had happened, and his answer definitely settled the discussion to the complete sa t i s fac t ion of his r ivals . If Pop said so, i t was t rue . His word was the final s t a t ement ; something which judges and r ivals were willing to accept a t 100 per cent.

There was something in his cha rac te r t h a t seemed to ca r ry his confidence to the horses he drove. Geers could take a s t range horse and handle him bet ter t h a n some owner who perhaps had driven him fo r years .

The number of races he won in this long span runs to an unbelievable count. He was seldom beaten, even when dr iving the slower horse. His average was the highest his sport has ever known—not the highest f o r twenty yea r s—but f o r more t han fifty years . And t ha t is only p a r t of his story.

A Secret of Horsemanship He had a cer ta in touch of the hands,

a cer ta in something, never understood, which wen t direct to the horse he was handling. Horses beyond control of others abandoned thei r mu t iny and gave him their best.

The Shrine of Honor Geers has l e f t a memory fo r the

y o u r g e r generat ion of spor t sman and competitors to s tudy and consider. He has shown beyond all debate the wor th of s t r a igh t shooting, square dealing,

f r i end ly helpfulness , rugged hones ty ; of giving his best a t every s t a r t . He had no alibi and no complaint, no ma t t e r w h a t the break aga ins t him. He had no excuses to offer, fo r no excuses a r e due when one has given 100 per cent of w h a t he has to give.

He s ta r ted s t ra igh t , a t sunr ise ; he was walk ing s t r a igh t when the sun went down.

From Heart to Heart About The Spotless Horseman—can

you recall another ins tance of a monu-ment dedicated to a spor tsman 's honesty, in tegr i ty and charac te r? I sn ' t i t wonder-fu l , a beau t i fu l th ing?

W h a t m a n deep down in his hea r t who reads this can help saying " A m e n " and yet how many of us live up to these ideals, not one day in the week but every day?

If there were only more of th is in our daily contact and intercourse, wouldn ' t it a t least be the beginning of the solution to our problems, the leaven t ha t leavens the whole lump?

NOVEMBER MEETING

The November meet ing was held a week early to t r y to ge t good weather ' fo r the las t outdoor meeting. Some t h i r t y ha rdy members ga thered a t t he Commonwealth Country Club, Brighton, Mass. and played an eighteen hole medal handicap t ou rnamen t in a fine example of a "Scotch mis t" .

Low gross was won by Joseph Oldfield with 79.

Net prizes were won by:—Lloyd Stott , 92-25-67—C. E . Trea t , 91-20-71— A. Wendell, 89-18-71—Paul Hayden, 92-20-72.

A t the business meet ing following lunch, Joseph A. Cashman was elected to membership, and Joseph W. Cataldo was elected an Associate Member.

Fruit of his Observation

Essay on the banana by a J a p a n e s e Boy who is l earn ing Engl i sh : "The banana are a g rea t remarkable f r u i t . He a re constructed in the same archi-tec tura l style as sausage, difference be-ing skin of sausage are habi tual ly con-sumed, while it is not advisable to ea t wrapp ings of banana . The banana a re held a lof t while consuming, sausage a re usually l e f t in recl ining position. Sausage depend f o r creation on h u m a n being or s tuf f ing machine, while b a n a n a are P r i s t i ne Produc t of honorable Mother Na tu re . In case of sausage, both conclusions a r e a t t ach-d to other sau-sage; banana on other hand a re a t tached on one end to stem, and opposite t e rmina t ion entirely loose. Fi-nally, banana are s tr ict ly of vegetable kingdom, while affiliation of sausage of-ten undecided."

Boston Business.

Orville 0 . Clapper, Manage r of the New England Toro Co. with f ami ly rushed home to vote on the 8th, follow-ing a month 's t r i p th rough the Middle West . The Clappers covered some 4000 miles by motor and 2000 by t r a in .

The Rhode Is land S ta te College Greenkeepers ' Shor t Course, will s t a r t on J a n u a r y 30, and continue th rough F e b r u a r y 3. Each day 's p r o g r a m will s t a r t a t 10 o'clock and continue unti l 3 P. M. There will be lectures and dis-cussions on g rass fer t i l izat ion and maintenance, liming, weed control, and diseases. A complete p rog ram will be pr inted in the next Newslet ter .

"To choose be tween two products needs exper ience and brains. A robo t can choose be tween two pr ices ."

HOVEY'S SEED

S E R V I c E

Mr. Greenskeeper: Now is the time to plant a few bulbs

around the clubhouse such as Tulips, Hyacinths, Crocus, Snowdrops, Scillas, etc.

They will make an excellent display in the spring.

Why not write or call on us for our special clearance prices.

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ADVANCED SCHOOL FOR GREENKEEPERS "Bel ieving t h a t you will be in teres ted to know w h a t courses are being offered

in the advanced school f o r greenkeepers , I have p repa red the fol lowing data . This school is open only to those who have been th rough the regu la r Win te r School f o r Greenkeepers .

Courses Lab. Lect. Instructor 1. Entomology 2 Mr. Kellogg 2. I n t e rp re t a t i on of scientific and

profess ional art icles 1 2 Mr. Dickinson 3. Soils 2 1 Mr. 0 . H. Thayer 4. Construct ion, surveying, p lan

making 3 Mr. Dickinson 5. Motors 3 (Mr. Gunness

(Mr. Pushee 6. Repor t making and p resen t ing 1 2 Mr. Dickinson 7. F o r u m (with f i rs t year men) 5

Tota l hours in classroom each week 32. Regis t ra t ion J a n u a r y 3, 1933. Classes begin J a n u a r y 4, 1933. Labora to ry per iods 2 hours each. Lec ture per iods 1 hour . Classes will be regu la r ly scheduled and conducted. There will be an oppor tun i ty f o r the discussion of o ther subjec ts pe r t inen t

to g reenkeep ing in courses 2 and 6. Members of the advanced school may also "s i t i n " the classes of the r egu la r

school. We are p lann ing to have an exhibit ion a t the close of the school, probably

March 11, 12 or 18, 19. Cordially,

L. S. DICKINSON, Assis tant P ro fessor of Agronomy.

Ed. Note—The Win te r School f o r Greenkeepers is fu l ly enrolled at this t ime, and the re is a long wai t ing list.

The firm of Woodworth Bradley of Providence has recent ly gone out of business.

"Beware the s i tuat ion t h a t finds you unprepa red . There ' s seldom luck in th ings t h a t sneak up on you ."

"Uncle Shylock—the man who poured out men and money to end a war out of which he got no th ing but ra ised eye-brows f r o m the na t ions he had helped."

"Charac t e r and common sense a re re-quisite to confidence. Panics never ge rmina te where people t r u s t each o ther" .

Apply this to golf course main ta in-e n c e — " I t ' s been wholesome to discover how many th ings we didn ' t real ly need" .

"Se l f - sa t i s fac t ion is dea th to achieve-m e n t " .

FALL WORK AT NEW BEDFORD

Fall work at the New Bedford Country Club including- building over the sixth green, making a large compost pile, and renovating some of the tses which had had the worst wear this reason.

We raised the sixth green f rom two to three f ee t in the rear in places, and brought it down to a level in f r o n t so tha t it would shed wa te r ; whereas be-fore, water sometimes stayed in the centre of the green as long as two days a f t e r a heavy rainstorm. In rebuilding, we used over one hundred yards of sandy loam, four tons of barnyard ma-nure, and also some bonemeal. We used the same sod tha t was on the green except for some places which had brown-patch. These we replaced with sod f rom the nursery.

We made quite a large compost pile out of peat, loam, and manure. I think a compost pile is a very good asset to a golf course, as it is much bet ter than the amount of space it occupies.

Looking forward to a good season in 1933. Michael J. O'Grady.

"A realization of the f ac t t ha t the grounds crews on most courses have been cut clown to one half or one third their normal operating strength surely can place no blame on the greenkeeper if the layouts lack something of their former smartness. I t is t rue tha t a good turf man with about two assistants could keep the ball rolling on an eighteen hole course. It is t rue that a couple of huskies given a cow pasture could provide golf of a kind. I t is also t rue that under these conditions playing comfort must be sacrificed.

"Greenkeeping before the financial crash was a decidely clean collar job. But without waiting to be asked these men have thrown aside their coats and ties and have mounted the t ractor seat,

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grabbed the steering wheel, pushed a mower, and manned the compost pile when the need arose. All honor is due to these men who are going to pull the golf courses of the country through fi-nancial difficulties if they can get half a break f rom the playing public."

From an article, "A Plea fo r Toler-ance" by Ernes t Law, in the Octo-ber Pacific Greenkeeper.

The December meeting will be held at the Narraganse t t Hotel, Providence, R. I. on December 5th. The annual meeting will be held in Boston, proba-bly at the Hotel Statler, on January 9th. Keep these dates in mind!

The Board of Directors held a meet-ing at the Woodland Golf Club on No-vember 21st.

"OUR NEW HOME" We have j u s t completed the first yea r ' s occupancy of our new " H o m e " , and we are more t han ever convinced t h a t it was a f o r w a r d step, even during- these trying- t imes, to have located ourselves in a much la rger bui lding so tha t all mater ia l s may be under one roof r a the r than th ree as in previous years . Our ent i re lot, most of which is occupied with our building, approxi-ma tes one half acre of floor space. This large area has made it possible and convenient f o r us to have carr ied la rger stocks dur ing 1932 than dur ing any previous season. We fee l assured t h a t 1933 will r equ i re stocks equally large and we are proceeding on t ha t basis. Our shop is now equipped with th ree large power mower g r inders as well as other equipment f o r emery and oiling and genera l r epa i r work. We main ta in we have the finest and best equipped lawn mower shop in New England and t ha t our qual i ty of work is second to none. We solicit your service on the basis of good work, reasonable r a t e s and p r o m p t delivery. List your equ ipment and we will quote you ra tes .

COME AND SEE OUR NEW AND COMPLETE HOME

NEW ENGLAND TORO COMPANY | 1121 Washington Street

WEST NEWTON, MASS.