The history of the USDA's development of early American bent grass

[TEPaul]

Bradley:
By the way, when do you think the first C-15 was developed by the USDA





Tom,

In 1936 it was selected from a green at the Toronto Golf Club in Ontario and taken to be grown at the Arlington Turf Garden. I have always been told that the "C" and the "15" represent the section of the garden where it was grown under observation. There were 30,000 sq. ft. of plots being maintained like putting greens.

The development of the gardens in 1916 was provoked by the problems that CBM had establishing turf at NGLA - though I am not certain how much influence he had over getting it all started, and especially by the lack of quality bent seed coming out of Germany - the principle supplier of the best creeping bent. The war created shortages that could not keep up with demand here, and the seed brokers overseas were diluting the supply with Red Top. So they decided to cultivate it vegatatively.

The first really great variety to come out of that was Washington. Another one was Metropolitan. If you ever see some patches of purple bentgrass on really old greens after a hard frost, those are probably Washington bent.

[TEPaul]

"The development of the gardens in 1916 was provoked by the problems that CBM had establishing turf at NGLA - though I am not certain how much influence he had over getting it all started,..."


Brad:

Here's what I think I know and can document regarding C.B Macdonald and the USDA's involvment in American golf agronomy.

First, I don't know if he was the first in America to turn to the USDA for agronomic advice on grass for golf and golf courses but he may've been. I'm not aware of anyone doing it before him but the records to that effect may still be a bit less than completely compiled in one place----such as the USGA (United States Golf Association, not the U.S. Dept of Agriculture). Due to some recent developments involving Wayne Morrison and a man in D.C. it appears there may be some additonal records on this at the National Archives that the USGA and the rest of us have been previously unaware of.

For instance, Wayne and I became aware of what we call the "agronomy letters" that were various correspondences over about twenty years between primarily Piper and Oakley of the USDA and the Wilson brothers of Merion. We found them at the USGA's Green Section within the last decade. When we found them they had just come to the USGA not more than six months previous apparently out of some Mid-Atlantic USGA regional agronomists attic.

Now Wayne seems to be finding via his contact in DC that those voluminous letters (almost 2,000) may not have been complete and there may be more of them in the National Archives. Perhaps we may discover similar correspondence even earlier between Macdonald and Piper and Oakley.

[TEPaul]

By the way, the USDA may've begun to establish their bent grass (primarily for golf use) plots at Arlington, Va. in 1916 but there is no question that Macdonald had been dealing with the USDA much earlier. We know this from his mention to Merion during his first visit to the pre-golf course land in Ardmore in 1910 when he informs them to get in touch with the USDA to resolve potential turf problems on hard clay soil. And we have Hugh Wilson's first letter to the USDA (Piper and Oakley) in Feb, 1911 when he introduces himself to them explaining that Macdonald told him (Merion) to get in touch. From that first letter from Hugh Wilson flowed over a twenty year correspondence between he and his brother Alan with Piper and Oakley over which the USGA's Green Section was eventually formed in the early to mid 1920s. If any single man was most responsible for the actual setting up of the USGA's Green Section (in collaboration with the USDA) it would probably be Alan Wilson. The USGA actually needs to update its history of its Green Section as found on the USGA website. They explain that E.J. Marshall of Inverness was the one primarily responsible for its beginning but the facts now show it began much earlier than Marshall's involvment in the early 1920s and in preparation for the US Open at Inverness.

Also, Macdonald may've dealt with Piper and Oakley for many years afterwards (we do have a letter from Piper to Alan Wilson from the early 1920s explaining that Piper had just been to NGLA to consult) but we also know that Macdonald had his own experimental grass plots at NGLA as did a number of others such as Merion, Frederick Winslow Taylor of Philadelphia, Pine Valley and most certainly Toomey and Flynn at their farm in Montgomery Co, Pa.

[BCrosby]

What was the turf grass used at, say, Myopia circa 1905?

Do we know anything about coverage and how it putted?

Bob

[TEPaul]

"What was the turf grass used at, say, Myopia circa 1905?

Do we know anything about coverage and how it putted?"



Bob:

To both I think I probably do know or at least could find out without too much problem. I believe, and I think I can document, that the original grass on Myopia had the original greens sodded but the rest of the grass out there was basically meadow grass that had been used for grazing and it was just used as it was for golf. To shear it (the fairways) a flock of sheep the club bought was turned out on the fairways that were fenced off from the rough and from the greens. On the greens I supposed they used some kind of rudimentary lawn mowers that did exist at the time of the original Myopia nine in 1894.

You may also recall from when we were out at Pebble for the Open that even as late at the late teens Samuel Morse was insistant on using a flock of sheep to shear the early Pebble Beach course (I think Morse was sort of interested in some kind of linksland application and as you know he was a pretty cost conscious type of guy anyway generally). That idea apparently did not work very well apparently and it was rather quickly shit-canned.

[Micah Woods]

Yes, there are letters among Piper's papers at the National Archives. They are on a range of topics, some of which are related to the development of the Green Section. You can read a bit more about this in an article I wrote about Piper for the Green Section Record a few years ago. Download the article here if you are interested.

http://turf.lib.msu.edu/2000s/2006/060317.pdf

[TEPaul]

Micah:

Thank you. I had no idea. Good for you. What do you think of our analysis on this subject so far?

[Micah Woods]

I think the analysis is interesting. Anything about Piper is interesting to me. I went to the National Archives and had a look at the documents and I think some of the letters there are more interesting (and are certainly on a wider range of subjects) than are the letters at the USGA archives. What you refer to as the "agronomy letters" may be similar to what I have seen from the historical files of the Green Section, or maybe what you have is something different. I'm not sure. But I know some of the information at the National Archives would certainly be of interest to you.

[Bradley Anderson]

244 Vol. 8, No. 12
The Arlington Turf Garden
By John Monteith, Jr.
The events leading up to the establishment of the Arlington Turf
Garden were recounted by the late Howard F. Whitney, formerly
president of the United States Golf Association, in an address of his
delivered at a meeting of the Green Section in Washington, July 21,
1921. Mr. Whitney said:
"It appears from authentic records that Dr. W. S. Harban was the
first golfer who went to the United States Department of Agriculture
for technical assistance in regard to green turf problems. This was
in 1906, when he first met Messrs. Piper and Oakley. Two years
later, when Mr. Charles B. MacDonald was building the National
Links near Southampton, Long Island, he encountered such serious
problems in attempting to grow satisfactory turf on the old sand
dunes that he applied to the Department of Agriculture for help,
which was of course accorded. In studying the difficult turf problems
at the National Links, the Department scientists came to the
realization that the existing knowledge on the subject was very far
from adequate and that extensive experimental investigations were
necessary. Unfortunately, no funds were available for the purpose;
but in cooperation with many golf clubs a considerable amount of
investigation was undertaken by the Department men. Much of the
information thus garnered formed the basis for a long series of
articles in the golf journals by Messrs. Piper and Oakley. The first
appeared in January, 1913. These articles were immensely helpful,
but in the meantime the needs of the golf clubs for information and
advice were increased enormously. In the spring of 1915 the Executive
Committee of the United States Golf Association waited on the
then Secretary of Agriculture, Hon. David F. Houston, and requested
additional help in solving the problems of greenkeeping. The committee
pointed out that about $10,000,000 a year was being spent on
the establishment and maintenance of turf by golf clubs, and it was
believed that through ignorance half of the money was wasted. As a
result of the appeal, the turf experiments were begun at Arlington,
in the spring of 1916, the results of which having already been of the
highest value."

The Arlington Turf Garden is located on the Arlington Experiment
Farm, which is operated by the Bureau of Plant Industry,
United States Department of Agriculture. This farm is located near
Washington between the Arlington National Cemetery and the Potomac
River. A large part of the funds for the turf garden work is
contributed by the United States Golf Association Green Section. In
recent years the Arlington turf work has been growing, and there is
now an area of nearly 30,000 square feet kept cut at putting green
height. The soil is of a clay type, which is unfavorable for turf production,
and therefore is typical of the soil found on a great many
courses in the East, where difficulty is experienced in producing and
maintaining good turf.

The garden is divided into small plots 8 feet by 8 feet, giving the
whole area a checkerboard-like appearance. In each of these plots
different grasses and chemicals are tested. Most of the early work
with stolon plantings of creeping bent was done at this garden, and
there still is a large section devoted to various strains of both the
creeping and velvet bent planted by the vegetative method. In addition
to these tests there are plots of various grasses obtained from
seed from different sources. About one-fourth of the turf garden
is used for experiments with various fertilizers, particularly on bent
grasses. These plots are used for observations as to the effect of the
fertilizers on fine turf as well as their influence on common weeds of
putting greens. Most of the Green Section experimental work on
diseases has been conducted at the Arlington Turf Garden and a large
area is still used for this purpose.

One section of the garden serves as a demonstration of different
grasses used on putting greens. This area is not used for any experimental
work but is maintained as nearly as possible like putting
greens on golf courses. It receives top-dressing, fertilizers, disease
remedies, and other treatments, as needed, to keep the turf in as
good condition as possible throughout the season. On these plots it
is possible for a golfer to compare the putting qualities of different
grasses as well as the different strains of bent planted vegetatively.
In addition to the turf section there is a nursery section maintained
by the Department of Agriculture in which various grasses
are grown in rod rows. These offer an interesting comparison of the
many grasses used on golf courses as well as in agricultural work. In
one section of the nursery there are rows of several strains of bent
maintained for distribution. Stolons from these rows have been sent
out for several years to golf clubs, experiment stations, or individuals
located throughout the United States and many foreign countries.

[Bradley Anderson]

Feb. 23. 1921] UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION 23
The First Turf Garden in America
c. V. PIPER
The illustration gives a view of the Olcott turf garden at South Manchester,
Connecuticut, as it appeared about 1910, after the originator,
Mr. J. B. Olcott, had been at work studying turf grasses for twenty-five
years. As early as 1885, long before the development of American golf,
Olcott conceived the idea that greenswards could be developed of as
fine quality as the exquisite small patches of turf that can be found in nearly
every lawn. He began by selecting the best mats of turf he could find
and multiplying them by vegetative methods until he had enough to plant
small plots. Olcott was strongly prejudiced against. the use of seeds, as
he believed that seeds produced a more or less mongrel lot of grasses.
Therefore all his work, from first to last, was by vegetative methods.
After the work was fairly developed, he was assisted in its prosecution b~r
the Connecticut Experiment Station.

During his work Olcott selected many hundreds of mats of turf,
but he promptly discarded all that did not appeal to him. In the course
of his work he traveled in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and from
every place he went he chose a bit of turf. When I first saw the garden,
in 1910, the great majority of the plots consisted of strains of red fescue,
but a few were of bents. One of his red fescues was especially beautiful,
and the plot of this was large; besides he made from it the lawn about
his house. This turf 'waspurchased by the late Fred W. Tayler and transferred
bodily to his home at Highland, near Philadelphia. It made an
exquisite lawn in fall and spring, but in midsummer was badly attacked
by "brown patch." Indeed, its susceptibility to this disease is its only
fault.

Olcott, like many another pioneer, was ahead of his time. Few
recognized the significance of his work, as at that time there did not exist
the great body of golfers who have learned to appreciate really fine turf.
The method he used is, however, the correct one to select the best strains
of fine grasses. As applied to such grasses as creeping bent, velvet bent,
Bermuda grass, and even red fescue, the method is simple and not expensive.
By its means putting greens of superlative quality can be secured.
It is safe to predict that in the very near future the best golf
courses will plant their greens by the vegetative method, which will insure
perfectly uniform turf of the highest quality. ,Vhile Olcott's work did
not lead to this modern development, it must be conceded that he clearly
recognized the true way in which to secure perfection in turf.

[Bradley Anderson]

124 BULLETIN OF GRE~N SECTION OF THE [Vol. 1. No.7
Vegetative Propagation of Putting
Green Grasses
C. V. PIPER AND R. A. OAKLEY
Any grass can be propagated in at least two ways, one by seed, the
other by a portion of the parent plant. In bunch grasses a tuft can be subdivided
into many portions each of which will grow readily. In creeping
grasses a new plant can be produced easily from a single joint of a rootstock
or runner. This can indeed be done with nearly any grass, but it
is particularly easy with creeping grasses. Indeed, it has long been employed
by farmers in planting fields to such grasses as Bermuda and Para.
This method of planting is called vegetative propagation.

Some years ago, in studying the behavior of creeping bent-all in all,
the best of putting green grasses-we discovered that a single plant, under
favorable condition, would make a mass of turf six feet in diameter in
a single year. The turf really consisted of innumerable runners, or stolons,
radiating from the start at the center and rooting at each joint. It was
at once evident that this grass could easily be propagated vegetatively.
The runners were lifted, chopped into joints about two or three -inches
long, scattered over well-prepared soil, rolled in, and then covered lightly
with soil. The quickness of growth of the joints thus planted is truly
astonishing. At first only small plots of turf 8 by 8 feet were thus produced,
the turf from each parent plant being perfectly uniform in color
and texture. The finest of these were selected for further investigation~.
To propagate the selected strains in quantity, runners placed end to
end were planted in rows 6 feet apart, about the middle of September.
As each runner is about 3 feet long, it takes only about 35 to plant a row
100 feet long. A year later each of these rows had developed into a broad
band of grass 6 feet in width (see illustration). This amount of runners
is sufficient to plant a large putting green by the vegetative method-that
is, simply by cutting the runners into lengths of 2 or 3 inches, scattering
over the prepared ground, pressing them in with a light roller and then
covered with a thin layer of good soil.

The whole thing is extremely simple. Perhaps the only surprising
thing is the ability of creeping bent to form runners. On an old putting
green seeded with. German mixed bent, the individual plants of creeping
bent are seen as circular patches a foot or more in diameter and varying
in color from green to decidedly bluish green. In reality the circular
patch was made by radiating runners; but these grew comparatively slowly
in the dense sod. Plant a small piece of this turf an inch square in open
growth, and it is really surprising how rapidly it produces long creeping
runners.

While any grass can be propagated vegetatively it is only with the
creeping grasses that it can be done cheaply on a large scale. Grass thus
propagated is perfectly uniform, and of  like color and texture to the parent
plant. Therefore by this method the quality of turf made by any single
plant can be increased without limit.

Already a considerable number of putting greens have been planted
by the vegetative method. It can safely be said that some of these greens,
notably No.9 at the Columbia Country Club, and No. 9-A at the Potomac
Golf course, both in Washington, are covered with the finest turf ever
grown anywhere at any time.

But there is the inevitable fiy in the ointment. The bents are greatly
subject to the "brown-patch" disease which so greatly injures putting
greens in July and August and which, indeed, is the most serious menace
to fine turf that we have to confront. The vegetative greens suffer no
worse than seeded greens, but fully as much. Many selections of creeping
bent have been made in the hope of finding strains immune to the disease.
Thus far strains more resistant to the disease have been found, but none
truly immune. If such a one can be found, the vegetative method for
creeping bent could be recommended without stint. Even as it is, the
beauty and perfection of vegetative greens are far superior to seeded
greens, and the cost of making them not much greater. Indeed, after a
turf garden is once established, the vegetative method is quite as cheap as
seeding.

If a turf nursery such as above described is left undisturbed
two years, the turf will be perfectly solid and can be lifted as sod.
Many member-clubs will doubtless wish to try out the vegetative
method. To a limited number of such a supply of one of the best selected
strains of creeping bent sufficient to start a turf garden can be supplied.
These runners should be planted in well prepared ground, in rows 6 feet
apart, in September. A 100-foot row will in one year give enough material
to plant one putting green.

[Bradley Anderson]

Don Strand, the Superintendent from Westmoreland in Chicago went to the gardens and collected some C-15 stolons. He then cultivated them on his own nursery at the course. From there he transferred the C-15 stolons on to his greens, and for many years the greens at Westmoreland were widely regarded as the best greens in Chicago.

Warrens sod nusery then began commercail production of C-15 from stolons they collected at Westmoreland. From there, many of the greens in the midwest were stolonized with C-15. Robert Bruce Harris wouldn't allow any other grass to be planted on his greens. Whenever clubs had occasion to remodel a green, they would usually stolonize with C-15.

Medinah and Butler National to name a few, were stolonized with C-15. Butler was the first to be attacked by bacterial wilt because obviously they were mowing the closest cuts in preparation for the Western Open. Other clubs that cut close for speed soon followed. And that pretty much was the death knell of stolonizing greens with bentgrass.

The new Penneagle variety of bent was widely used to seed the dead C-15 greens. Penneagle wasn't the best grass either and many of those greens would be fumigated and seeded again in later years with the A series grasses from Penn State.

[Steve Lang]

   has anyone checked out the Library of Congress versus the National Archives as a resource?

When I did my Masters' research there back in 1976, I was able to pull scientific serials and professional society journals from the 1800's from the USA and Europe..

Certainly historical developments in the USA on many subjects would have gotten some ink and been recycled in many different places

[Bradley Anderson]

What was the turf grass used at, say, Myopia circa 1905?

Do we know anything about coverage and how it putted?

Bob

Bob,

I have never come across anything definite about the turf species used at Myopia. I do know that in a course rating article it was rated very favorably and that green quality was one of the standards used to rate it, but the numbers are not provided. In 1911 the renown grass expert, Reginald Beale visited Myopia, but we don't know if was more than just a visit.

I am not sure if the greens remained the same contour over the years. I think they may have been more rolling in the beginning than they are know, because one writer stated they have severe gradients to them. One wonders if they were being adjusted even as the bunkers were being adjusted?

[BCrosby]

Bradley -

My question was really about turf circa 1905 generally. I referenced Myopia only because it was the best known US course at the time.

In the South at that time they were just beginning to use crude Bermuda varieties. The examples I've seen are amazingly primitive. I don't know how they putted on them. Many didn't. Lots of clubs opted for sand greens.

But what was the quality of the pre-Piper/Oakley grasses in the NE? I assume they were bent or fescue varieties, but how crude were they? And if your answer is that their quality was not very good, how did their quality compare to inland courses around London at the same time?

I haven't read every word of the P/O bulletins below, but they seem focused more on turf survivablity and less on turf quality.

What's interesting is that in the SE turf survivability was never an issue. You can't kill Bermuda. The issue was always turf quality.

In the NE the issues seem to be flipped. Bent's quality was never at issue. Keeping it alive and disease free was.

Bob

 

[Sean Remington (SBR)]

Here is a link to an quick read on the origins of the Arlington Turf Gardens:

http://turf.lib.msu.edu/1920s/1928/2812244.pdf

The early bentgrasses were vegitatively established.  Many of the early varieties took the name of the place the original sample was selected from such as Congressional, Columbia or Cohansey. Some just had letters like C-19, C-15.  Looking for more info.

[TEPaul]

Bob:

Even though it's not your question (you're asking about Myopia in 1905) I think the best and most interesting thing to do eventually on this thread or another is to try to find the very beginning of golf grasses that were actually planted on golf courses for the specific purpose of golf. The first time and the first place where grasses other than those preexisting before a golf course was created were used.

I suspect it may've been as late as the late 1890s and it may've been in the English heathlands (perhaps Sunningdale and particularly Huntercombe). Before that I think basically pre-existing meadow grass was used inland and of course in the linksland (seaside) generally pre-existing bent and fescue occured naturally on what was then known as swards.

There may've been, however, some forerunners of specialty grasses (dwarf grasses?) that were later used in golf that were used before golf used them with things like some of those old massive English estates (parks) that were extenively landscaped (architecturally) with massive lawn-scapes or garden lawns or even grass tennis courts or cricket fields and the like.

It may even be interesting to try to determine the very first instance of a mechanical lawn mower of some kind. I have a hunch this is the area that Bradley Anderson is very good at.

I do know, for instance, that such as the Carter Tested Seed Company certainly did exist quite long before grass was actually first extensively planted on golf courses and it even seems that some of their early advertizing tended toward some kind of royal mention or reference.

[Rick Sides]

Tom,
Another thing I was thinking along the lines of early lawnscapes were "garden parties"  These parties were famous in the early 1900's.  Socialites like du Pont at Longwood Gardens, near your neck of the woods, would have these extravagant events where they would host other socialites and show all the immaculate lawn and garden work they had created on their property.  Maybe some of these early wealthy Americans had some grasses that were far better than any golf course at the time.

[TEPaul]

Rick:

That's true, but I believe those kinds of massive American estates---eg Longwood or Wintertur (the DuPonts) were essentially a sort of knock-off or later American replication or imitation of some of the much much earlier massive English estates with their immense landscape architecting such as Blenheim and the many, many others that were the work of the likes of Lancelot "Capability" Brown and later Humphrey Repton et al.

Of course we should also consider some other countries in this vein who had those things much earlier such as France (Versailles), and many of the massive estates of Italy and Germany or even Russia very early on----actually even before golf course architecture itself really existed as anything like we know it today.

[Bradley Anderson]

Bradley -

My question was really about turf circa 1905 generally. I referenced Myopia only because it was the best known US course at the time.

In the South at that time they were just beginning to use crude Bermuda varieties. The examples I've seen are amazingly primitive. I don't know how they putted on them. Many didn't. Lots of clubs opted for sand greens.

But what was the quality of the pre-Piper/Oakley grasses in the NE? I assume they were bent or fescue varieties, but how crude were they? And if your answer is that their quality was not very good, how did their quality compare to inland courses around London at the same time?

I haven't read every word of the P/O bulletins below, but they seem focused more on turf survivablity and less on turf quality.

What's interesting is that in the SE turf survivability was never an issue. You can't kill Bermuda. The issue was always turf quality.

In the NE the issues seem to be flipped. Bent's quality was never at issue. Keeping it alive and disease free was.

Bob

 

Bob,
The Max Behr quote below, from 1914, does not indicate the species of grass on Myopia’s greens, but it does indicate that Leeds was one of the first to crack the code for providing good greens. And Behr indicates that it was done with seed.

“Seven years ago, when the National Golf Links was being laid out the ignorance of green committees was beyond all belief. For example no one (except perhaps Mr. Herbert Leeds at Myopia and Mr. Herbert Windeler at Brookline) had the remotest idea what sort of seed should be sown on a putting green.”

Travis also wrote that at this time the best greens in the country were found in the Boston area. That might indicate that Myopia and The Country Club had set some kind of precident for the other clubs to follow in how it should be done.

Incidently, in that same article Behr speaks very highly of Wilson:

“By far the best work in this or any other country has not been done by committees but by dictators. Witness Mr. Herbert Leeds at Myopia, Mr. C. B. Macdonald at the National, and Mr. Hugh Wilson at the Merion Cricket Club. These dictators, however, have not been averse to taking advice. In fact they have taken advice from everywhere, but they themselves have done the sifting.”

[BCrosby]

Interesting, Bradley. Thanks.

Any idea why Boston area courses might have been so far ahead of the turf curve at the time? It seems odd. 

Bob

[Bradley Anderson]

Bob,

I think Reginald Beale would take credit for it. Beale was requested to develop grass seed specs for (I suspect its was) Mr. Herbert Windeler, the green chairman at The Country Club in 1908. The success of that project surely would have inspired Boston area clubs to follow the same prinicples. We see that kind of pattern throughout golf history - where the success of one club in any given region is imitated by other clubs. Here is what Beale had to say about it:

In the first place, I claim to be the pioneer of rapid
turf production and the art of greenkeeping as it is
now practiced. In support of this I bring forward
Sunningdale, which was the first golf course produced
from seed and which was sown in September, 1900,
and in full play in twelve months' time—a feat then
considered more or less miraculous, as at that time
it was generally conceded that it took a minimum of
three years to form turf of any sort and at least a gen-
eration to produce a fine, close-knitted, thick-soled
turf, but now commonplace,as I have since produced
twenty-five courses from plough to play in less than
a year, with a record of five months made at Sandy
Lodge.

I have inspected at least 250 established golf
courses and prescribed mixtures for not less than 100
new ones standing on all classes of soil, from pure
sand to hard clay, in all countries of Europe.
But what has all this to do with turf in the
United States of America and the Dominion of Can-
ada? Admittedly very little, excepting that the
same thing is required there, i.e., good turf, for the
same purpose, the Royal and Ancient Game, but
under different geological and climatic conditions.
Until the year 1908, I knew nothing of golf or
turf in America and certainly cared less, but that year
I had an interesting proposition put before me by
the Chairman of the Greens Committee of The Coun-
try Club, Brookline, Mass. This Club was extend-
ing its course by taking in some thirty acres of new
ground; samples of soil were sent to me together with
a very accurate description of the climate and in-
structions to prepare sufficient seed for the greens
and fairways. I carried out the instructions to the
best of my ability, hoped for the best and awaited
results, which were so satisfactory that in 1911 I de-
cided to tour the Eastern States, myself, so that I
could thoroughly investigate conditions on the spot.

[Mike Cirba]

What a terrific thread this is.

Bradley Anderson...thanks for typing all of that!! 

[Bradley Anderson]

The picture below shows villagers out harvesting bentgrass seed in the open savannas of south Germany. The seed would then be bagged and brokered by seed merchants, who added other grasses to the mix. By the time south German bent was seeded on a green, there might only be 5% germination of the true creeping bentgrass in the mix. But in five years the creeping bent could take over 50% of the putting surface.

During the war years the supply of south German bent seed was very hard to obtain. The Arlington Gardens were started for the purpose of collecting cuttings of the best varieties of south German bent from the best sections of the best greens all over the country, so that we could continue to build greens vegatatively. Some patches of creeping bent were especially good because, as you can see in the photo, the villagers did not discriminate between the various mongrel bent that was growing wild. And so there was great diversity in the grasses.

Now here's the coolest part about all of this: the modern varieites that are bred today derive their parentage from some of these grasses. And it all goes back to the selection process that was started by Piper and Oakley. Actually it goes even further back to these villagers out collecting seed. How cool is that?

[BCrosby]

I've wondered what bent would look like if it went to seed in the wild. Now we know. Great stuff. Thanks Bradley.

The genetic origins thing is also fascinating. All the DNA of all bent varieties now being used are in the grass in that picture. A bit like the idea that everyone's RNA can be traced back to a woman in north Africa eons ago.

Bob