The early Anglo settlers of Florida may have had many reasons for growing turfgrass, but none is more obvious than mosquito control. At Lignum Vitae Key a stone house was built on high ground, facing prevailing winds. A rough turf area was maintained on the windward side, so that mosquitoes and other biting insects would tend to be blown away. As turfgrass technology continued to improve, and the turfgrass product became more easily attainable, standards improved and additional uses for turfgrass were developed.

St. Augustinegrass was the first recorded turfgrass in Florida. In his diary, A. M. Reed described activities at his St. Johns River plantation near Orange Park (J. P. Waterbury, personal communication) (27). In the record for 11 Nov. 1880, Mr. Reed states, "George planting St. Augustine grass in avenue in afternoon." Although earlier records exist for the presence of St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum) in Florida (for example Rugel's 1845 collection from Terraciera Bay, now Manatee County), George was the first documented grower of St. Augustinegrass. Because of its relatively good shade tolerance and ease of management in lawns, St. Augustinegrass assumed great importance as a turf in Florida. Other species of turfgrasses later had a large impact on Florida, but none was used so widely and for such a long time. Before 1920, Mr. Ralph R. Hammer had noticed St. Augustinegrass lawns in Davie, Florida, and by about 1928 to 1930 he noticed trucks loaded with sod in the Miami area (R. R. Hammer, personal communication). Hammer reasoned that that sod probably came from the Homestead area because of the thick, marl bottom. The Melrose Nursery in Miami was reported to be producing sod in the 1920's and 1930's (Ed Davis, personal communication). In 1934, Ruben Resmondo had 2 acres of 'Florida Common' planted for sod near the Miami River (Kenneth Resmondo, communicated through Ed Davis).

In 1929 Enlow and Stokes (8) mentioned various other turfgrass species and varieties, e.g., zoysiagrass (Zoysia spp.), bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.), carpetgrass (Axonopus affinis), and centipedegrass (Eremochloa ophiuroides). Many of the basic ingredients of turf management were covered in the Enlow and Stokes bulletin, but nothing was said about sod production. Sprigging was mentioned as a method of turfgrass establishment. In a prophetic statement, Daane wrote in 1933 about experimental grass trials in the Everglades, "St. Augustine provides an excellent sod and grows well but its value as a pasture crop has not been determined under grazing conditions" (7). It would be some 30 years before this prophecy would materialize. R. W. Kidder recalled some criticisms of this research, "some in fact unprintable, from several cattlemen concerning 'the waste of researcher's time and taxpayer's money spent on working with a lawn grass in a pasture program' " (1).

Centipedegrass was first brought to the United States from China in 1918, in the baggage of plant explorer Frank N. Meyer, who had been collecting in Hunan Province (10). Mr. Meyer was missing from the steamer in which he had been traveling, and it was presumed that he fell overboard in the Yangtze River. In his baggage were sent back the seeds of centipedegrass. By 1925 centipedegrass was grown at the Belle Glade Experiment Station (later known as the Everglades Experiment Station) under the name "Chinese love grass" (see herbarium specimen collected by the Rev. Hugh O'Neill, and accessioned at Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium). Centipedegrass later assumed great importance as turf in the clay soils of Florida's panhandle.

Zoysiagrasses were brought into the United States from east Asia, and their value as turf was immediately obvious. By 1916 it was stated that zoysiagrass "seems to be succeeding in Florida as a lawn grass" and is "worthy of trial in sand-hill districts or on saline lands near the coast" (9). But zoysiagrass remained in a limited coastal distribution in Florida, and may still be limited by pest problems such as sting nematode, Belonolaimus longicaudatus (5).

Bermudagrass was used on golf courses by the 1920's. There was some vegetative planting, which involved stolonizing in shallow trenches. In his book, Gardening in the lower South, H. Harold Hume (16) described the planting of turfgrass sprigs in straight rows, and the use of carpetgrass on golf courses. Mr. Ray Tower was credited with developing the method of sprigging, which involved cutting stolons into short pieces and planting them broadcast (6). Despite the advantages of vegetative propagation, golf course fairways, greens, and tees were often planted from seed of Arizona grown bermudagrass (R. A. Bair, personal communication). The fine-leaved texture of bermudagrass was recognized as an advantage for use in lawns, but its intolerance of shade was also noted (8). South Florida golf course superintendents had their first organizational meeting in 1939 (2). Although not directly related to the production of turfgrass, this group later had a tremendous impact in sponsoring University of Florida research for the whole turfgrass industry.

Bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum) was not mentioned as a turfgrass in Enlow and Stokes bulletin, but it was being introduced and tested as a forage in the early 1900's. In 1938 county agent E. H. Finlayson observed the 'Pensacola' variety growing on a sand bank which had been graded and sodded to this variety (11). By 1939 he was collecting the seeds and cooperating with Mr. Ritchey and W. E. Stokes at the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station to provide enough seed for forage tests. It would be several decades before bahiagrass became important as a turf in Florida.

During the 1930's most of the sod came from ranches or dairy farms where 'Florida Common' St. Augustinegrass had been planted for pasture (21). (Popular references to this grass were either as "Common", or "Regular St. Augustine", or just "St. Augustine" but this variety must be distinguished from another, 'Texas Common', which has green stolons, in contrast to purplish.) Florida Common sod fields were often rotated between cows grazing and sod harvesting. For example, Henry Minton, the first turfgrass harvester in Broward County, would pay pasture people in order to cut sod which would be hauled to Miami Beach, where it was cut into plugs and planted, or solid sodded. Jack J. Kirkland cut sod on the property of another pioneer in the Davie area, James H. Bright, during the mid-1930's (Elmer Kirkland, personal communication).

Most of the work was manual. The fields would be cross-cut, sometimes in two directions, using a rolling 5-coulter implement. The cross-cutter would sometimes be pulled by six people, sometimes by a mule, or a truck. Tractors were uncommon at that time in southern Florida (Elmer Kirkland, personal communication). This cross-cutting operation was called "block-cutting". Arthur Wolf (personal communication) recalled doing this by hand with a machete for 15 cents per hour. Sod was lifted by spades, shovels, or an early hand sod lifter with a moon-shaped blade which was called an "idiot spoon" (A. R. Wolf and R. R. Hammer, personal communications). The sod pieces, mostly 1 foot squares, were thrown on the back of a truck with pitchforks, or sometimes directly by hand. Since the whole field would be cut up, no ribbons would be left, and the entire area had to be replanted, by shredding the sod by hand. Later, turfgrass producers learned how to disk in the runners, and later disked in ribbons of uncut sod. With extremely poor roads in Florida at this time, it was very difficult for the sod grower to get his product to the market. The location of the Town of Davie between the metropolitan areas of West Palm Beach and Miami, plus Davie's organic soils, made the area an ideal birthplace for sod production in Florida. The organic "muck" soil permitted the sod to be more easily handled without falling apart.

Despite the Great Depression of the 1930's, there was a market for sod in Florida's more affluent areas, such as Miami Beach. At that time the harvested price was 2 cents per square foot (R. R. Hammer, personal communication). Despite the inferior quality of 'Florida Common' St. Augustinegrass, the demand was greater than the supply. Exotic Gardens in Miami was involved in some of the early cutting and hauling of Florida Common during this period.

Sometime between 1934 and 1936, several producers introduced the 'Bitterblue' variety of St. Augustinegrass which was superior to the 'Florida Common' that was being used in lawns at the time. Bitterblue was deep blue-green, and had a denser growth and finer textural appearance than Florida Common. Ralph Hammer and Tiny Chaplin (the son of grove owner F. N. Chaplin) obtained sprigs from the owner of an orange grove in Pompano Beach for one dollar per burlap bag (R. R. Hammer, personal communication). It was rumored that a grove owner in Fort Myers had discovered Bitterblue, which was verified by Jimmy Blackledge (personal communication). Bitterblue was also promoted by John R. Wilson of West Palm Beach (M. U. Mounts, quoted in undated Cooperative Extension Service mimeograph). It was also rumored that Bitterblue had come from the University of Florida. Other pioneer producers of Bitterblue were Jack J. Kirkland (1930's, Davie) and Ruben Resmondo (1935, Miami).