Most visitors probably do not pay too much detailed attention to the lawr Commonwealth cemeteries and memorials, but the existence of a fine een sward makes a key contribution to the overall effect. The horticultural staff spend a high percentage of their time tending the lawns mowing, scarifying, aerating, re-seeding, turf-laying etc - and this year a full review of the Commission's system of turf management was carried out, in order to ensure that the best use is made of the resources available. As a result, a Turf Management Plan will be drawn up, which will establish a clearly defined schedule of work for future years.
Well-kept turf and borders at Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt
Turf scarification at Suda Bay War Cemetery, Greece
Of the obstacles to achieving a high standard of turf, the various pests that inhabit the soil are amongst the greatest. Chief culprit amongst these, in Europe at least, is the mole. There is nothing more demoralising to a gardener who has carefully edged a border one day than to return the following morning to discover that a mole has decided to make a run underneath that edge and thereby ruined it. It has been mentioned in previous reports that the laws on the use of chemical pesticides have been tightened up in many European countries. Substances which may now be used readily have very limited effectiveness and those that might be more effective can be used only if public access is prohibited for several days, which would clearly be impossible in most cases. This problem has not been resolved.
The Commission has committed itself to a policy on the use of chemicals aimed at achieving a level of care throughout the world which meets modern stringent environmental standards. Work has continued this year on implementing this policy, with extensive specialist training being given to staff on the care needed in using substances hazardous to health.
A succession of comparatively mild winters led to an enormous explosion of the rabbit population by the summer of 1990. The replanting pro- gramme in the autumn was wrecked in some cemeteries by the depredations of the rabbits, which ate everything almost as soon as it was planted. At some places, such as Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, in
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