Grass

When President Clinton unveiled an energy tax proposal in his speech to Congress last month, shock waves rolled through the offices of Washington's energy lobbyists. But for some of Washington's hottest lobbying shops -- ones that specialize in orchestrating grass-roots mail and phone blitzes to members of Congress from the hinterlands -- the proposed tax has generated barrels of money.The American Energy Alliance, a coalition of more than 1,300 companies and trade groups including the American Petroleum Institute, has ponied up a million dollars to Burson-Marsteller Inc., the public relations giant, to nurture protests in 20 states against the tax, which Mr. Clinton wants to base on the energy content of fuels.

Has your lawn looked a little ragged lately? Then give it new life by planting the seeds of success -- shade-tolerant grasses. A shaded lawn competes with trees and shrubs for available sunlight, water and nutrients, so it's important to use a seed that is up to the challenge.Fine-leaved fescues and rough bluegrasses, such as LaserPoa trivialis, are a perfect example. Developed specifically to grow well in the shade, these varieties are quick to establish. Select fine-leaved fescues for dry, shaded areas and rough bluegrasses for damp shade.

For years, Ivan Lendl claimed allergies made him stay away from Wimbledon, and judging from his subsequent difficulties there, no one will dispute the fact that grass courts made him ill.Whether or not it was a case of hay fever though, well, that's a different story.Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the young Spaniard who won the French Open title at age 17, once was asked how she felt about the surface and spouted, "Grass is for cows."Word has it she stole that line from Lendl.Love it or hate it, there is no in between when talking about both the oldest and most infuriating court surface in tennis.

After 14 years of laboratory testing, scientists with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service said yesterday that they have isolated an aquatic grass that will help stop the degradation of the Chesapeake Bay."Bayshore" smooth cord grass grips eroding soils and protects shorelines better than common varieties of cord grass, said the scientists, who offered the new variety for public use during an afternoon ceremony at the University of Maryland's Center for Estuarine and Environmental Studies at Horn Point in Cambridge.

Before Carroll's Environmental Affairs Advisory Board amends the county's forest conservation ordinance again, its members ought to look beyond the unique circumstances at the Four Seasons Sports Complex. A case similar to this one is not likely to come before the board again because most developers seeking grading permits are interested in building houses, not just regrading grassy fields.Making policy on the basis of this case alone is likely to result in undermining the county's forest ordinance.

Back to nature. Them's fighting words in Northeast Baltimore, where some parkland is wilder than Don King's hair.That's no joke: Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, who favors neatness, has likened the overgrown look to the boxing promoter's hyped hairstyle.For the past four years, some residents have let the grass grow along the nearly lifeless streams that wind through their neighborhoods.People even planted trees, wildflowers and a rosebush or two -- hoping this would help stop erosion and filter out pollution.

OYSTERBACK, Md. -- In June, as every kid knows, teachers get put in a closet with the textbooks, where they go into suspended animation until next September. Some of us who have a little more age on us and actually know people who teach, recognize the truth.Down here on the Shore, if teachers aren't in school themselves over the summer, they can become temporary cops in Ocean City, or work at Wal-Mart.Or, if they're Wimsey Jump, who teaches algebra, they can sign on with Huddie and Junie's grass cutting service, where they can ride around on great big rider mowers all day, cutting the enormous, environmentally comatose lawns of rich weekend people.

St. Mary's running back Dontra Peters doesn't take as much of a beating as he used to. Now, when he gets tackled, he's not getting slammed into rock-hard dirt; he's getting slammed into cushy artificial turf. The Saints' old home, Weems Whalen Field in Annapolis, was primarily dirt by this time of the season, but their new field, not far away at St. John Neumann Church, is a featherbed by comparison. "At Weems, when you get tackled, it hurts," Peters said. "You've got rocks on the ground, and when you get up, you could be cut up and bleeding because you fell on something -- and the ground is hard itself.

The annual educational seminar of the Maryland Turf Grass Council will be held tomorrow through Wednesday, with the trade show at Festival Hall and the meetings at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor.The council serves as an umbrella group for organizations of golf-course superintendents, turf-grass growers, seed growers, and lawn-care personnel. The program includes nationally recognized researchers, including professors Hellman Mathias of the University of Maryland and Jack Fry of Kansas State University, plus Gayle Jacklin, active in finding improved varieties of turf grass.

The St. Louis Rams won't have to leave Missouri for today's road game, but the defending Super Bowl champions are entering unfamiliar territory. For the first time this season, the undefeated Rams (6-0) will play on grass when they meet the Kansas City Chiefs (3-3) at Arrowhead Stadium. Critics say the St. Louis team is built on high-speed cuts on artificial turf, attacking NFL record books with Arena League-type numbers in Arena-type settings. The Rams have ventured onto grass only three times in their past 22 regular-season games and were held under 30 points twice.