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Article: His whole world is grass. (turf researcher Reed Funk)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- October 28, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Prof. Reed Funk is in search of the perfect blade of grass. It must defy drought, flood and neglect, and vanquish diseases, pests and weeds. It should be slender, thrusting upward like a soldier in an invincible army, and of stubborn stock and good lineage, returning year after year, undiminished in vigor.
Funk is a soft-spoken, self-effacing botanist who was born on a Utah dairy farm, teaches at Rutgers University and is known fondly among his peers as "The Great Reed." He is also the guru of what may well be the nation's largest cult: the 54 million Americans who worship that monochromatic expanse of green known as the lawn, groaning behind their mowers in summer ...