Thank you, Henry. I had found (some of) the papers in Pennsylvania and a couple of files at Bethesda, but it never dawned on me that the university of Maryland Library might have others.

Sad...but unsurprising. Modern Russia is one of the world's most corrupt societies, particularly at the highest levels. They've gone from communism to some crazy form of rogue capitalism with few rules and few repercussions for the powerful/wealthy/criminal as long as they don't rock the established political order. Transparency International's 2010 Corruption Index for last year ranked Russia as "Highly Corrupt" (position 154 out of the 178 countries rated). Here is a link that might be useful: Corruption Index

This is a nice initial soil test. There's some work to be done, but the starting point on this soil is pretty good. EC 6.2: Sandy soil, with a little silt. Plan on testing this soil yearly as it'll shift fast. OM 2.1%: At the lower border of Fair, starting to trend toward Poor. With your lower EC, I'd always feed organically, always mulch mow, mow in all your fall leaves, steal your neighbors' leaves in fall, and so on. While not an emergency or anything, bringing this up will positively impact your lawn quality, raise your EC a little bit, and vastly improve water retention in your soil. pH 7.0: A little high due to excess magnesium in the soil. Sulfur 13: Normal, with tons of margin to play with if I need it. I'll use a little of the margin, but not very much as your soil won't require that much playing. Phosphorus 101: Low but not extreme, this is still negatively impacting your lawn quality. Target in this case will be around 220. I recommended starter fertilizer below. Just choose the cheapest as they'll all target around 1 pound of phosphorus per thousand square feet. Calcium 65.7%: Exactly optimal. The soil shows a tiny deficit of 48 pounds per acre (about 1 pound per thousand) but we can ignore it this year. That's too small to bother with and difficult to correct without going over the top. Given your pH, we definitely don't want to do that. Magnesium 25.0%: Very high, which will tend to give you a tight, impenetrable soil. Avoid all magnesium sources, including dolomitic limestone and Epsom salt. Let's give this a year to leach out normally, by which time you'll probably need calcium anyway--and we can use one step to add a little Ca while abolishing a touch of Mg at that point if needed. Potassium 2.2%: Although OK by the percentage, the numbers are low. Plus I'm a fan of moving K to the upper part of the recommended percentages or even a little beyond. It improves heat and cold resistance, disease resistance, and insect resistance. Most landscape and garden stores will order potassium sulfate (sulfate of potash) for you, or you can get it online. Recommendations below. Minor Elements: Boron is low and I discuss that next. Except for iron, all others are OK. Iron is below boron. Boron 0.38: Low. Boron is used in photosynthesis and cell differentiation, so it's kind of important. We use 20 Mule Team Borax as the boron source, which is available at your local grocery store in the laundry section, plus Milorganite as a carrier. In a wheelbarrow or the like, dump the Milo. Spraying very, very lightly with water (I use a spray bottle like the kind people use to damp their clothes when they iron) will help the boron stick. Add the recommended amount of 20 Mule Team Borax and stir, spraying occasionally to get the stuff to stick to the Milo. Then apply over the recommended area. So if going for bag rate Milorganite (1 bag per 2,500 square feet), you'd add 10 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax. Iron 77: Low. Not deficient, but not going to give you the best color or best photosynthesis in the lawn. Any time you like, apply Milorganite to slowly raise the iron levels in the soil and organic matter levels in the lawn. The boron listed above only goes once, on July 1. The rest of the Milo applications should be with nothing added. Recommendations: Memorial Day Weekend: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. June 15: Apply 2 pounds per thousand square feet of potassium sulfate. July 1: Apply 4 tablespoons of 20 Mule Team Borax in Milorganite. Labor Day: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. September 15: Apply 2 pounds per thousand square feet of potassium sulfate. October 1: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate.

I am just soaking in all the comments. For sure, a thread like this helps us understand folks better and help keep us civil the other 99% of the time. I mean, really.. sometimes ya gotta have a thread like this so folks can blow off some steam and say things they want to say in other threads. It is also a great way to learn how folks like to deal with questions and how readers like to deal with those answers. These threads are good....so long as they are not all the time.. heh I, for one, have benefited from every single post I have read. I hang out here, not because I necessarily want more help (although I continue to learn more each time I log in), but more because I am hoping to give something back for that help. Can people be mean at times? you bet. we all can. Can the 'answers' sometimes be totally off base, and still be right? Sure. Take my choices for example.. while I think... no I know a lot of folks are right in their suggestions, in the end it is what I can afford and what I really like that matters.. until I sell. Many, if not most, the suggestions are not based upon what we may like, but based upon what would 'sell'. From all that input, you pick and choose the things that are not about the sale, but about the 'smart'.. and THAT is why you wade through the good, the bad, and the ugly posts. Now... back to my popcorn and show :P Russ