The man who invented grass

Grass is everywhere, right? We don’t think much about it because it is just there.
New Zealand is dotted with rolling hills of beautiful green grass wherever you go.
Then there are the immaculate greens of golf courses, bowling clubs and cricket pitches.
And the man we have to thank is Bruce Levy.
HIs research into grass changed farming and sports clubs all over the country and earned him a knighthood.
Enoch Bruce Levy was born 19 February, 1892, the sixth out of eight children of William Levy and his wife Esther Ann Bruce.
William was a nurseryman and dairy farmer so Bruce grew up with plants.
He left school at 14 but later passed the junior civil service examination and became a clerical cadet at the Department of Agriculture, Commerce and tourists in Wellington.
His interests in plants brought him to the attention of Alfred Hyde Cockayne - son of one of New Zealand’s greatest botanists - and Bruce moved to the biological laboratory where he began his life's work.
His recognition came from work to improve the pastures of New Zealand - urging farmers to top-dress and how to grow the most productive grasses and clovers.
He married Phyllis Rosa Kate Mason, a school friend of his sisters, in December 1925 and they lived in Wellington where Bruce was completing a bachelor of science at Victoria University.
Bruce founded the grasslands division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) in 1937 and was its director until his retirement in 1951. He travelled the country to talk to farmers to help improve their pastureland - often based on techniques he learned in Europe.
He and another scientist William Davies identified superior strains of white clover and ryegrass to plant. They became the standard varieties to plant leading to improvements in pastureland for better yield.
For years, his book Grasslands of New Zealand was considered the farmers bible.
In retirement Levy continued work on improving turf for golf courses and bowling greens. He played bowls himself, and also indulged his passion for gardening. The gardens of Aroha, the Levy home in Palmerston North, became a showpiece.
He was also chairman of the New Zealand Institute of Turf Culture.
While he and his wife never had children but in 1940 when children were being evacuated from British cities, they took in two.
In the 1950 King’s Birthday honours he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and in 1953 a knight.
He died on October 16, 1985 and was cremated in Pyes Pa - leaving behind the green fields of New Zealand for us all.​