It's been replaced by what's known as "in-fill" turf systems, which cover a football field with 50 million to 70 million 2.5-inch-tall blades of "grass" made from polyethylene, cushioned by a mixture of rubber pellets and silica that acts as the dirt.
One day in mid-December, there was a knock at the kitchen-house door and he found Chance Poxley standing in the tall dead grass, wearing a small tweed fedora, shading his eyes with one hand.