CONSTRUCTION NOTES 313 



changing of the rinks is feasible, excepting that the game is better when 

 played with the sun at the player's back or side. 



The green may be surrounded by a barrier to keep the bowls from 

 rolling too great a distance and a gutter to act as a trap to keep the bowls 

 from reentering the field of play. The barrier may be simply constructed 

 of boards, either nailed to stakes set in the ground or nailed to a movable 

 support. The barrier of figure I is a curbing placed on the far side of the 

 surrounding gutter which may be in turn enforced by a turf bank. On 

 private places with a curbing five to seven inches high, the area behind 

 may be used for planting if desired. Public bowling greens may be developed 

 with the gutter and turf bank shown by figures 2a and 2b. 



General grading and drainage. The simplest form of a bowling green is 

 a perfectly level turf area. The ideal green should have a level true surface 

 covered with a short, dense, springy turf. Level greens must usually be 

 underdrained in order to prevent the development of soggy pockets which 

 will quickly ruin the turf. The type of underdrainage will vary with the 

 soil and climatic conditions, however, and porous or sandy soil which 

 absorbs water quickly may not need drainage at all. Agricultural tile, 

 either three or four-inch, should be used, varying in amount from a single line 

 around the outside of the green, or around the outside and across the two 

 diagonals, to numerous lines running across the green every ten feet apart. 

 See figures I and 2. 



The gutter surrounding the bowling green is for the purpose of collect- 

 ing the surface water which falls on the area outside of the green, and drains 

 towards it. In the diagram of figure I, the six-inch drain inlets located at 

 the four corners of the bowling green are at the same elevation and the 

 gutters are pitched to them from high points halfway between inlets. 



Excavation. The bowling green is carefully laid out and reference 

 stakes offset at a distance of three or four feet from the excavation. On a 

 line with these stakes, reference grade stakes should be set. The area of 

 the bowling green is excavated from eight to eighteen inches below the 

 level of the finished playing surface. The topsoil is stripped and saved for 

 replacement. The trenches for the tile drains are excavated and the sub- 

 grade shaped to give drainage to the tile trenches, a slope of one-quarter 

 inch per foot on the subgrade being sufficient for this purpose. See figure 2<:. 

 Bowling greens to be constructed on a fill over two feet in depth should 

 be allowed to settle over one winter season. Fills shallower than two feet 

 should be made in layers which do not exceed six inches in depth, each 

 layer being thoroughly compacted by puddling and rolling. Tile drainage 

 is then installed and the joints suitably protected. 



Curbing and side boards. If curbing, as in figure I, or side boards, as 



