THE STOOLBALL TARGET 237 



peculiar appearance of the " targets " that are now- 

 used as wickets, for they consist of either square 

 or round boards, about one foot in diameter, and 

 fastened to an upright post fixed in the ground. 



But let us watch more closely how the gardeners 

 play. During war-time, whilst work is strenuous, 

 they have not many opportunities for practice, 

 and only an occasional hour can be snatched in the 

 late evening, when plants have been watered, to 

 try their hand at batting, fielding, and bowling. 

 The rules resemble those of cricket, for the " tar- 

 get " must be guarded from the bowler, but one 

 difficult part of the game for novices to remember 

 is that they have to tap the wicket at their own 

 end before they run across and touch it at the 

 opposite end. The ball is a tennis ball, rather 

 harder than what is used for lawn tennis, but 

 about the same size, and, owing to a somewhat 

 peculiar shape of bat and to the fact that the 

 lowest part of the " target " is four feet from the 

 ground, it is very difficult to make it travel far. 

 The bat is made of a piece of wood and in shape 

 and size is rather like an ordinary fives bat, so 

 that only a good many years' practice can give 

 that skill which enables people to make a large 

 number of runs and thus score higher than the 

 opposing eleven. 



To-day, the best team in Sussex having been 

 challenged, the gardeners will have a hard fight 

 and although they obtained the first innings and 

 have made a good score, the opposing side, who 

 are now batting, are fast gaining on them. A 

 pleasant interval comes when tea is ready, doubly 



