DKAINING AND FENCING THE TRACK. 165 



a track in first-rate order. There are, of course, exceptions. 

 The Chicago Driving Park Course is on a level, sandy 

 prairie, which cuts up in dry weather till horses can only 

 wallow through the loose soil. A coating of clay was used, 

 but it was of a character that slaked, the track becoming 

 nearly as bad as before the application. It was then 

 covered with a thin coating of coal cinders, obtained at a 

 neighboring rolling-mill. These, when properly pulver- 

 ized by a very heavy roller, made a great improvement. 

 Wet weather, which before the application of the cinders 

 would have precluded work upon the track, now scarcely 

 affects it. 



On this rich prairie soil, there is not much difficulty in 

 either building or keeping a track in order. The team 

 does the whole work, and I have seen as good a training- 

 track as any one could desire, where there never was a 

 spade or shovel used. The drainage is effected by the 

 slope of the track, carrying all the water to the inner 

 ditch, two small culverts being sufficient to convey it to 

 the outside, where the natural depression makes a channel 

 for it to flow into a little stream that carries it into the 

 Mississippi. As I remarked when locating the stable, the 

 -track runs almost to it so near that the shed for the 

 wagons and sulkies takes up nearly the whole space 

 between them. The track is fenced around, the first curve 

 with a board fence, the boards close together, and so high 

 as to present a formidable barrier, should a colt try to 

 bolt as he approaches the barn. The rest of the distance 

 the fence is of wire, and the newly planted cotton-woods 

 are expected to take the place of the posts-, acquiring suf- 

 ficient size long before the present ones decay. The cotton- 

 wood was certainly created expressly for the prairie, its 

 quick growth and hardiness making it the very tree 

 needed for many purposes. It can be trained to almost 

 any form, either throwing out its branches near the 



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