CHAPTEK VII. 



RACE-COURSES. 



ON KEEPING A GALLOPING TRACK IN ORDER EFFECT OF GROUND ON 

 HORSES MEASURING COURSES LENGTHS OF DIFFERENT COURSES IN 

 INDIA. 



THE climate and the hardness of the ground are the 

 two great difficulties which a trainer has to contend 

 against in India. When a race-course is on the 

 ordinary soil we meet with in this Presidency, having 

 generally a substratum of kunkur, nothing but con- 

 stant manuring and picking up can keep it in order. 

 This costs so much, that the Clerk of the Course 

 (unless the Eace Fund be particularly rich) may be 

 well contented if he can keep a galloping track, even 

 if only four yards broad, in good going order all the 

 year round. Just before the close of the rains, he 

 should take advantage of the softness of the ground to 

 plough it up. It will cost about Ks. 30 a mile to plough 

 and harrow a course 40 feet broad. If the ploughing 

 be delayed, nothing but the pick-axe will touch hard 

 soil. When arranging coolies for picking up ground, 

 it is a good plan to have two men to each pick-axe, or 

 hoe (phurwa), so that one may relieve the other. They 

 will, alternately, pulverise the clods with a wooden 

 batten (mungurree or tapee). The cost of labour may 

 be calculated as follows : 



