270 HA.NDBOOK OF THE TURF. 



fifty feet for the backstretch ; while some modern built tracks 

 are seventy-six feet for the former, and sixty for the latter. A 

 half mile track should be as wide as a mile track. The area 

 given above does not include land upon which to set buildings 

 outside the track circle, but simply that required for the track 

 surface. A natui-al rather than an artificial soil is the best for 

 a track, provided it is of the right kind ; but a soil that is nat- 

 urally sandy is not favorable, as it is light and cuppy. If such 

 is to be used as the foundation, it must be covered with a dres- 

 sing of seven to nine inches of clay loam, in order to ' make a 

 good surface. The best soil for a track is a strong, fertile, 

 deep loam ; indeed the richer and tougher the soil the better, 

 and if there is some peat or crude vegetable matter in its com- 

 position it is better still. A good surface for a track is made of 

 blocks of strong loam, twelve inches square, set like paving 

 blocks, then thoroughly impacted and dressed. Such a track 

 has a springy quality and will retain its elasticity for years. 

 If kept in proper condition it will not sore up a horse. It is as 

 necessary that the soil of a track be rich, as it is that of a field ; 

 then it has life, will not become dead, and will last. It needs 

 an occasional dressing of manure plowed into the surface and 

 finished off. Next it must have an abundance of water — in fact 

 all the soil will retain and not become too soft ; this renders it 

 always moist, makes it easy and yielding. It is not a difficult 

 matter to lay out a half-mile or mile track — any ordinary sur- 

 veyor can do it by following the rules given below ; but to lay 

 out a kite track is a more complicated matter, on account of 

 the angles and details involved, and such a work requires the 

 services of a competent engineer. 



To Lay Out a Half-mile Track. Draw two parallel lines 

 six hundred feet long and four hundred and fifty-two feet, five 

 inches apart. Half-way between the extreme ends of the two 

 parallel lines drive a stake, then loop a wire around the stake 

 long enough to reach to either side. Then make a true curve 

 with the wire, putting down a stake as often as a fence-post is 

 needed. When this operation is finished at both ends of the 

 six hundred foot parallel lines the track is laid out. The 

 inside fence will rest exactly on the line drawn, but the track 

 must measure a half-mile three feet from the fence. The track 

 should rise one-fourth inch to the foot from the pole to the out- 

 side on straight work. The turns should be thrown up one 

 foot and three inches in every ten feet of width, or five feet on 

 a forty foot turn. The stretches may be from forty-five to sixty 

 feet long, and the throwing up of the turns should be com- 

 menced on both stretches for both tm-ns, and worked toward 

 the apex of each. 



