200 TALES OF THE TURF. 



in the tin sprinkler should be three times as large as 

 those of an ordinary street sprinkler ; for if sprinkling is 

 necessary at all, a liberal supply of water is required to 

 get good results. 



Xext to water is the harrow, an implement that is 

 both the life and death of a track. Just how much har- 

 rowing his particular track needs the man who "bosses 

 the job" must know. As I said before, every horse can- 

 not be trained alike, but every horse needs a harness ; 

 neither can all tracks be worked alike, but every track 

 needs a harrow. The proper time to harrow is after a 

 rain or after sprinkling. Never harrow an absolutely 

 dry track, or you will render it rotten and cuppy. The 

 same evil result follows too frequent or too deep har- 

 rowing, as it separates and reseparates the particles of 

 soil, causing it to lose its adhesive properties, and result- 

 ing in a dead, rotten, crusty surface that breaks away 

 and becomes "cuppy" and "pathy." I am convinced that 

 this is the fault of conditioning the Buffalo track. A 

 little less harrow, and a little more of the scantling "flote" 

 (an implement they do not seem to have) would material- 

 ly improve that fast course. Every track should have 

 two harrows, and -at least one of them should be sharp all 

 the time; the duller one to use when the track is soft, 

 and the sharper one when it is hard. By frequently chang- 

 ing the hitching place to its different corners, a harrow 

 will retain its sharpness a longer time. The best harrow 

 is made of four oak planks, two inches thick, one foot 

 wide and about six feet long, each bolted through the 

 ends to prevent splitting. These planks are fastened to- 

 gether, leaving spaces of about six inches between them. 

 Holes should be bored for the teeth, four inches apart, 

 small enough to hold them tightly, and so arranged that 



