TROTTING TRACKS. 201 



the teeth will not follow in the same track. The teeth 

 should be of the best steel, five-eighths of an inch square, 

 about seven inches long, and should be driven to an exact 

 level of two inches on the under surface. 



Next, the harrow, and almost equal to it in impor- 

 tance, is a scantling frame "flote" or "rioter." It is made 

 of "two by four" pine scantlings, sixteen feet long, set 

 upon their edges and spiked together, making a frame 

 sixteen feet square. Between the front and rear scant- 

 lings should be three others at regular intervals, to which 

 the side scantlings are also spiked. On top of the ones 

 set edgewise should be two others, laid flat, parallel to 

 the sides and spiked to the under ones. This is to make 

 it stiff. The implement is now ready for use, and should 

 be hitched to slightly, at one side of the centre, so as to 

 carry the surplus dirt and pebbles to the outside. It is 

 by far the best implement for keeping a track smooth 

 and free from "waves" that has ever been invented. 



A Griffin scraper is at times an absolutely necessary 

 implement, and no association has a full complement of 

 track tools without it ; but its frequent use is rendered 

 unnecessary by the scantling flote. After a severe storm, 

 which often washes the loose dirt down to the pole, es- 

 pecially on the turns, it is necessary to remove it, and 

 carry it out, then the Griffin machine is a necessity. Af- 

 ter a Griffin scraper, a light harrow should be used, then 

 follow with a scantling flote, and you will have a track 

 fit to trot on for a kingdom. There is no substitute for 

 this flote. 



I notice on some tracks an implement, intended, I sup- 

 pose, as a substitute for the scantling frame, but which 

 in reality is the worst thing that can be used. It is con- 

 structed of three or four planks, about eight feet long, 



