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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



November, 1910 



Tennis Courts 



T is not a hard matter to build a clay tennis 

 court, though it requires some skill and 

 judgment, since it is not always easy to 

 get the best materials. 



Courts can be made of "binding 

 gravel," as it is called near Boston. This 

 is a gravel which contains just the right 

 amount of clay to make it pack hard. It is the simplest and 

 best material to use because the only labor needed is in 

 the spreading and light rolling afterward. The gravel 

 packs with use and the court becomes harder all the time. 

 Clay courts are made by excavating the area of the 

 court eight to twelve inches deep, spreading a layer of 

 cinders six to eight inches deep and over that a layer of 

 clay two to four inches thick. The clay is broken up into 

 fine lumps sprinkled with sand and then watered and 

 rolled. This process of sanding, watering and rolling must 

 be repeated until the court is hard and smooth. 



Such a court will last in good condition for years. It 

 would be an improvement, however, to put a layer of 

 broken stone under the cinders. Stone and cinders are 

 both to provide under drainage and keep the court from 

 heaving in winter and to make it dry out quickly after 

 a rain. 



When crushed stone is used for a court the first layer 

 should be four inches thick of 2 ^-3-inch stone. This is 

 bound with earth and rolled with a heavy roller. On top 



of this is laid a course of i^-inch stone two inches thick. 

 This can be bound with screenings and dust which should 

 be rolled and watered until the surface is smooth and 

 uniform. 



A good grass court is the best to play on and can be 

 made quite easily if the soil is deep and rich, not less than 

 eighteen inches deep. Seed with one bushel of Kentucky 

 Blue grass; roll, weed and water constantly the first sum- 

 mer, and do not play on it until the second year. Further 

 directions for making a grass court were given in Ameri- 

 can Homes and Gardens for June, 19 10. 



The space allowed for the court should be at least 

 120x60 feet. Sometimes only the court itself is clay and 

 the space between it and the back net and the sides are kept 

 in grass. This is a compromise and is not so good as hav- 

 ing the whole area either grass or clay. 



The back net should be at least ten feet high. It need 

 not extend along the sides any farther than the service line. 



It is seldom that one sees the accessories of a court well 

 designed and more seldom still does one see a court well 

 located in relation to its surroundings. 



It is a great pity to waste the opportunity for an effec- 

 tive formal treatment which the level rectangular area of 

 a tennis court gives yet how often do we see a court 

 dropped, as it were, without thought, in the middle of a 

 lawn; ineffective itself and spoiling the lawn! 



For the back net, masonry or wooden posts, with lattice 



