Making a Bowling Green 
A GARDEN RECREATION THAT NEEDS LITTLE SPECIAL PREPARATION AND 
NO RADICAL CHANGES—THE FUN OF LAWN BOWLS—ITS REQUIREMENTS 
W E commonly discuss the ef¬ 
ficiency of our country place 
in the light of production. We also 
consider its efficiency in giving 
pleasure to the senses; but not so 
often do we discuss its opportuni¬ 
ties for recreation. Of course, the 
gjames of lawn tennis and croquet 
are common enough. They each 
have special requirements and some 
drawbacks, chiefly in the former 
an injury to a landscape feature, 
and in the other a potential injury 
to one’s person by the insidious 
wire traps th.at, notwithstanding 
regulations to the contrary, are not 
removed at dusk. The game of 
lawn bowls, on the other hand, af¬ 
fords considerable pleasure, 
and, at the same time, neither 
injures the appearance nor the 
condition of the lawn. Its re¬ 
quirements are very simple, and although specially provided rinks 
may be necessary for experts, any ordinary good lawn may easily 
be developed into an ideal bowling green. As the game is com¬ 
paratively unknown over here, 3. few words descriptive of it may 
not be out of place here. 
Briefly, the idea of the game is to have a few, or a number of 
players to roll a number of balls, called “bowls” along a very 
smooth green turf to an objective point some distance .away, rep¬ 
resented by a white ball called a “Jack.” This “Jack” is located 
at least twenty-five yards from the position from which the player 
bowls. The bowls cannot exceed in circumference sixteen and 
one-half inches, nor 
weigh more than 
three and one-half 
pounds. The bowls 
are not round but 
have a biased side and 
it is this irregular 
shape that makes the 
game a difficult one to 
become proficient in. 
Further, every play¬ 
er must stand on .a 
mat when delivering 
his bowl and at all 
times have at least 
one foot upon it. This 
mat may be of cor¬ 
rugated rubber or 
linoleum and while 
there is no hard and 
fast rule as to its 
composition, it should 
be .about twenty-two 
by fourteen inches in 
size. 
While any number 
may play bowls the 
most interesting re¬ 
sults are had with teams of fours 
which is called a “full rink.” 
Before play begins the captains 
toss for choice of playing first. This 
settled, the leader of the team that 
is to play first, stands on the mat and 
tosses the Jack out onto the green 
so that it will land at least twenty- 
five yards from where he stands. 
After this he delivers one of the two 
bowls which each player must have. 
His idea is to come as close as pos¬ 
sible to the “Jack” without hitting it. 
Following him the leader of the 
other team pUys and so alternately 
each player rolls until each has de¬ 
livered two bowls. After this the 
score is made up. The side having 
the greatest number of bowls 
nearest the “Jack” takes a point 
for each of these. 
Bowls is not exclusively a 
man's game. Its requirements are just strenuous enough to af¬ 
ford a pleasant exercise for both men and women and some of 
the cleverest bowlers are men well advanced in years who have 
been playing since childhood. 
It would approach the truth to say that bowling on the green 
was more like lawn billiards than enlarged marbles, for many of 
the same complieated shots executed on the green baize of the 
billiard tabel are duplicated on the green turf. Utilizing the bias 
of the ball, and every player has his pet “bowls,” the skilled 
player can so direct them that they will wind their way through 
a seemingly impassable wall of bowls about the Jack and bring 
them to rest in po¬ 
sit i o n s that mean 
points for his team. 
It may require a deli¬ 
cate carom, or a num¬ 
ber of them, or a 
sweeping curve to 
effect this but a well- 
played game is re¬ 
plete with just such 
artistic demonstra¬ 
tions. 
Each bowl is num¬ 
bered on the bias side 
and when the bowl is 
delivered the number 
should be on the in¬ 
side, that is next to 
the body. 
A good pair of 
bowls will cost from 
seven to ten dollars 
and each player 
should have two pair. 
In playing a single, 
or pairs, each player 
uses four bowls but 
with three on a side 
The Jack is the white ball in the center, which the bowls 
are supposed to approach, but not touch 
BY Luke J. Doogue 
The bowling green of Weld, the Anderson estate near Brooklyn, is pleasantly shaded and 
arrangement made for spectators 
15 
