40 
House & Garden 
PLAYING GROUNDS FOR COUNTRY PLACES 
Suggestions for Their Construction, Design and Treatment to Make 
Them Ornamental as Well as Practical 
RICHARD H. PRATT, II 
T 
HERE was a time when country 
places in more or less isolated locations 
included, almost without exception, 
some definite places for games—for tennis, 
croquet or lawn bowls. Each of 
these spaces was prepared with 
the ends of its own particular 
game in view. Sometimes they 
were treated as an integral part of 
the landscape scheme, but often 
the bluntness of their aspect 
jarred the sensibilities. Now 
their bluntness has disappeared 
because they, too, have gone. 
Tennis courts remain, though it 
is perhaps more for custom’s sake 
than for a desire to play at home. 
The reasons for all this are obvi¬ 
ous: motors and country clubs. 
But it is regretable nevertheless. 
For well organized playgrounds 
on even the small suburban places 
make for such completeness; with 
the garden they extend the possi¬ 
bilities for pleasure to the limit 
and increase an appreciation for 
the grounds of the home as noth¬ 
ing else can. And they lessen our 
dependence upon the clubs (none 
the less a splendid opportunity 
for social intercourse) as they en¬ 
large the immediate offering we 
can make to our family and to 
our guests. 
The popularity of tennis is un¬ 
questioned, yet there is nothing 
to scoff at in lawn bowls, clock 
golf or croquet. Each, properly 
played on a well prepared ground, 
rewards skilful effort by produc¬ 
ing an exceedingly interesting 
contest. Each, too, is a game for 
all but the very youngest children whose play 
spaces are so often omitted or neglected. And 
there is room for one of them at least on the 
smallest place. Let us consider then how the 
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Playing grounds for three dif¬ 
ferent games are provided in 
the upper plan, and all are so 
well arranged that they enhance 
the landscaped appearance of 
the place 
The bowling green is especially 
adapted to a situation provid¬ 
ing a long, narrow space. Aside 
from its playing attraction, the 
strip of smooth turf is pictur¬ 
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A croquet court calls for a space 30' by 60', inclusive of the plank 
edging which surrounds it. The positions of the wickets and 
stakes are here shown 
Clock golf is another game well suited to limited space. It affords 
not only the interest of competition, but also excellent practice for 
the regular game 
grounds for these several games may be pre¬ 
pared, how they may be arranged as a part 
of the layout and how they may be treated so 
as to merge easily into the general design. 
It is of primary importance to 
have the ground for any game 
well prepared and then kept in 
condition in order that skill, not 
luck, may be the deciding factor 
in any match. A poor playing 
surface soon ceases to intrigue us 
and the cost of good construction 
is no less in the end than quick 
and cheap methods that must too 
soon deteriorate. 
For tennis and croquet there is 
the choice of turf or of a hard 
surface. A hard surface of sand 
or clay is usually built upon a 
foundation of broken stone, the 
stones decreasing in size as they 
approach the top; each layer of 
not more than 3", making al¬ 
together a depth of not less than 
8”, being thoroughly rolled with 
a heavy roller, and the whole cov¬ 
ered with the final surfacing of 
clay or sand watered and rolled 
well into the interstices of the 
underlying stones. Under this 
foundation and on top of the sub¬ 
soil open tile drains should be 
laid in whatever quantity is nec¬ 
essary to carry off the seepage and 
prevent sogginess and bulging. 
But a court or lawn of a hard 
surface lacks the soft appearance 
that will help to make the grounds 
effective and unless the climate or 
the locality is not adapted to the 
use of turf the former should not 
be used. Turf, on the other hand, 
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