Making a Tennis Court. Walsh George E.

trees crowd too closely to the court they make the surface damp, and in wet weather it may be impossible to play for days at a time. If the court is free from shade on the east side, the morning sun will dry up the surface after a rain, so that playing can be resumed in the afternoon.

      All of these points in laying out a tennis court may seem simple and plain to any one when consideration is given to them, but failure to observe them often causes an endless amount of annoyance. For instance, one of the best tennis clubs in the country had its courts laid out running east and west, and the difficulty of playing with the sun in the eyes caused so much trouble that the courts had to be rebuilt. There was no reason, except oversight, why they were laid out wrongly in the first place.

      Another club which had its grass courts laid out with a dense growth of trees a few yards back from the courts, on the east side, finally came to the conclusion that they either had to rearrange the courts or chop down some of the trees. The morning shade of the trees kept the courts from drying up quickly so often that the players became disgusted. Beautiful mornings would dawn after a rainstorm, and the players would anticipate fine afternoons of tennis; but the courts were too wet until very late in the day.

      Like everything else, there is a right and wrong way of laying out courts, and if one is doing it as a permanent fixture of the grounds a little care and attention to these details will add a hundred per cent. to the value and increase the comfort of players and spectators.

      KINDS OF COURTS

      TENNIS can be played on almost any smooth, even surface, either indoors or outdoors, and the question of securing in the best way the most desirable surface for the courts is one that has attracted a good deal of expert attention. While a lawn is considered the ideal place for playing the game on home courts, tennis clubs and associations have more generally adopted the clay or dirt court. One reason for this is that the surface is not so easily scarred by the feet of the players, and its maintenance in perfect condition is easier where its use is almost continuous throughout the season.