Spons' Household Manual / A treasury of domestic receipts and a guide for home management

by Unknown

Games.—It would be impossible here to enter into a description of all our outdoor games, nor is it necessary to do so. The following remarks embody information which cannot readily be found elsewhere, and which is therefore more useful than would be a repetition of the already well-known rules of the chief games.

157. Badminton Court.
158. Badminton Net.

Badminton.—A level bit of turf is the most pleasant ground, though any level surface will do. The dimensions may be varied according to the number playing on each side, and to whether a shuttlecock or a ball is used, the latter not requiring so small a ground as the former. The sizes recommended vary from 40 ft. long by 20 ft. broad, to 30 ft. long by 15 ft. broad. The ground is divided into courts, as in Fig. 157, which represents the full-size.

The boundaries should be clearly defined by a white line; chalk or whiting and water, laid on with a straight-edge and brush, makes the best line. At the spots marked “pole,” which are just half-way from the boundaries taken lengthways, and 2½ ft. within the boundary measured across, poles should be erected, about 7 ft. high, to hang the net to. This, of course, is for the outdoor game; indoors, the net may be suspended from nails, or hung to any convenient projection. The net should be tightly stretched across from pole to pole, at a height of 5 ft. from the ground. The depth of the net varies from 9 in. to 3 ft., but the best is a medium depth, 12-15 in. The poles should be supported with guy ropes. When the net and poles are fixed, they present the appearance shown in Fig 158. If shuttlecocks are used, the ordinary toy ones do very well for indoors; but for outdoors a loaded shuttlecock is not so much disturbed by the wind, and can be made to fly farther. Common battledores will answer indoors; for outdoor games small racquet bats are preferred, about 2 ft. long, with a widish face, and rather more elliptical in the handle than the full-sized bat. Balls for the outdoor game should be made of hollow indiarubber, about the size of a tennis ball.

The outdoor game by 4 persons, played with a ball, is with slight modifications the same as lawn tennis. The courts being marked out, the players take their stand one in each court, and toss for first “service.” The player winning the toss has choice of courts, and places himself in the right-hand court of his side and serves first. Serving is done by holding the ball in the left hand, the bat in the right, and then, when in the act of dropping the ball from the hand, but without allowing it to touch the ground, driving it with the bat diagonally clean over the net into the opposite right-hand court. When serving, the player may stand in any part of his court he pleases, but he must have both feet within the boundary line. The “servee” (i.e. the player served), who stands in the opposite right-hand court, has to “take the service,” i.e. he has to hit the ball back clean over the net, either before it touches the ground or on its first bound. If he succeeds in doing either, his adversaries have to return the ball again, clean over the net, and so on alternately forwards and backwards until one side fails to comply with the necessary conditions, when that round is over, and certain scores accrue, as will be explained. After the first service in each round, no distinction is made between right and left courts, nor as to the player who may take the ball. On the first return the ball may be sent into either court of the opposite side, and taken by either player of that side, and so on in all subsequent returns of that round.

If the ball touches the boundary line, it is out of the court. If the conditions are complied with, it is a “good” service, and if the servee fails to return the ball clean over the net, the server’s side scores one point, called an “ace.” If the conditions are not complied with, and the servee takes or attempts to take the serve, it counts as a good service. But if the server does not comply with the conditions, and the servee does not attempt to take the serve, the server’s “hand is out.” There is, however, one exception to this, viz. if the ball falls on the neutral ground short of the court, in which case it is a “let”—that is, the server is let or allowed to have another serve. Two consecutive lets put the server’s hand out. Some players consider it a let if the ball is served into the wrong court. This is perhaps the best rule for beginners, but for more experienced performers serving into the wrong court should put the server’s hand out. The server’s hand is also out if after the first return either he or his partner fails to return the ball again clean over the net by hitting it once only, or returns it so that it does not fall into one of the opposite courts. If, however, the opponents attempt to return the ball, notwithstanding that it falls out of the court, the return is “good,” and it counts just the same as though the ball had fallen within the court.

When the server’s hand is out, the opponents commence serving from their right-hand court. This rule only applies to the first service in every game, and for this reason: It is a considerable advantage to serve first, as skilful players serve in such a manner as to render it difficult for the opponent to take the service. Also the side serving cannot lose an ace until their hand is out, and the opponents have the serve. If, as before remarked, the servee’s side fail to take a good service, or to return the ball clean over the net at any subsequent stroke by hitting it once only, they lose an ace. The original server then serves again, but this time from the left-hand court, and so on alternately, and his side scores an ace each time the opponents fail to return a good service clean over the net, and so that it falls into one of the opposite courts. After the first service in each game, the side which serves has “two hands in,” i.e. as soon as the server’s hand is out, his partner serves as before. He commences to serve from the right or left hand court as the case may be, following the rule of changing courts after every service. Thus, A served last from the right court; A’s hand is now out; B (A’s partner) now serves from the left court into the opposite left court, and so on alternately until B’s hand is out, when both hands being out, the right of serving goes to the opponents, who commence serving from the right-hand court of their side; the player who originally stood in that court serving first to the player who originally stood in the diagonally opposite court. Once in the game the players may change courts for the purpose of taking serves; thus A (right court) serves to C (opposite right court). A’s hand is put out, and presently A’s side are hand in again. When this happens A must commence the round of his side by serving from his right court to C in the opposite right court, but once in the game C and D (partners) may change courts to take the service, when A would serve to D instead of to C. The game proceeds thus until one side gains 15 aces, when the game is won by that side. If the game arrives at 13-all it may be “set” to 5-all, or at 14-all it may be set to 3-all. After a set, the game continues until one side scores 5 or 3, as the case may be. After a game, the sides change courts. A match or rubber is the best of 3 games.

Cricket. Forming a Ground.—The field should be as near level as possible; a fall of 1 in. to the yd. is not an insurmountable objection; 240 yd. each way is a nice size. In the centre of this there must be at least 42 yd. square of drained or naturally dry land, laid nearly level, and, if possible, of poor, tough, and wiry grass and sod. This piece should be highest in the centre, and with a fall of ½ in. in the yd. all round, that the ground may dry quicker after rain. With a dry subsoil, you can at once make a cricket ground, without the expense of any drainage. If an open loose subsoil, sand, gravel, peat, and wet, it must be made dry; in subsoils of this kind one deep and large drain will frequently effectually cure a large field. Until the subsoil is dry you cannot put soil and sod on it that will be good and safe to play cricket upon. As to clay subsoil, there is no other way to dry this kind of ground except by drainage. Drains must be near together, and deep enough to take away the water sufficiently low down to prevent the earth from sucking it up to the surface: 3 ft. 6 in. to 4 ft. deep, and 4-5 yd. apart, 3 in. tiles, and a fall of not less than ½ in. to the yd., will make this subsoil dry enough to put on a cricket surface. These drains should be filled with broken stone, coarse gravel, or rough cinders to within 12-18 in. of the surface of the ground. The tiles of main drain should be larger than the 3 in. pipes of which branch drains are made, and larger in proportion to the number of branches it has to receive. The opposite ends of branch drains to the main drain should be connected by an air drain, one end of which should be open to the air; for in dry weather, when drains are making no water, a draught of air through and under the ground may cause the seams in the ground to open and crack, and so prepare it for more effectual and quick drainage when wet weather comes. The first thing to be done is to take up the sod: 1½ in. is about the thickness. Wheel them to one side of the piece you intend to take up, and stack them 5 or 6 cartloads together; this presses them, and causes the old rough coarse grass to rot off. When the sods are off is the best time to drain. If chalk is handy, it is the best possible foundation. Not more than 1½-2 in. of mould is required between the turf and the chalk; or dig out some 6-7 in. of the soil, and replace with cinder-ashes procured from a furnace, if chalk cannot be obtained. Pass the ashes through a coarse riddle, and put the rough at the bottom, the fine at the top, ramming it well down; return the sod, and make firm by rolling with the heaviest roller at command—daily rolling for an hour or two; mow when necessary, and that by a machine.

Renovating a Ground.—Before applying any stimulant to encourage growth, first of all get the bare patches filled up with plants of the finest kinds of grass. For 70 yd. by 40, 1 bush. fine lawn grass mixture, obtained from some trustworthy seed establishment, should be sown at once and covered with finely sifted soil of a gritty character, such as road scrapings; when dry enough, run a light roller over it, and repeat the rolling frequently. As soon as the young seedling grasses appear, a dressing of soot and lime should be given to keep slugs in check, and also to act as a stimulant. When the young grass gets any way long, it should be cut with a scythe; the mowing machine should not be used until it has become well established, and sheep be kept off during periods of drought. After many years’ wear and tear it would be advisable to relay the ground with fresh turf, for when once it begins to get patchy and worn, any other remedial measures are seldom entirely satisfactory. Guano sown during showery weather, about 2 lb. mixed with wood ashes, and sprinkled evenly over the surface, will impart verdure to the grass and otherwise help it, for where it is kept closely mown, the soil soon gets exhausted.