Except the final mowing and light rolling on the morning of the match, wickets should be prepared three days in advance. It is often fatal to good cricket to employ the heavy roller on the day the match commences. Should the grass be so dense as to make the wicket slow, a broom deftly used, followed by a hand mower, run several times between the wickets and across the ground also, will affect a marked improvement in the pace. The preparation can be finished with the small roller. Plantains should never be tolerated on a cricket ground. When the ball happens to fall on the centre of one of these plants, it may travel in the most erratic manner. Many cricket grounds are grazed with sheep, and if the animals are at the same time fed with cake, this is one of the simplest and most effectual means of maintaining the sward in a luxuriant condition. But we have seen sheep do immense mischief on light sandy ground, where their quick snatching mode of feeding readily uproots the plants. Of course the work of mowing is greatly reduced when sheep can with safety be allowed to graze. It must, however, be distinctly understood that without cake the sheep add nothing to the fertility of the soil. IMPROVING CRICKET GROUNDS As a rule, every cricket ground should be liberally manured in spring, with the artificials as recommended above; and before or at the close of each season—certainly not later than the middle of September—fine grass seeds should be sown over the worn parts of the turf. If the sowing can be made early in September, the grasses will have several months in which to become established, and for this reason sowing in autumn on a cricket ground is generally preferable to sowing in spring. As a preliminary, the surface must be raked or harrowed to provide a seed-bed. Then sow renovating seeds at the rate of not less than one bushel per acre, making two operations of the work to ensure regular distribution. Rake or harrow in the seeds to cover as many as possible, and finish with a careful rolling.