In the interval, croquet had not altogether died out. At Brentwood, a small club had held its meetings for some time, and at Maidstone, a yearly tournament had taken place since 1894, while players were to be found in the remote village of Budleigh Salterton, and in the far west of Somersetshire, Dr. Prior kept up a perfect lawn, on which in former years most of the well-known players had tried their skill. To make a croquet lawn as perfect as possible, it should be absolutely level, of fine hill turf, not mossy or intersected with plantains, and if possible there should be a layer of cinders or other Ballast a few inches below the surface, as this serves to drain it more quickly and also prevents worms from working through. [Illustration] The measurements now required are 35 by 28 yards, though until last year 40 by 30 yards was considered a match ground. The boundaries should be marked by a chalk line, and at each corner a white spot should be made exactly one yard from each boundary, to mark the position for replacing a corner ball, a matter of much importance in every game. The six hoop setting, with 4-inch hoops and two stout pegs is universally adopted. The hoops are of round iron half an inch thick, square topped, and painted white, No. 1 being generally a light blue to shew the starting-point. They should be long enough to be driven quite nine inches into the ground, and stand the same distance above it, and they are generally painted black in the lower half to show when properly driven in. Of the pegs, one should be plain white, the other (the winning peg) painted with the four colours, blue, red, black, yellow, in order, and both should have small crossbars inserted on which to place the clips. It is essential that the balls should be in these plain colours, and it would be well if the vendors of croquet implements would avoid the striped balls, so bewildering in sequence, and so much more difficult to aim at. Every so-called set should be provided with four iron clips, painted to match the balls, which are used to indicate the position of the game, and are placed on the top of the hoops in the first half, and on the sides in the return journey.