Billiards

No game in the world is so absolutely dependent on all its various accessories as billiards. Cricket can still be played, and played well, although the pitch may be not quite first-rate, and a bit of rough ground is not fatal to a golf links; but if the room be not large and airy, if the table be ill kept, the cloth unbrushed or badly stretched, the balls foul, and the cues ill cared for, the skilful player at billiards will be reduced to the level of an ordinary performer, and anything like a decent break will be out of the question. It is, therefore, of paramount importance that all the implements connected with the game should be of the very best kind, and in the very best order.

Before dealing seriatim with the various subjects, it is with pleasure that I acknowledge the great assistance that Messrs. Burroughes & Watts and Messrs. Thurston & Co. (I place the firms in alphabetical order) have cheerfully given me—assistance without which I could not have hoped to carry out my allotted task, and with which, I fear, I have hardly done justice to the time and trouble they have ungrudgingly expended upon me. I have also to thank Messrs. Wright & Co. for the drawings of the Standard Association Pockets which appear amongst the remarks on tables.

THE ROOM

To begin with, a room of convenient proportions must be found to accommodate the table. Good play is severely handicapped by an unsuitable room, and the essential points of a good room are worthy of careful consideration. That it must be large and airy goes almost without saying, yet, self-evident as this may seem, it is a point which is too frequently overlooked, not only in private billiard-rooms, but also in rooms where exhibition matches are constantly being played.

Amateurs, in general, are more directly interested in the rooms of clubs and private houses, concerning which there are some points which cannot well be disregarded.

And, first, as to club-rooms.

Although in these the architect has, as a rule, a free hand, yet in far too many cases the comfort of the spectator (and, as a natural corollary, the freedom of the players) is sadly neglected. It is most important for the players’ sake that spectators should be comfortably seated at a reasonable distance from the table. No man can play his best if he has constantly to turn round and look for a place for his foot amongst a crowd of friends; still less when he is haunted by the fear that the butt of his cues may at any moment come into collision with a whisky-and-soda. The older architects, as a body, seemed to consider that if the room was twenty-four feet long by eighteen feet broad, ample accommodation was provided, forgetting that the platforms, upon which the seats are placed, take up a great deal of the spare space. So that one frequently finds, in an apparently large room, that certain strokes cannot be played without placing a foot upon the platform. At one club an ingenious architect, ably abetted by an unwary committee, ran some hot-water pipes in front of the platform, and so near to the top of the table did they extend, that the well-known hazard from the top pocket off the spot became exceedingly difficult, because a player was obliged to rest one foot upon these rounded pipes, which afforded, at the best, a precarious foothold. It is of the utmost importance that the player should have plenty of room all round the table.

Another matter of importance is the position of the door. Do what you will, somebody is sure to come in ‘on the stroke,’ and, therefore, the more the door can be kept out of the line of sight the better. Obviously, the worst place for the door is at the top of the table—i.e. directly facing the player as he plays from baulk—the best place is at the bottom, and, if possible, away to the side.

In a large and modern room a light screen with peep-holes may be advantageously placed inside the door, which should be fitted so as to open and shut silently. By this means an inevitable nuisance may be brought within manageable limits.

The position of the fireplace is also important. A flickering light in the eyes of the players interferes seriously with good play; therefore, if possible, the fire should never be at the top of the table. Wherever it may be, it is well to cover the outside of the pocket facing it with green cloth, so that the light may not shine through the pocket.

The Committee of the Oriental Club have kindly permitted me to introduce a plan of their large room as an excellent example of what a club-room should be (fig. 1). As will be seen in the plan, the door is well out of the way, the seats are roomy and comfortable, capable of seating, say, fifty spectators, and—most important of all—plenty of space is left for the player all round the table. The skylight is a special feature; in most rooms its elevation is something like the annexed sketches (figs. 2 and 3).

A private house billiard-room need not be so large as a club-room, but it is essential that it should be as airy as possible, and—a most important point—it ought, if possible, to be the usual smoking-room of the house, so that it may be regularly inhabited. If this point is neglected, and the room is intended solely for billiards, a time may come when it may be left severely alone for two or three months, and the cushions will probably suffer from cold and want of play. If, however, the room be made comfortable and attractive, it will be constantly lived in, and the cushions kept at an equable temperature. Besides, the fact of the table being at hand and ready will of itself induce more play.

All this, of course, means that at one end or other of the table there must be considerably more than the regulation six feet. If one is going to build, thirty or thirty-two feet for length, and twenty feet for breadth, will give plenty of space for billiards and smoking, and be more satisfactory in the long run than a room twenty-four by eighteen at the outside.

If the plan of the house precludes the possibility of a room of this size, it should be remembered that very excellent billiard-rooms of corrugated iron, lined with felt and match-boarding, can be put up alongside a house if the requisite space can be found for them. It is also worth while to remember that thirty feet by twenty feet looks a very small plot when measured on the lawn, so that many a disused and forgotten corner might serve as a site for a noble billiard-room.

Such a room Mr. W. H. Fowler, the well-known amateur, has erected in Taunton by the side of his house. It is thirty-four feet by thirty-three feet, and is roughly of this shape (fig. 4).

The system of ventilation seems so excellent that, at my request, Mr. Samson, the architect of the room, has kindly sent me drawings which are shown under ‘Ventilation,’ and which will, no doubt, make clear what is obscure in this description.

The skylight is fitted with an exhaust cowl; and the chimney has a special ventilating flue. For cold weather, two gas-stoves of the modern hygienic type are connected with the gas-pipes, and keep the room warm enough at night to save the cushions from the effects of the severest frost. As they have come triumphantly out of the ordeal of the Siberian winter of 1894–95, it is fair to assume that outside rooms of this type can be thoroughly protected from cold with very little trouble.

The recesses on each side give ample room for smoking, whist, or writing; and the horizontal beams of the framework naturally lend themselves to the function of bookshelves, so that a variety of tastes may be satisfied. The cost of such a room would be about 300l.

As a type of an indoor room I append a rough sketch of Mr. A. Gibbs’ room at Tyntesfield, which embodies the same principle—viz. that it is an exceedingly comfortable room for smoking and writing. It is covered with a high-arched roof, so that it is always cool (fig. 5).

One can thus see that the addition of a recess or a few feet in length at once renders the room habitable and convenient.

I do not, of course, wish it to be supposed that the foregoing plans necessarily represent the best billiard-rooms of their kind in the country; they happen to be rooms with which I am familiar, and I have introduced them as illustrations merely of the principle that comfort, both for players and spectators, is a very important factor in the encouragement of good play. Every reader can, out of his personal experience, suggest to himself examples of comfortable rooms, both public and private, as good as, and possibly better, than those I have sketched.

VENTILATION

One of the most difficult and most important problems in connexion with billiard-rooms is the subject of ventilation, particularly where the electric light is used. If gas be the lighting agent, the heated air can generally be drawn off by means of an exhaust cowl over the skylight; but these cowls are apt to cause a leak in the skylight fittings, and must, therefore, be erected with great care. Where the electric light is used, a small sunlight gas-burner at the bottom of the exhaust tube helps to generate a hot upward current.

Tobin tubes in the corners of the room, carried well up eight or nine feet from the ground, are valuable allies in admitting fresh air; but one great objection to them is that they usually pour the cold current upon the unprotected heads and necks of the spectators. Small boards (say six inches in height) to fit against the bottom of the windows make capital practical ‘Tobins;’ for the lower sashes can be pushed up a couple of inches without going clear of the board, and fresh air comes into the room between the sashes. Skylight sashes are not of much use, for they can only be used in fine weather, and they rarely fit tight enough to keep out really heavy rain. If we turn back for a moment to the drawing of the Oriental Club skylight, we shall see that it is a good fine-weather type. The sashes pivot on their middles and admit plenty of air, and as the coaming^[5] is unusually high (more than two feet), the danger of rain splashing off the flat roof through the bottom of the sashes is sensibly reduced.

Mr. Samson, the architect of the County Club at Taunton, and also of Mr. Fowler’s room, very recently showed me a system of ventilation which he had introduced into the Club billiard-room with absolute success. Fully realising the difficulty of keeping rain out and letting air in with a skylight of the ordinary type, he decided to carry the skylight the whole length of the room, so that the sashes which open at one end are far removed from the table. The skylight is of the ordinary section (fig. 6), and in order to avoid undue glare he has fitted the space between the coamings with horizontal sashes of ground glass, sliding one on another in such a way that the amount of light can be easily regulated by the marker. At one end of the skylight two vertical sashes (of the full width of the skylight) are fitted, one being above the coaming, the other in the wall below the coaming, so that it can be opened whether all the horizontal sashes be closed or not. At the other, or fireplace end of the skylight, two large gratings are fixed, one (as at the opposite end) above, the other below the level of the base of the skylight, communicating with a flue in the chimney, which is, of course, kept warm by the heat of the fire. Thus a powerful exhaust is working at one end of the room, while as much or as little fresh air as is required flows in at the other. I append a rough sketch, which may, perhaps, tend to make the description clearer (fig. 7).

The two great advantages of his plan seem to me to be, first, the risk of water on the table is greatly diminished; second, no matter how cold it be, some air can be admitted, and some can be sucked out, although the skylight may be completely shut by the closing of all the flat sashes.

In all rooms, the heating apparatus, whatever it may be, should be absolutely under the control of the players. Most of us have experienced the nuisance of hearing a fire noisily poked by a chilly spectator just in the middle of a good break; and, apart from the strain on the nerves that such interference with play causes, the question of the heat alone is one that the players should be allowed to settle for themselves. Spectators sitting near a window are apt to forget that a temperature which to them feels merely comfortable may be well-nigh intolerable to a player constantly on the move and exposed to the heat and glare of the lamp.

On such an important point as ventilation it is well worth while, if building a new room, to consult a competent architect. It may save many a headache afterwards.

LIGHTING

A considerable choice lies before the owner of a room. He can have electric light, or incandescent gas, or albo-carbon, or ordinary burners, or oil lamps.

If he is in the country, with no gas light and no electric light installed, he must of necessity fall back upon oil. Mineral oil is generally used, and the lamps made for the purpose appear to answer very well. One word of caution is, however, necessary. The lamps should only be put in the brackets when required, and should be removed immediately the play is over, so as to minimise the chance of oil being spilt upon the cloth. For the same reason the containers should be most carefully wiped before being put into the brackets, and with constant care of this kind no harm need happen to the table.

Glass chimneys, whether for oil or gas, are a constant source of danger. If one should break, the pieces of glass are apt to cut or scorch the cloth. They must, therefore, be very carefully handled. Chimneys of talc are now supplied, which are in every way to be preferred to the glass ones.

Of the various kinds of gas light the incandescent appears to give the most pleasant for play. The burners for this light are now fitted with a ‘bye-pass,’ which is a tiny flame never to be extinguished. With this fitting, when the gas is gradually turned on it ignites from the small leader on the bye-pass and the mantle gradually glows without a sudden shock. By this means the life of a mantle is much prolonged. If the light should be fitted without the ‘bye-pass,’ the greatest care and caution must be observed in lighting up. A spirit torch should be used, and the gas should not be turned full on at once or the mantles will soon be destroyed. It will be found advisable to hold a tray or something of the kind under the spirit torch when lighting up, to prevent any of the hot spirit falling on the cloth.

Albo-carbon lights are not often seen now. With the best attention we are told that they are absolutely inodorous, but, practically, owing to carelessness or what not, in most rooms where I have seen them used I have found a disagreeable smell.

The old ring burner (which has the merit of simplicity) is seldom used, because of the tremendous heat which it generates. One good burner of modern type under each shade ought, with fairly good gas, to be sufficient for all purposes. It will save a great deal of gas as compared with the ring burner, and will cause fewer headaches.

Of the electric light little need be said. The globes are of the ordinary pattern, and the lights should be 32–candle-power; 16–candle-power is not strong enough to light up the corner pockets, if the usual 6–light bracket is used, and it is an easy matter to shield the eyes by putting silk fringes at the bottom of the shades. It is advisable to have three or four spare globes in readiness in case of a break, and care must be taken to avoid touching the lights with a cue. If a glass does break, it will fly into thousands of pieces, and cover the table with fine particles of glass, which are troublesome to clear off without injuring the cloth.

Note by Major Broadfoot

The question of a good light on the table during the day is of great importance. For all persons daylight is probably healthier than the best system of artificial light; whilst for those whose breathing arrangements are delicate, and they, unfortunately, are many, daylight play may be almost obligatory. The main difficulty has been to provide a weather-tight skylight, and Mr. Boyd has given excellent hints and advice on the subject. It is, however, worthy of consideration whether the skylight should not be abandoned in favour of a sound roof, the light being admitted at the sides and ends of the room; at a height above the floor sufficient to prevent the glare and shadows which result from ordinary side lights. Several advantages are obvious. The roof should be more weatherproof, the room less liable to be overheated in sunny weather, the frame which carries the lighting apparatus would cast no shadow on the table, whilst, when daylight is waning and artificial light is required, the struggle for supremacy between the two, resulting in a most objectionable dark spot directly under each shade, would be avoided. Each of these considerations is of much importance, and an intelligent engineer or architect would have little difficulty in designing an arrangement to meet them. The idea may be gathered from above sketch (fig. 10).

The heat in most skylighted rooms is unendurable in summer.—W. B.

It would, no doubt, be very satisfactory if all the tables throughout the kingdom were of one uniform pattern, and more than one attempt has been made to bring about this desirable state of things. But such efforts have not been successful because the owners of the many thousand tables already in existence are naturally unwilling to spend money in alterations. And, again, individual tastes will constantly tend to develop typical differences.

The question of the size of the pockets first reached an acute form at the time when the championship was being frequently played for between Messrs. J. Roberts, jun., W. Cook, and Joseph Bennett.

The deadly effect of the spot stroke on a large pocket table was clearly recognised, and fears were already entertained that unless some radical alteration were made, all-round play would become neglected, and that the public would soon weary of watching a single stroke indefinitely repeated.^[6]

A committee of the leading players thereupon decided that in future all matches for the championship should be played upon a table with pockets three inches at the fall of the slate, with the billiard spot a little nearer to the top cushion, and with a smaller Ｄ. This last alteration, looking to the fact that the deliberate intention of the committee was to discourage, if not kill, the spot stroke, seems curiously illogical. If the spot is to go, something must be encouraged in its stead; obviously, all-round play must be developed. Why, then, cramp in any way the latitude up till then given to a player when playing from hand?

The subsequent history of the pockets is an interesting commentary on the labours of the committee. As they had expected, the spot stroke soon failed to draw, and for exhibition purposes it is, in 1895, as dead as Julius Cæsar. But the tight pocket failed to gain popularity. Here and there a more than usually gifted amateur erected one for his own amusement; in one or two instances an enterprising billiard-room proprietor, who had other tables to fall back upon, tried one for an experiment. But these tables are and must be, for all time, caviare to the general. The reduced Ｄ has never found a place on ordinary tables, so that the result of the committee’s work is that the spot has gone, and the championship match, if there ever be one, must be played with the three-inch pocket.

Quite recently another attempt to secure uniformity has been made by the Billiard Association. Their committee, recognising the fact that the public would have nothing to say to a tight pocket, and taking a 3⅝-inch pocket as a fair average size, caused templates to be made of those dimensions, and decided that tables made with pockets accurately fitted to the aforesaid templates should be called ‘Standard Association Tables.’ In two minor respects these pockets differ slightly from what, for want of a better word, we may call ‘ordinary’ pockets—first, the shoulders of the cushions are struck with a rounder curve; second, the outer edge of the fall of the slate at the middle pocket falls slightly within the inner line of the cushion, as shown in fig. 11, where A A is the line of the cushion, C the cloth, and P the middle pocket. From this sketch it will be seen that the difficulty of middle-pocket jennies is sensibly increased.

Drawings of the Championship pockets (figs. 12, 13) and the Standard Association pockets (figs. 14, 15) are here inserted in order that the reader may compare them for himself. The drawings of the Championship pockets are taken direct from the templates in the possession of Messrs. Burroughes & Watts, and those of the Standard pockets from templates the property of Messrs. Wright & Co.

An intending purchaser has, then, to decide for himself whether he will have a Standard pocket table; an ordinary 3⅝-pocket table (and in this case the pockets of different makers will vary slightly in size and shape); or, lastly, a 3–inch pocket Championship table.

Whichever may be the pattern selected, the purchaser, if he is really fond of the game, ought to get a good table well up to ‘club’ quality. If money is no object, elaborately carved tables can be bought up to 300l. or so; but for the purposes of billiards all the carving is unnecessary. Let the bed be a thoroughly strong one, the slates of the best quality, the cushions according to the maker’s best pattern, the cloth the best of its kind, and the woodwork plain.

A plan of a billiard-table is given on p. 75, in order that the terms used in connexion with the table may be fully set forth; it is drawn on the scale shown below-⁹⁄₂₀ in. = 1 ft.

ORDINARY TABLE

(i) Billiard spot 12¾ in. from face (or nearest point) of the top cushion.

(ii) Radius of semicircle of Ｄ, 11½ in.

(iii) Baulk-line, 29 in. from face of bottom cushion.

CHAMPIONSHIP TABLE

(i) 12½ in. (ii) First 9½ in. then 10 in. (iii) 28 in.

It is essential to the true running qualities, as well as to the lasting qualities of the table, that the frames (which few people ever see) should be exceedingly strong, thoroughly well seasoned, and accurately levelled. The slightest warping of these frames is fatal to the preservation of the table, and they are made, for this country at any rate, of the most carefully selected red deal. If the table is intended for the tropics, mahogany or teak should be used. As soon as the frames are bolted to the legs (which, by the way, are erected on an absolutely level base), they are carefully trimmed over with a long plane, and, until the straight-edge fairly meets the frames all over, in whatever direction it may be tried, the bed is not ready for the slate.

Slates come from the Penrhyn or Aberdovey quarries, as the case may be. Some makers prefer one quarry, others another. After they have been rough-hewn to size and thickness, they are passed through a planing machine, which reduces the surface to a rough level. They are then put into another machine and cut to size, each slate being now 2⅖ feet wide and 6 feet 1½ in. long. Then the five slates^[7] necessary to make a table bed are laid together upon a solid level bed, and ‘floated’ with coarse sand; then fine sand is used, and yet finer, till the face is brought to a polish. Meanwhile, every inequality is carefully tried down, so that before the slates leave the ‘banker,’ as it is called, the straight-edge must touch them fairly all over.

Holes are bored in the sides of the slates and metal dowels leaded into one side, as shown in the sketch (fig. 17), so that each slate may fit into the next, and then large holes are drilled out on the underside of the slates and steel nuts leaded in to take the long screws which fasten the cushions firmly to the slates (fig. 18).

On the underside of each slate a bevel about two inches wide is made, in order that a chisel may be slipped between the slates to separate them when dismantling a table; and if one is far away from professional assistance, and is obliged to take down a table according to one’s own lights, it is well to look carefully for this bevel, and it may save many a cracked slate.

Various thicknesses are used, from, say, 1⅛ inch up to and over two inches, the general principle being that, the thicker the bed is, the quieter the balls run. But, as in most other things, there is a reasonable limit, because the weight of the slates increases so enormously with the increased thickness, that beyond two inches in thickness they become very difficult to handle, and the risk of damage in transport is more than proportionately increased.

Therefore, one may call two inches a reasonable maximum, and 1⅝ in. a fair minimum for the thickness of slates.

CUSHIONS

No part of the table has undergone such radical changes in the last forty years as the cushion. Billiard-players of even twenty-five years’ experience are already beginning to forget the miseries they endured in the early days in endeavouring to make a respectable shot from under the old high cushions, and a school of billiard-players is rapidly growing up who will never realise the difficulties their fathers encountered.

I am permitted by the courtesy of Messrs. Burroughes & Watts to insert four drawings from ‘Billiards Simplified,’ which show the difference of the stroke from under the cushion—fig. 19 in 1826; fig. 20 in 1837; fig. 21 in 1869; fig. 22 in 1895.

The more the player’s cue is elevated from the horizontal, the more difficult it becomes to direct the course of the ball, and with the old high cushions it was no easy matter for an ordinary player whose ball was tight under the cushion to hit another ball at the length of the table.

But it is not only for the reduction in the height of the cushions that we have to thank the makers at the present time. The early rubber cushions were exceedingly sensitive to cold, and unless the greatest care and trouble were taken with them they became hard, untrue, and useless; and if they were once allowed to get ‘frozen,’ as it was called, they never regained their original elasticity. Five and twenty years ago it was the exception and not the rule to find a country-house table worth playing on; now, thanks to modern improvements, no one need despair of keeping his table in excellent order.

Vulcanite specially prepared was at one time recommended for country-house cushions. But although cushions of that material were unaffected by frost, they were slower and deader than ‘native’ rubber cushions, and soon became unpopular. The makers have at last found a way of preparing cushions so that with ordinary care they can be kept true and fast in all weathers, and it is possible, and indeed usual, to play in the country with the same kind of cushions as are used in the leading London clubs.

The manufacture of these cushions is a delicate piece of work; but one may say generally that the rubber is applied to the backing in thin strips, one ‘pasted’ on the top of another with some liquid preparation of india-rubber similar to, if not the same as, the stuff one uses to mend a hole in wading-stockings.

For those who wish to go deeper into the subject, a day at the Patent Office Library and a careful study of the various patents obtained by the principal makers with reference to the manufacture of cushions will prove an interesting piece of research, and will place the scientific reader in possession of information which for obvious reasons could not properly be included in the present work.

As we write, rumours of a pneumatic cushion ‘which is to supersede all others’ are widely current in the billiard world; but when one remembers the number of fair-seeming patents that have never got further than the Patent Office Library aforesaid, it would be premature to express any opinion upon the cushions until they have been thoroughly submitted to the two practical tests of time and play.

CLOTHS

The bulk of the cloth comes from Stroud, although a good deal is manufactured in Yorkshire, and the finest quality is passed through two steel rollers, while a sort of knife like a mowing machine removes a considerable part of the long nap. This is the kind of cloth that one sees upon the tables used for exhibition matches. It would be unsuitable for a club because, having a comparatively short nap, it would soon be rubbed smooth and bare by the incessant play, and the brushing and ironing such play involves. For country houses, however, it is the very thing. The short nap which renders it unsuitable for clubs makes it easily manageable in a private house; it requires a minimum of ironing; and even if the table be left to itself for some time, there will be no staring nap to be seen when next the table is used.

For clubs the next quality, with longer nap, is more useful; more brushing and more ironing are required, but the cloth is better fitted to resist the everlasting friction of the player’s hands and the incessant brushing that becomes, owing to the chalk from many cues, an almost hourly function.

And here, notwithstanding all that has been said and written about the subject, let me say that the ironing in club-rooms is in most instances very much overdone. It is not altogether the marker’s fault; members complain that the table is running slow, and on goes the iron as a matter of course, generally far too hot. Nearly every marker will tell you that the iron is no use unless it is thoroughly hot; what he means is, that he cannot get the glaze upon the cloth without it; but the proper answer is that nobody wants, or ought to want, the glaze, and that it is directly detrimental to scientific billiards. The cooler you can use the iron and keep the table in order, the better for the life of the cloth and the better for the club play.

At the seaside, or in any damp climate, constant ironing becomes a necessity, in order to thoroughly dry the cloth, but even under such circumstances there is no necessity to scorch it.

A good cloth can be told by the feel only; it should be firm and leathery, closely woven, and not too elastic.

In such an important matter as a cloth, however, a purchaser would be well advised to place himself unreservedly in the manufacturers’ hands, and leave the selection to them.

TO ERECT A TABLE

Having fixed upon a suitable foundation (and for this a competent architect should be consulted), stand the legs up in the places they will occupy; fit the frames (which are all numbered) into the mortices, and screw the frames to the legs with the long bolts provided for the purpose.

At this stage it will be well to set about levelling, before the weight of the slates comes upon the bed, and if you get your wedges in now, you can more readily knock them a little further when the table is completely put together than if you had left them to be inserted last of all.

Having thus got the bed level, lift the slates on carefully, and lay them on the bed an inch or two apart. Place the centre slate accurately in position, slide the next one up against it, and enter the dowels of the one into the corresponding holes of the other fairly and squarely; proceed in like manner with the other slates till they are all joined. If there be any cracks in the upper edges of any of the slates, fill them in with plaster of Paris.

Lay on the cloth, taking care that the right side is uppermost, that the nap runs from what is to be the bottom of the table towards the top, and that the cloth is square to the table. Go to the top of the table, drive in a couple of tacks,^[8] and then go to the bottom of the table, pull the cloth tight, and drive in two more tacks on the middle line. Then stand at one of the middle pockets, pull the cloth a little towards you, and tack it lightly on each side of the pocket; next go over to the opposite middle pocket, pull the cloth tight and tack it as before. Then at each of the middle pockets in succession take a good handful of cloth and a good pull and tack what you get underneath the pocket. Smooth out the cloth over the fall of these pockets, but do not at present trouble about a wrinkle or two, as they will be smoothed out later. Get somebody to hold the cloth firmly at the middle pocket, and go yourself to the corner pocket and pull along the side of the table, using considerable strength; proceed in like manner with the other corner pockets. If all this has been done carefully, neatly, and firmly, the cloth ought to be well stretched the length and breadth of the table. The amateur will find the greatest difficulty in getting the cloth to lie smooth along the sides and ends of the table, and especially at the fall of the pockets, for the cloth must be humoured so as to come fair over the pockets without creasing. This is a work of time, trouble, and neat-handedness; you must not hurry; take plenty of time, plenty of tacks, and by degrees success may be attained.

Covering the cushions with cloth is such an exceedingly difficult and delicate operation that it should not be attempted by an amateur; very few workmen can cover a cushion as it should be covered, and, therefore, it is useless to describe the operation. It will be found prudent to order the makers to cover the cushions before sending them out; indeed, some clubs abroad have two sets of cushions, so that while one set is in use the other may be in England for repairs.

And now to put the cushions on the table. Take care that you have each one in its proper place (the cushions will be all numbered); fit them all firmly on so that the holes in the woodwork exactly coincide with the holes in the slates; push in the bolts and screw them all up hand tight. Don’t screw one as tight as you can at first, or you will strain the cushion and the nut, but when you have got them all fairly tight, set them up with the brace as tight as your strength will allow, taking care that each is similarly treated. With modern steel cushions it must be remembered that slots have to be dealt with instead of holes, and therefore the position of the cushions must be carefully measured, or one pocket will be larger than another.

Having screwed up the cushions quite tight, fit in the pocket plates and pass the long thin screws up from below through the woodwork of the cushions and screw all tight. (Some modern cushions are fixed with what are called invisible pocket plates; these have to be put into the cushions before the latter are fixed). Modern pockets are made with holes at the side closed by an india-rubber ring, so that the balls can be taken out without putting the hand into the pockets. These are an improvement on the old pattern, for the shoulders of the cushions will last longer and will not be pulled out of shape.

It now only remains to get the table quite level. Work the level about and correct any slight errors by slightly jacking up the low part, and by pushing the wedges under the nearest legs further home. Rather under-compensate at first, because if you overdo the thing at all, you will find yourself obliged to go on overdoing it till your table is eventually raised appreciably above the regulation height, which should be 2 ft. 8 in. from the floor to the cloth, not to the top of the cushions.

If obliged to put up or superintend the erection of the lighting apparatus, remember that the flame is generally three feet from the cloth.

One more word of advice. If you can secure an expert to erect your table, never do the work yourself; but if you cannot command such aid, the foregoing hints may be of service.

The spots should be of thin court plaster, and should be carefully stuck on the places shown in the diagram, p. 75.

Pipeclay, white chalk, black chalk, or a lead pencil can be used for marking a baulk-line; and, whichever you select, remember to mark the lines lightly or the cloth will soon become grooved and damaged. Pipeclay, which is the least likely to damage the table, has the drawback that it very easily rubs out, and, in consequence, involves constant ruling, so that, on the whole, a lead pencil carefully and lightly used can be recommended.

If the table be a Championship one, the position of the afore-mentioned spots and lines requires modification, as shown on p. 73.

BRUSHING AND IRONING

It is impossible to overestimate the value of continual and regular brushing. With one of the finest quality cloths, unless the climate be damp, once or twice a week at the outside will be enough for the iron, if the brush is used as it should be. At the conclusion of play the brush should always be used freely and at once, so that all the chalk marks may be removed before they are rubbed through the cloth. Remember always to use the brush with the nap—that is, from the bottom towards the top of the table.

To iron a table properly, place the iron at A C (fig. 23), and then take it steadily along the table from A to B. Lift it off; then go back to the bottom again; put the iron down at C E, and take it along the table from C to D. Then go from E to F; and finally from G to H. Proceed then in a similar manner with the other side of the table. Avoid as much as possible letting the iron come into contact with the cushion.

It will be observed that the iron in the sketch is put down diagonally, the reason being that if, when ironing the breadth next to the side cushion, the iron comes in contact with the shoulder of the middle pocket, it will slide on harmlessly and not damage the cushion. If it were held squarely, the sharp edge of the iron might cut the cloth of the cushion.

Bear well in mind that if at any time the cloth is turned end for end, the brushing and ironing will have, as before, to go with the nap, and will, therefore, start from the top end of the table and proceed towards the bottom.