Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 26 - AUS-CHI.pdf/367

 BOWLING

GREEN — BOWLS

1844, as an evening newspaper, afterwards becoming a morning journal. To its service Samuel Bowles, junior, devoted his life (with the exception of a brief period during which he was in charge of a daily in Boston), and gave it a national reputation by the vigour, incisiveness, and independence of its editorial utterances, and the concise and convenient arrangement of its local and general news-matter. During the controversies affecting slavery and resulting in the Civil war, Bowles supported, in general, the Whig and Republican parties, but in the period of reconstruction under President Grant his paper represented anti-administration or “ Liberal Republican ” opinions, while in the disputed election of 1876 it favoured the claims of Tilden, and has since been independent of all party control. He died at Springfield on 16th January 1878. During his lifetime, and subsequently, the Republican office became a sort of school for young journalists, especially in the matter of pungency and conciseness of style, one of his maxims being “ put it all in the first paragraph.” Bowles wrote several ephemeral books of travel in the western part of the United States, but his best work was in the columns of his newspaper. A eulogistic Life and Times of Samuel Bowles (2 vols., 1885), by George S. Merriam, is virtually a history of American political movements after the compromise of 1850. Bowling Green, capital of Warren county, Kentucky, U.S.A., situated on Barren river, at the head of navigation, in the southern part of the state, at an altitude of 468 feet, and on the Louisville and Nashville railway. Population (1880), 5114; (1900), 8226. Bowling Green, a town of Ohio, U.S.A., capital of Wood county, in the north-western part of the state, 20 miles S. of Toledo, at the intersection of lines of the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton, and the Toledo and Ohio Central railways. It is in an oil and natural gas region. Population (1890), 3467 ; (1900), 5067. Bowls.—Since 1880 there has been a remarkable revival of interest in the game of Bowls in every part of the globe where English-speaking communities are found. In Scotland, so far from passing out of fashion, Bowls, along with its winter analogue of curling, may still be considered the national game, and it is estimated that there are no fewer than 700 Bowling clubs in the country. In Glasgow and the immediate neighbourhood there are some thirty clubs, most of which possess two greens. The Queen’s Park and Titwood Clubs, however, have each three greens, and as they can quite comfortably play six rinks on each, it is common to see 144 players making their game simultaneously. In Edinburgh and Leith there are at least thirty clubs, and every town of any consequence boasts one green at all events. But it is in London, where it is difficult to obtain suitable pitches, that the revival in Bowls has been most conspicuous. The day when the pastime was looked upon as a mere “ pothouse recreation ” has gone for ever, for even in those cases where the greens are still in connexion with the public-houses whose names the clubs bear, they are now rented by the clubs for their own use exclusively. Within the metropolitan area the number of clubs exceeds forty, the majority of them having been founded since 1885. Following the lead of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and other Scottish corporations, the London County Council have laid down greens (as the annexed table shows) in several of the public parks under their control, and have it in contemplation to construct others at Sydenham Wells Park, Brockwell Park, and elsewhere. With regard to the British colonies a similar tale of progress and popularity has to be recorded. In Australia and New Zealand nearly every little town or village has its Bowling-green, and in Melbourne and Sydney—includ-

327

ing in both instances the surrounding districts—there are almost as many greens as there are in Glasgow. In Canada the game is being taken up rapidly, although the Dominion is yet a long way behind the Australian Commonwealth in this respect. There is a green in Cape Town, in Port Elizabeth, in Kimberley, and in a few other towns in South

Place.

When Opened.

Battersea Park Clissold Park

1895

Dulwich Park

1899

Finsbury Park Ravenscourt Park The Island Gardens, Poplar Yictoria Park

1897

1900

Size in Yards.

Cost.

Daily No. of Games Played (Average).

The actual cost 48^x34 in these cases is 12 not known, as 30 x30 part of the lab25 our was per- {Very formed by the irregu 30x30 Council’s ordin- larly ary staff ; but it used varied probably 36x36 from £50 to £90 35

1901

40 x 30

£98 (est.)

1901

40x30

£105 (est.)

1901

36 x36

£91 (est.)

60 02 £02c3 feH.5 <p ^c8 O^ 28 32

46

Africa. Calcutta and Hong Kong each possesses a green, and there is one in Kumamoto in Japan. The universality of the game in Greater Britain affords interesting evidence of the fact that the pastime is (within the modern period at any rate) distinctly Scottish, for Caledonian colonists, wherever they settle, give early attention to the constructing of a Bowling-green. This circumstance makes it strange that in the United States the number of clubs is still somewhat limited. There are two kinds of green—one the crown, and the other the level. The former is confined almost entirely to Lancashire and Yorkshire and one or two more of the North of England counties. This is the type of green on which most of the gate-money contests take place, the prizes having encouraged a good many players to take up the game professionally. The fall from the 11 crown ” of the green to the ditch may be as much as 18 inches, and the ordinary biassed bowls are practically useless on such a pitch. The game upon such a green is of a very sporting character, but its associations must preclude it from ever becoming general. It is the game on the perfectly flat or level green that constitutes the historical game of Bowls, as may be amply proved not only by the hundreds of admirably-kept club greens in Scotland, but also by the fine private greens in connexion with so many of the famous mansions of England, and the beautiful sheets of turf belonging to several of the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge. Subject to the rule as to a minimum jack (25 yards, according to the Laws of the Scottish Bowling Association, adopted on 24th April 1893), there is no prescribed size for the green; but 42 yards square would form an ideal green. The Queen’s Park Club of Glasgow have one green of about 47 yards square, big enough, that is, to accommodate seven rinks. A really under-sized green is a poor pitch, because it commonly involves playing diagonally instead of up and down—the orthodox direction. The construction of a green scientifically is a heavy undertaking, which only wealthier clubs can face. The ground for the whole of its extent must be excavated to a depth of two feet or so, well drained, and layers of different materials (gravel, cinders, mould, silver sand) laid down before the final covering of turf. Seaside