The training is in the hands of another American, Mr. William Duke, who shows all the receptiveness of his countrymen for new ideas, and has made Saint-Louis de Poissy the model of an up-to-date training establishment. Everything in the stables, which I was allowed to visit some time ago, is a pattern of neatness. Even the blacksmith's shop is clean and tidy, and is about as unlike the typical village smithy as can well be imagined. In every part of the place one meets with labour-saving devices and ingenious ideas. For instance, in the parallel covered walks used for exercising the horses when the weather is bad, Mr.
Duke has fixed a large mirror at such an angle that, by posting himself at the end of the walks, he can watch the horses and their riders simultaneously on both tracks, It is a simple contrivance, but, like Columbus's with the egg, it had to be found out. he racecourse is provided with a set of semaphores worked from " raised platform, whereon the trainer stands observing the horses as they go round. By merely palling lever he can signal to a jockey that he is to. go faster or slewer, as the case may be. In this way Mr. Duke can regulate the work of three or four horses at once. The course is banked up at the turns on the principle of a cycle track, so that a horse at full gallop does not feel the effects of centrifugal force as he follows the curve, and is, therefore, not tempted to slacken, The estate has its own water supply and electrical power for lighting the stables and houses, "grinding oats, pumping water for the hydrants placed all round the courts, and so on, The whole establishment suggests a nicely adjusted and well-lubricated piece of machinery and, judged by resalts, it is " very good machine indeed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.