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STRIKING IMPROVEMENTS AT LAUREL. New York. July 20. President Richard A. Johnson of the .Maryland State Fair Association Laurel, who is visiting here, in talking about the improvements at Laurel this summer, said the management confidently exi ted to have the fastest track in America, anil that its general equipment had been great I v improved. "We have built stables which include 350 new stalls. We have improved the grade of the rack by raising it exactly two and one-half feet on the outside rail, and this comes down to just one inch at the inside rail. "Then wo have provided a splendid cushion for our track. We stripped the soil from imder it right down to the clay and have given it a coating of three inches. This soil is a very dark gray loam which seems to Ik; especially adapted for the purpose. You can imagine what it is like when I tell vou that the day after one of the heaviest rains of the season we drove our big sprinkling cart, which carries 750 gallons of water and weighs four tons, over .the track without making any perceptible ruts in it."
