64 AGRICULTURE OE MAINE. 



to their guests. You have all the means for doing this on the 

 farm. The more delicious you make these fruits the more 

 your guests will want to eat ]\Iaine apples when they return to 

 their city homes. I am sure there would be many more orders 

 for Alaine fruit and its products. 



GOOD ROADS. 

 By L. O. Straw^ Newfield, Me. 



Good roads are a public necessity. They are indicators of 

 life, thrift and prosperity. They are economical, and when prop- 

 erly taken care of they are a source of satisfaction. But they are 

 expensive, from whatever standpoint they are viewed. The law, 

 though erroneous I believe, regulates the time to labor on our 

 roads, and specifies the amount of money to be expended. We 

 violate the law and impose upon the people an unwelcome road- 

 way. We raise annually large amounts of money to be laid out 

 in repairing and improving the highways, with but little thought, 

 and in too many instances, but little care, of the practical results 

 of the expenditure : and thus it will be so long as the same meth- 

 ods are practiced that are in vogue today. As time will not per- 

 mit of a detailed description of road building, I will simply point 

 to a few of the advantages and disadvantages of good roads. 

 You may ask. What constitutes a good road? The question is 

 very proper, and with the Department of Road Inquiry at Wash- 

 ington continually sending out printed matter which treats the 

 subject both practically and scientifically, and the press in gen- 

 eral as well, every thoughtful voter ought to be able to answer it. 



John L. ]\Iacadam, the inventor of the Macadam road, so- 

 called, says a good road is "an artificial floor forming a strong, 

 smooth, solid surface, capable of carrying great loads and over 

 which carriages may pass without impediment." We should 

 adopt that as our ideal and work towards it. 



The Telford and Macadam roads are unquestionably the best 

 known roads. I wish we could afford them in every town and 

 hamlet in the State but this would be too expensive, costing at 

 least one thousand dollars per mile. We cannot afford it, except 



