ROADS AND ROADMAKING. 151 



President Willits: Could removing stone from the surface injure land? 



Prof. Cook: No, unless by affecting its moisture. 



President Willits: A Washtenaw county tradition says that removing the 

 stones injures a farm. 



Mr. : Then why do we get poorer crops now than formerly if it does 



no harm to remove stones? 



Prof. Cook: Growing wheat after wheat. This went along with the removal 

 of tlie stone, and the result was wrongly assigned to this, instead of to the 

 excessive cropping. 



EOADS AND ROADMAKING. 



BY MR. T. APPLETON, CIVIL ENGINEER. 



[Read before the East Saginaw Institute Feb. 12, 1886.] 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Farmers' Institute: 



In a new district where nearly all the roads are yet to be laid out, great 

 care should be exercised in locating the main roads. In any community 

 there is one point to which most of the heavy trathc goes. This point is the 

 railroad station or the city. It would be well, therefore, to locate the main 

 roads on lines radiating from the business center. These mains roads should 

 not be zigzagged around all the section corners; there is too much waste of 

 4;ravel in following these square corners and too much length of road to 

 ■maintain. Three or four of these radiating roads may unite in one for the 

 first two or three miles and then diverge on as direct routes as possible. 

 The cross roads, those leading to individual farms or to secondary centers, 

 such as school-houses, stores, etc., can very properly be located on section 

 lines, because it is not necessary to cut up rectangular fields for such roads. 

 But it is an eironeous idea that all roads should be built on section lines. 

 The convenience of the many should not be subject to the whims of the few. 



In an older region, where the roads have been laid out and roughly or 

 partially constructed, it would be well before spending any considerable 

 .amount of money on improvement of roads to carefully consider whether it 

 would not be advisable to abandon some of the zigzag section line roads and 

 re-locate the main roads on more direct lines. The decisions in these cases 

 will sometimes be embarrassed by buildings, farm improvements, etc., that 

 perhaps ought not to be disturbed, but it would be well to thoroughly weigh 

 the matter, bearing in mind that every rod of distance saved by the direct 

 route will be not only so much saving for every loaded wagon, but also a sav- 

 ing in cost of maintenance and repair. It is often the case that a town has too 

 many roads; more milus of road than are required by a judicious location of 

 roads sufficient to accommodate all the traffic. It may be a difficult and 

 sometimes a delicate matter to decide as to which roads to abandon and how 

 to relocate, but the matter fhould be considered in a broad, public-spirited 

 way, and a system of roads planned that will best accommodate the greatest 

 number. 



It is not necessary to build all the roads at once, nor to make all the 

 -changes at once. But by studying out a system of roads, just as this city 



