72 N. H. STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the best possible workmanship ; the cars are most commo- 

 dious, and the number of guards, brakemen, conductors, 

 engineers and signal-men, is such as to give every security 

 against disorder or danger. 



But I am inclined to think that there is no single fruit 

 of high civilization and long continued social order, vrhicli 

 more frequently excites the admiration and surprise of an 

 observing and intelligent American in Europe, than the 

 condition to which the common roads have been brou2;ht, 

 and in which they are maintained, by a great and persever- 

 ing expenditure of money and of skill. Many of these 

 were laid out by the Romans, and still, to a considerable 

 extent, follow the lines engineered by those masters of the 

 world, though in general the routes have been more or less 

 altered, the more widely diffused use of wheel carriages 

 requiring a considerable reduction of grade. The rise is 

 seldom allowed to exceed three degrees, or one foot in 

 nineteen, and to obtain this, long circuits, a continued se- 

 ries of zig-zags, or tunnels, sometimes of great length, are 

 resorted to. The traveler sometimes travels a mile to 

 gain a furlong; but as the roads are always wide enough to 

 admit of passing without hindrance or delay, securely wall- 

 ed or fenced with masonry, well macadamized, so as to be 

 hard and dry at all seasons, and of such moderate grades 

 that horses can always trot rapidly down with safety, and 

 go at a good pace up, the actual distance accomplished 

 is as great as it would be over a straighter road with 

 steeper grades, and with infinitely less fatigue to man and 

 beast, less wear and tear of harness and vehicle, and 

 greater security of life and limb. In many instances the 

 roads are cut with great cost and labor, in the face of a 

 cliff, and I suppose that more than half the famous road 

 called the Cornich, between Nice and Genoa, a distance of 

 140 miles, is so built. 



For the construction of such expensive works, European 

 governments, beyond reasons of general convenience, have 



