244 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



borne out, that, next to the alphabet and the printing press, those 

 inventions which abridge distance have done most for the civiliza- 

 tion of man. And what is true on a large scale, is just as true on 

 a small scale. While railways care for the great interests, no 

 town can give overmuch of intelligent consideration and labor to 

 the building and improvement of its minor country roads. They 

 are indeed little nerves, but absolutely essential for the animation 

 of the whole body politic. 



Since, then, the office of road surveyor is really one of so great 

 importance, why should we not, as most civilized countries have 

 done, make it among ourselves one of great honor by recogniz- 

 ing the value of roads, and demanding that those in authority over 

 them should discharge their duties intelligently ? If we will but 

 take the trouble to trace the pedigree of road-builders, we shall 

 discover noblemen and Kings in the long line of their ancestors. 

 Even among the States of Greece, although they were not greatly 

 distinguished for their roads, relying largely as they did upon 

 water communication, yet road-making was so highly honored 

 that the Lacedemonian Kings were, ex-officio, road surveyors ; 

 while the most illustrious of the long-haired Thebans sought and 

 discharged the duties of that office. Even Epaminondas himself 

 may have been a road surveyor. Among the Romans men of Prae- 

 torian dignity sought the post, and Emperors themselves deigned 

 to become road surveyors. In France, under Henry IV, the dis- 

 tinguished Sully was a road surveyor, his sonorous title being that 

 of Great Way Warden. One of the eminent causes of the French 

 Revolution, which gave so much land and liberty to the peasants, 

 was the despotism of the national road management ; at every 

 season of the year men were forced to perform road labor in any 

 part of France, even the most distant from their homes. In more 

 modern times a large number of road surveyors have come from 

 the great schools of science — those schools which are doing so 

 much, in many ways, for the advancement of the race. Thus the 

 most eminent of the scientiiic men of France now have charge of 

 her country roads, and in England new roads are built and old 

 ones discontinu\3d, under the direction of scientific engineers. A 

 very large percentage of the wealth increase of England, France 

 and the German States, during the last fifty years, is due to im- 

 proved country roads. Doubtloss the scientific school, which has 

 been founded at Orono, will, in due time, do much towards pro- 



