No. 6. DEPARTMENT OK AGRICULTURE. 431 



tlieii' importaiu'o. About one-tbii'd of tlio roads in a lowusbip are 

 leading- roads, used by tbe whole conmmiiity. Tbey should be made 

 of a bettc'i- grade and macadaini/ed to a j^reater width than others; 

 they should be made - 1 teet wide betwee<n the ditches, graded to that 

 extent, and maeadami/ed or graveled to a width of IG feet. Then 

 there is another class of roads, constituting about one-third of the 

 whole, which are used by neighborhoods and lead into the main 

 roads; these should be made 2(j feet wide and macadamized lo a 

 width of 12 feet. The remainder of the roads are sim[)ly lateral 

 roads, used by a few people in reaching" the other roads, and they 

 should be put in good sliape by draining- and gradiiig, as ordinary 

 earth roads, and will for some years to come meet the requirements 

 of traffic very well. ^^ hen the roads have been classified in tljat way 

 plans and specifications should be ])repared for their construction. 



There are just three principles underlying this whole question of 

 road making. The first is drainage, the secoiid is drainage, and the 

 third is drainage. [Ajjplause.] Drain the foundations. It is just 

 as useless to attempt to build a road on a weak foundation ^s to 

 erect a building or any other structure upon a weak or wet founda- 

 tion. Drain the foundations. Do this b}^ using tiles — a row of tiles 

 beneath the frost line o« the upper side of a road where it is being 

 built on the side of a hill. If it is being built through flat land, then 

 place them beneath the frost line on each side of the grade. One 

 gentleman asked to-day whether it would not be preferable to place 

 the drain in the centre. A\'e have tried that plan, but my experience 

 has proven that it is vasth^ better to place single tiles of smaller 

 dimensions on each side of the road than to place one large drain in 

 the center. Where the road passes over a flat piece of land the soak- 

 age during- the wet season is from the adjoining fields into the road- 

 wav; the water runs in and fluctuates, rises and falls with the wet- 

 ness or drj^ness of the season. If the tile drain is placed in the cen- 

 tre of the road the water must pass under the road in order to reach 

 the tiling, a«d the result is that the roadway will attract moisture 

 rather than be free from it. If the tile is placed on each side of the 

 grading outside of the road metaling, then these tile drains cut off 

 this soakage water and always protect and keep the road dry. 



The next thing is to grade the road and prepare it for receiving 

 the gravel and stone. The grading, of course, should be done as 

 uniformaly as possible and according to a fixed plan. Our plan is 

 to grade the road by giving it a fall of an inch to a foot from the cen- 

 tre of the road to the edge of the ditch, and making that as uniform 

 as possible. The centre of a road 21 feet wide would consequently 

 be 12 inches higher than the edge of the road by the side ditch. This 

 should be done as perfectly as possible. The ditches then should 

 be placed on each side, thus making the drainage as effectual as pos- 



es 



