34 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



town is surrounded by, either in the character of the work or 

 its finances. The wide scope of road reformation as prac- 

 ticed today is in the removing of boulders from the road, in 

 reclaiming the marshes, furnishing a good solid footing at all 

 seasons of the year, the building of earth roads, the construc- 

 tion of gravel roads, also of macadam and Telford, the re- 

 duction of grades, the taking care of watercourses, and what- 

 ever in any way leads up to a permanency in the condition 

 of the road over that which has been found to exist so many 

 years. One of the best features of the law under which we 

 work is that the towns in this State are allowed the privi- 

 lege of accepting State aid only on their petition, thus pre- 

 serving all town rights and maintaining the sovereignty of 

 the town in allowing them to take the initiative rather than 

 forcing the movement. Added to this, towns are allowed to 

 do their work with their own townspeople, using their own 

 machinery, and practically in their own way, under a proper 

 State specification.. I believe that this is wise. After my 

 experience of the last seven years, I am satisfied that the 

 growth of sentiment will be largely established by introduc- 

 ing the methods of improvement that will most nearly meet 

 the requirements of the town. In the main this is found to 

 be a question of direction, a question of grade, and wdth a 

 close attention to financial conditions. 



I picked up a magazine the other daj^ and saw a picture 

 under which it said, " Where the city ends and the town 

 begins." The picture itself, without what it said by way of 

 explanation, would have told its own little story. It showed 

 on one side a hillside, and in the near foreground a small 

 tree, a road and a fence, no houses ; this represented the town. 

 On the other side was shown houses, sidewalks, curbs, trees, 

 and churches, representing the city. Of course it told its 

 own story. I find that in towns today there is not so much 

 of that as formerly. At one time it was never very difficult 

 to know where the borough line ended and the suburban part 

 of the town began by the character of the road. Now, it may 

 be possible that it was for some other reason than the one 

 given by many people in a town that the splendid condition 

 of the roads close to the village or near the center was to 

 secure votes to retain the official in his office, and that was 

 the reason why very little of the town money went to the 



