42 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



can be very much helped by the State. I have many times 

 seen a dirt road that has been properly rounded up and the 

 water turned into its proper channel, and the road made a 

 very passable road for the ordinary travel of the town. 



We would like to lay gravel construction all over the 

 State if we could, but one difficulty has been to find proper 

 gravel. I have always been known as a great believer in a 

 gravel road. There is no more pleasant road to drive over, 

 if it is properly made, than a well-constructed gravel road. 

 The great trouble is in finding suitable gravel so that a good 

 road can be constructed. The most difficult feature in the 

 selection of gravel is to find a gravel that has good bonding 

 qualities. Pit gravel is of practically no use except for bot- 

 tom courses. I don't believe I have found in the State of 

 Connecticut a good gravel that answered every purpose re- 

 quired where it was taken from a pit. The best gravel that 

 we have found in the State has been on the slope of a hill- 

 side, but I have rarely, if ever, found a pit gravel that was 

 worth laying upon a road. The general rule that our de- 

 partment has observed in regard to gravel, in its selection, is 

 that if we find it in a bank it will generally make a good 

 gravel to use on a road and bond in well, but there are not 

 very many places in the State where you can get this kind of 

 gravel. 



Another difficulty has been the question of crushed stone. 

 I believe that this whole matter would be very much simplified 

 if the State, in connection with the letting of contracts to the 

 towns to do their own work, would crush the stone for them. 

 In my last report I spoke of it being wise in my judgment for 

 the State to own some portable crushers. I think three or 

 four crushers with a suitable crew of men going from town 

 to town where there is an improvement to be made in the 

 highways, in towns situated as I have named, those that are 

 remote from the railroads, and crushing stone for the towns, 

 would assist very materially in providing for a splendid stone 

 construction where none now can be had. This would tend 

 to eliminate the question of expense of crushed stone, and 

 especially for long cartage in those towns remote from the 

 railroad. I think the farmers could do something in this 

 line themselves to assist in cheapening the cost. Pending the 

 coming of the State crusher, the farmers could assemble the 



