404 



STATE BOAKD OF AGEICULTURE. 



They also should liave a continuous ascent from the outlet to the highest 

 portion of the road, and the outlets provided should be of sufficient size to allow 

 all water that passes down the side channels to pass througb. at once into water- 

 courses or suitable reservoirs^ where its presence will not affect the road. 



Fig. 4. 



The depressions that occur on the line of almost every road, mark the posi- 

 tion of ravines or water courses that make an angle with the axis of the road, 

 and which afford excellent means of emptying the side cbannels. 



On roads over flat,, low or marshy grounds, it is of vital importance to the 

 condition of the road that the side channels be provided Avith ample means of 

 allowing the water to escape. 



To prepare these outlets in such cases, will often need long line of ditches 

 Avhich empty some distance from the road, and can be prepared only at great 

 expense. Where low or marshy lands cannot be ditched and the road cannot 

 be turned so as to avoid them, it is doubtful if a permanent road can be built; 

 but a very good road can be built by laying parallel to the axis of the road 

 three logs as nearly as possible of the same diameter. On these lay cross logs 

 of uniform diameter and not less than sixteen feet long. Then fill in the inter- 

 stices of these cross logs with poles from one to three inches in diameter, on 

 top of which lay a layer of fascines (brushwood bound in bundles with withes) 

 six inches deep. Cover the whole with six to eight inches of sharp coarse 

 gravel, and a road will be formed that will remain in very good condition for a 

 considerable length of time, even over very soft ground. Such a road it is 

 hardly j)ossible to build except where timber is very plenty, on account of the 

 great amount required in its construction. 



IMPLEMEIs'TS NEEDED. 



The implements which above all others are best adapted for this work are 

 the road scraper and the plov}. The plow requires no special mention here. 

 The road scraper should have more width in proportion to its depth than in the 

 ordinary land scraper. Instead of having the bottom rounded in the usual 

 manner it should be made perfectly flat. 



The scraper owned by the College was made at Dearborn, Mich., and 

 although not so well adapted for a road scraper as some made for that especial 



