$82 



FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



Kind of Road. 



Smooth stone pavement 



Broken stone road on rock foundation . 

 Broken stone road on earth foundation 



Gravel road 



Good earth road 



Common sandy road 



O ao 



is 

 I* 



5 a 



<- -3 . 



.2 "n 



> ££■ 



1-68 

 1-49 

 1-34 

 1-15 

 1-11 

 1- 7 



Load for two horses. 



Cost per mile, as- 

 I suming cost of 

 wagon, team and 

 Net load. (Two- driver $2.50 per 

 thirds of day. Distance 



gross load.) 25 miles. 



Gross 



load In 



tons. 



6.8 

 4.9 

 3.4 

 1.5 

 1.1 

 0.7 



Tons. 



4.52 

 3.27 



2.28 

 1.00 

 0.73 

 0.47 



Bushels 



151 

 109 

 76 

 33 

 25 

 16 



Each 

 ton. 



.031 

 .044 

 .100 

 .137 

 .2)3 



Each 



bushel. 



.0007 

 .0009 

 .0013 

 .0030 

 .0041 

 .0064 



u — 

 ojr- 



■a 5 



1,430 

 1,111 

 770 

 333 

 244 

 172 



The least cost of a gravel road containing 3,520 cubic yards of gravel per 

 mile, under the most favorable conditions, will probably be not less than 

 $800 per mile, $400 of which should be expended in each of the first two 

 years. Under some conditions the cost will amount to four or six times this 

 amount. If the road is well made the cost of annual repairs will be small, 

 say for the next eis:ht years $50 per mile, that is, a man and team at work 

 constantly, would keep in repair fifteen miles. 



This would give us an average annual cost during the first ten years for 

 a good gravel road of $130 to $530 for each mile. For a second term of ten 

 years its cost per mile would be less. A broken stone road would give an 

 average cost of probably twice this amount for the first ten years, whereas, 

 for the second term of ten years its cost would probably be less than that of 

 a gravel road. The figures would indicate a greater economy in a gravel 

 road than is usually supposed. To illustrate this we will take an example 

 which is certainly not unreasonable. Suppose that after a road is improved 

 20 loaded teams per day pass over the road, carrying per team a load of 33 

 bushels of wheat or its equivalent, at a speed of two and one-half miles per 

 hour. The traffic over the road would amount to 660 bushels per day, and 

 its cost of transportation would amount to $1.93 per mile (see table) per day. 

 To have carried the same amount over our ordinary country roads would 

 have cost $4.22 per mile per day. So that the improved road gives a saving 

 of $2.24 per mile for each day. If we suppose that this traffic is maintained 

 for 300 hundred days in the year, the saving will be $672 per year per mile, 

 and this will probably not be too high an estimate, for when the common 

 roads are much affected by bad weather in spring and fall, the traffic over 

 the improved road will probably be increased to an extent sufficient to make 

 up deficiencies in the traffic that may occur in the winter season, at which 

 time the cost of transportation is about the same over common and improved 

 roads. If the average cost of gravel roads be taken as $250 to $400 per year 

 for each mile, the saving with the small traffic specified, viz., two teams each 

 hour, is enough to pay the cost and a good interest (50 to 160 per cent) on 

 the investment. Such considerations as these tend to show that time spent 

 in improving the roads is not entirely thrown away. These figures would 



