44 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



built roads of other materials, but ueitlier is the earth road as expensive, 

 and it is within the reach of exiivy community where the rock road may 

 not be. If the well kept earth road proves sufficient for the demands 

 it is enough, and it is unnecessary to make larger expenditures upon it. 

 The country road will Ijc built of the most available material, and the 

 solution is not so much one of building expensive roads, but satisfactory 

 ones, with this available material, and which, after all, resolves itself into 

 a question of administration. Especially a question of administration 

 when applied to the earth road. The largest mileage will, and should 

 be, earth roads for a long time to come, and in the meantime the best 

 should be made of them that the means and natural conditions permit. 



Permanent Crossings — AVith this care of the earth road, attention 

 must be given to the construction of good, substantial and permanent 

 culverts and bridges. The Highway Department should be given more 

 control over this feature of the work in order to prevent the substitution 

 of unsubstantial or unsightly structures. No so much to procure the 

 structure at a less cost, but to obtain a suitable one, worth the price paid 

 for it. As the roads improve the loads increase, and it is both safety 

 and economy to build permanent culverts and bridges. Well main- 

 tained earth roads with good bridges and culverts is the solution for the 

 majority of our road difficulties. 



Main Roads — Where the travel converges upon our main roads, 

 making the traffic too heavy to maintain earth roads, they should be 

 hard surfaced as fast as possible. These roads are of enough import- 

 ance to justify the increased expenditure. This is another feature of our 

 road work over which the State Department should have more power 

 of control. A road is not made by piling on the material in a hap- 

 hazard way without attention to the foundation or drainage. Using 

 more material than is necessary is another waste. Money is being 

 wasted in all these ways in jNIissouri. Tt costs too much money to make 

 good roads for the work to be done in a careless manner or without 

 attention to the principles of road building. 



Demonstrations — Demonstration work, OAving to the lack of funds, 

 has been limited. Five or six small demonstrations upon concrete or the 

 road drag, road exhibits at the State Fair and at the sessions held by the 

 State I^oard of Innuigration at Springfield and ]\Ioberly, and a road 

 making demonstration trip over the line of the Frisco Railroad from St. 

 Louis across the State, by the way of Springfield and Lamar, will com- 

 plete the list. These, however, while in a small way for the purpose of 

 illustrating some feature of work adaptable to the particular locality 

 in which the demonstrations were made, have not been entirely void of 



