38 



IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



again into the ditches by the first heavy rain. A far more satisfactory 

 method, when the roadway is sufficiently high, and where a heavy roller 

 cannot be had, is to trim the shoulders and ridges off and smooth the 

 surface with the machine. This work should begin in the center of the 

 road, and the loose dirt should be gradually pushed to the ditches and 

 finally shoved off the roadway or deposited where it will not be washed 





Fig. 20.— Road surface under weight of heavy block of stone supported on wide tires. 



back into the ditches by rain. Where this method is followed, a smooth, 

 firm surface is immediately secured, and such a surface will resist the 

 action of rain, frost, and narrow tires much longer than one composed 

 of loose and worn-out material thrown up from the ditches. 



In making extensive repairs, plows or scoops should never be used, 

 for such implements break up the compact surface which age and traffic 

 have made tolerable. Earth roads can be rapidly repaired by a judi- 

 cious use of road machines and road rollers. The road machine places 

 the material where it is most needed and the roller compacts and keeps 

 it there. These two labor-saving machines are just as effectual and 

 necessary in modern road work as the mower, self-binder, and thrasher 

 are in modern farm work. Road machines and rollers are the modern 

 inventions necessary to satisfactory and economical earth-road construc- 

 tion and repair. Two good men with two teams can build or repair 

 more road in one day with a roller and road machine than many times 

 that number can with picks, shovels, scoops, and plows, and do it more 

 uniformly and more thoroughly. 



