THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART I. 39 



USE OF WIDE TIRES AND SIMILAR MEANS. 



One of the best ways to prevent the formation of ruts and to keep 

 earth roads in repair is by the use of wide tires on all wagons carrying 

 heavy burdens. (Fig. 20). In most foreign countries they not only use 

 from 4 to 6 inch tires on market wagons but on many of the four- 

 wheel freight wagons, in addition to wide tires, the rear axles are 

 made 14 inches longer than the front ones, so that the hind wheels will 

 not track and form ruts. Water and narrow tires aid one another in 

 destroying the roads, while on the other hand wide tires are road- 

 makers. They roll and harden the surface, and every loaded wagon 

 becomes, in effect, a road roller. The difference between the action 

 of a narrow tire and a wide one is about the same as the difference 

 between a crowbar and a tamper; the one tears up and the other packs 

 down. By using wide tires on heavy wagons the cost of keeping roads 

 in repair would be greatly reduced. The introduction in recent years 

 of wide metal tires which can be placed on the wheels of any narrow- 

 tired vehicle at a nominal cost, has removed a very serious objection to 

 the proposed substitution of broad tires for the narrow ones now in use. 

 The formation of deep ruts has been prevented on some of the toll 

 roads of Pennsylvania by lengthening the doubletrees on wagons and 

 by hitching the horsees so that they will walk directly in front of the 

 wheels, a device worthy of consideration. 



REGULAR, PROMPT, SYSTEMATIC ATTENTION. 



VALUE OF FREQUENT INSPECTION.— Earth roads should be re- 

 paired particularly in the spring and fall of the year, but the mistake of 

 letting them take care of themselves during the balance of the year 

 should not be made. The greatest need of the common road in this coun- 

 try is daily or weekly care. A road receiving daily attention will re- 

 quire no extensive repairs, and, instead of becoming worse, will grad- 

 ually improve. It is minute and frequent homeopathic treatment that 

 the earth road needs. It is obviously not within the scope of this paper 

 to discuss the relative merits of the statute-labor, cash-tax, and contract 

 systems of building and maintaining roads, but it will be remarked in 

 passing that so long as the farmers continue to "work" the roads in a 

 shiftless manner and whenever it best suits their convenience, so long 

 will they have bad roads. 



It has been stated that England and France are justly noted for 

 their excellent roads, and both have the labor-tax system, and that, 

 therefore, it is possible to have good roads under the labor-tax system. 

 This statement, although partially true, is not conclusive argument in 

 favor of the way in which Americans "work out" their road tax in most 

 of the states. 



It makes little difference what system they have in Europe or what 

 system we have in this country — the matter of greatest importance in 

 road maintenance is constant attention. All the important French 

 and English roads receive daily attention and are always maintained 



