Farm Roads on Strong Soils. 97 



two points to which primary importance is very properly 

 attached in this essay are good form and efficient drainage. Both 

 iiave the same object in view — viz. to keep the road free from super- 

 fluous moisture. Let every roadmaker then bear constantly in mind 

 that his main object is to make his road dry. The first step is to 

 underdrain it. An ordinary farm-road across fields will not require 

 more than one good tile-drain, 4 feet deep. If the road follow a 

 line of fence, the drain should be laid along that side which is 

 farthest from the hedge. If the road leave the fence, the drain 

 should be laid along that side on which the land is highest. If 

 this be done at the time when the general drainage of the farm is 

 executed, it will in most cases be practicable so to lay out the drains 

 as to add little, if at all, to the length of drain that would other- 

 wise be required ; but if the land is already drained, and the 

 roads have been neglected, so that it becomes necessary to lay a 

 new drain the whole length of the road, no kind of drainage can 

 be executed with more certainty of a good return than this. It 

 will not come in the shape of increased receipts ; but diminished 

 expenses are equally efficacious in improving the balance-sheet 

 at the end of the year. This under-draining is, fortunately, not 

 a very heavy operation, as the length of drain required for a 

 mile of road of this description scarcely exceeds what would 

 be required to drain 2i acres of land at 7 yards apart. 



Having thus dried the land under the road, the next step must 

 be to pi'event the water from remaining ujwn the road, and for 

 this purpose it is requisite both that its surface should be of a 

 rounded form so as to throw off the rain as it falls, and also that 

 the whole road should be above the level of the adjoining land, 

 and thus afford an easy escape for the water at all points. 



If the foregoing instructions be carefully carried out, the 

 newly-constructed road will be complete as to its drainage, and 

 the only other essential is that the surface should be covered 

 with such materials as will resist the wear and tear of traffic, and 

 preserve the form upon which its maintenance depends. In this 

 the farmer must be guided very much by the class of road and the 

 use he makes of it. Should it only lead to a few fields, and there- 

 fore not be much used except at particular seasons, a good deal 

 may be done by merely throwing up the sides in dry weather, so 

 as to raise the road above the level of the adjoining land. He 

 must also as much as possible select frost or dry weather for 

 carting out manure, and, if obliged occasionally to do some heavy 

 work in wet weather, the first opportunity must be taken of 

 having the ruts thoroughly put in and the rounded form of the 

 road restored. Especial care should also be taken to make the 

 gateways a trifle higher than the rest of the road, as from stock 

 collecting around the gates, and other minor causes, there is a 



VOL. XVIII. H 



