OUR COMMON ROADS—MURPHY. 437 
modifications of macadamized roads. This consists of granite 
cubes, broken to the usual size, and spread over the road to the 
required thickness, a strong grout of Portland cement and sharp 
sand well rolled to an uniform surface. Such roads are said to 
possess great solidity, and are less productive of dust than ordin- 
ary Macadams. The wear under the ordinary traffic was about 
half an inch in three years, but after nine years the surface had 
worn very irregularly, owing principally to its rigidity and the 
difficulty of spreading the material in uniform proportions. 
(Transactions Society of Engineers, 1878, p. 66.) 
The covering of most of the common roads in the United States 
is pretty much the same as our own. In mostly all new countries 
the same practice, being the cheapest and readiest, is adopted. 
The natural soil is excavated from the side ditches and plastered 
or thrown on the middle of the roadway. General Gilmore, in 
his treatise on roads, streets and pavements, says: “In many 
cases, especially in sandy or gravelly soils, even the side ditches 
are omitted, and the road is simply a wagon track upon the nat- 
ural surface, which soon becomes a broad. shallow ditch, eollect- 
ing and retaining the surface water from both sides of the track.’ 
(pp. 66 and 67.) 
The management of public highways is, at the present time, 
receiving much attention both in Europe and America. Improved 
systems of road construction and repairs is one of the problems 
of the day. The amalgamation of districts in central boards has 
been advocated and is attended with many advantages. Uniform- 
ity of system and maintenance on correct principles, under the 
supervision of persons of wider experience than the ordinary 
road maker, tend to economy ani not only generalize the system 
but improve it. The Administration des Pouts et Chausses in 
France is a good instance. The opportunities which an organ- 
ization offers for investigation and for generalizing information 
are shewn by the documents issued by it and many valuable 
memoirs on subjects connected with road maintenance are trans- 
lated and largely circulated over the world. 
The excellence of road making in Ireland is due to management 
by county areas. In Scotland many of the counties managed 
