450 OUR COMMON ROADS—MURPHY. 
material, the whole to be consolidated by a roller, and all else 
being equal with the McAdam road, might be estimated approxi- 
mately as follows: 
Cost of draining, forming, etc.......... € 320 00 
Stone pavements 7” deep, 5,280 x 
8x 7’ =c. yds. 913 at, 45¢e....... 410 85 
Pavine’320 reds at 50¢..%. ..cey suse cst 160 00 
Gravel and blinding 5,280° x 8 x 4” = 
plaiiexydserat:50¢.. 1. heer 260 50 
oie. iscsi sis allenic bersees stem e Seme 18 00 
Per mileicit hasan sone eee eee $1169 35 
The same remarks will apply to this estimate as to the McAdam, 
viz.,it is a minimum one, and could only be applied where suitable 
stone encumbers the surface, where the haul would be short, and 
where no quarrying would be necessary. The voids in stone are 
not in this case deducted, as the gravel and blinding will under 
the weight of a roller fill up all or nearly all the interstices. 
It will be seen that both the Telford and McAdam systems of 
road-making, to be adopted as fixed principles, are entirely 
beyond our means. There are, however, situations where their 
employment might be judiciously adopted in Nova Scotia. We 
know that the animal power or force necessary to move a load 
over our highways is to often restricted by bad or defective 
sections, and that the measure of the load is that which can be 
moved over them. In yielding muddy or loamy situations that 
so frequently intervene and retard travel, either the Telford or 
McAdam systems might be employed, whilst on higher and drier | 
ground, where the bottom is solid and good, gravel alone might 
be used with much advantage. If we carefully examine any one 
of our principal highways in the western districts of the Province, 
we will find alternating stretches of good and bad road, and if 
we again select some of these—the worst—stretches that more 
frequently require attention for treatment under either of these 
systems, we may find that the construction of a few miles, perhaps 
very few, in a more permanent manner, will make the whole 
more uniform and equalize the necessary tractive force over the 
