farmers" institutes. 521 



four or five years to complete the road. A dirt road with a good grade 

 and roadbed is much better than a hilly road with metal. 



The roadbed is next in Importance, but to a certain extent this fact 

 is generally overlooked. To insure a good road, the roadbed should be at 

 least two feet higher in the center than the bottom of the drains. This 

 guarantees good drainage, and means a great deal in the durability of 

 any road. 



The third item, "culverts," is verj' important, and they should be built 

 of stone if convenient, and of such size as to be able to take the water 

 quickly away after the heaviest rains. 



And now, after so long a time, we find our road ready for the metal. 

 In some sections where gravel is abundant it is best to use that, as it 

 makes a splendid road, if it is screened, but it will not wear with good 

 stone, or even make as good a road. When stone is used it should be 

 crushed if possible, but if not, should be broken very fine by hand, and 

 covered to the depth of about three inches with dirt or gravel. If this 

 kind of a road is finished up in a workmanlike manner it will be good 

 enough for bicycles or anything else. The new pikes in this county are 

 serviceable and cost lots of money, but are so rough that a stranger pass- 

 ing over them would think he was in the wrong county. By covering 

 these roads now with about two inches of dirt taken from the bottom of 

 the drains they would soon become smooth, as the stone and dirt would 

 unite and form a kind of cement. Then the people and horses who con- 

 tinually travel over them this winter would look and feel two years 

 younger next spring than if the roads are left in their present condition. 



Let us think a little about other roads. Take for a sample the Rising 

 Sun and Laughery turnpike. In the first place, the roadbed was made 

 level and the metal put on level. On the upper end large flat rocks were 

 placed on the bottom, and coarse broken stone on top, while the lower 

 end was made of sand and gravel. Many of the grades were left very 

 steep, and the Island Branch, at times a dangerous stream, was left un- 

 bridged. What has been the result? The road has never all been good 

 at one time, and seldom any of it very good. The water ran in the road 

 where there was any grade at all, and to obviate this great ridges of stone 

 or gravel were placed diagonally across the road on the steep grades, so 

 that in pulling up the loaded teams had a hard tussle right in the worst 

 places, and in going down the load was pushed hard on the team, making 

 the driver hold his breath for fear the team would run away and he would 

 get his neck broken. Ruts were continuallj^ coming in the road, and were 

 filled with coarse broken stone or very poor gravel, so that some part has 

 always been either rough or muddy. 



The Laughery pike is in many respects very similar to the one we 

 have just mentioned, and to pay toll on such a road shows that Ohio 

 County is behind the times. 



