203 GARDEN MANAGEMENT. 



143. Having designed the line of roads and paths, and form, termination, 

 and entrance of a road, the next operation is to make them. The first process 

 is to remove the top spit of soil to a depth of 6, 9, or 12 inches, — although some 

 road-makei*s say 15, and even 18, — according to the nature of the subsoil and 

 the quantity of hard material that may be available to form the road ; about 

 9 inches or 1 foot will be a useful average depth. The crumbs of soil should 

 also be thrown out, leaving the surface smooth and hard for the reception of 

 the stones. Some recommend the bottom to be of the same shape as the top, 

 others recommend it to be level, and some contend that it should be corves 

 in the middle, so that by placing the roughest materials there, the crown of 

 the road is kept dry. On wet soils, drainage of some kind will be necessary, 

 and drains may be inserted on each side, or in the centre, or on one side only, 

 according to the form of the ground, the disposition of the strata, and the 

 direction of land-springs : the gi-eat point is to keep the bed of the road dry ; 

 and therefore the drains should always be sunk a loot or rr ore below the 

 solid earth on which the road materials rest. Eoads are less injm-ed by 

 surface-water than is generally supposed ; if well formed, they become almost 

 impervious to water falling upon them ; but no road can continue sound which 

 rests upon a soft spongy foundation : hence the necessity of intercepting and 

 ■carrying off all ascending water. A carriage-road always looks best when it 

 is placed at the same level, or nearly so, as the ground it passes over : but 

 '^hcn it has to be carried over marshy ground, to make a sovmd road, it has to 



be raised above the surroimding level, as 

 ■^^^ ^^ here shown. The space occupied by the 



dark lines may often be advantageously 

 filled with faggots of wood : these not only afford an excellent base for the 

 hard materials of which the road is formed, and efficient drainage, but impart 

 a marvellous degree of elasticity to the road itselt. Neither is the effect so 

 evanescent as might be supposed : a road thus formed will be less noisy and 

 more elastic than an ordinary road, and last at least half a century. But 

 whatever the nature of the bottom, from 9 to 12 inches of hard material, 

 consisting of three layers of different-sized stones or gravel, will be necessary. 

 Within certain limits, the smaller the stones are broken, the smoother and 

 more diu-able the road will be. The bottom layer may consist of some 

 3 inches in diameter, weighing 7 or 8 oz. ; the second layer 2 inches, weighing 

 .5 to 6 oz. ; and the top layer of clean binding gravel. The layers may be all 

 of the same depth, or the bottom be 5, the second 3, and the t6p, of gravel, 

 should never be less than 4 inches in thickness. Such a road, well raked and 

 oiled until it binds, and properly kept afterwards, will last for an indefinite 

 j;criod. Good roads may also be made with concrete for their foundation or 

 •their chief material, covering it with 3 or 4 inches ol good gravel on the top. 

 In districts where chalk or hme is plentiful, and the soil and subsoil tolerably 

 dr}-, perhaps a concrete road, from 5 to 6 inches thick, with its surfacing of 

 gravel, would be the cheapest and best of all roads. Various descriptions of 

 ■vood and iron pavements, and every variety of stone, have been recommended 



