ROADS AND ROAD-MAKING. 649 



ROADS AND ROAD-MAKING. 



THE importance of having good roads cannot well be over-estimated; and since the 

 subject of roads and road-making is one that pertains to the personal interests of 

 every farmer, either directly or indirectly, and roads of country towns are made and 

 kept in repair principally by farmers, it may not be inappropriate to give a few practical sug 

 gestions relative to it in an agricultural work designed especially for farmers. 



In so doing, we give, as most applicable to the purpose, the larger portion of an address 

 on this subject, delivered before the Massachusetts Agricultural Society not long since, by the 

 editor of this work, omitting those parts that may be mainly of special local interest: 



It would be easy to show the importance of this subject by referring to the intimate con 

 nection which exists between the value of land, the general prosperity of the community, and 

 the condition of its roads. Every farmer, every owner of real estate, has a vital interest in 

 the perfection of the roads which lead to it, and especially the roads which lead from it to 

 the natural market. And this interest is a pecuniary one, not based on considerations of 

 comfort merely, but coming home to the pocket in the shape of the wear and tear of teams 

 and vehicles, and the amount of draught required to move a load, always dependent, to a 

 very large extent, on the character and condition of the surface of the road, and in the 

 enhanced value of a farm lying on a thoroughly good highway. So true is this, that it is 

 no exaggeration to say that there can be no better test of the progress of civilization in a 

 community than the condition of its roads. This close connection of the prosperity of the 

 people and the perfection of the means of communication between one community and 

 another, is so well understood in Europe that good roads may be said to be the rule there, 

 and poor ones the exception just the reverse of what we see everywhere in this country. 

 Nor do we think it too much to say that the poorest road we saw in Switzerland, Germany, 

 and France is better than the best of our own. 



It is safe to say that the common roads, though the original cost, mile for mile, may have 

 been much less, are vastly more important to the population of the State than the railroads. 

 It would be difficult to do without railroads, to be sure, and no doubt put us to untold incon 

 venience, especially as we have become accustomed to their use; but it would be quite impos 

 sible to do without common roads. They are indispensable to a civilized community, and 

 may be reckoned among the necessities of life. 



Location of Roads, etc. In proceeding to treat upon this subject, we shall have but 

 little to say in regard to the location of our roads, since, bad as they are in many cases, their 

 line was long since determined, and new roads to be laid out will always bear a very small 

 proportion to the old ones. It ought to be borne in mind hereafter, however, when any new 

 road is proposed, that any reasonable amount of money spent in procuring surveys by the 

 most competent engineers, will be the best investment that can be made, rather than to run 

 the location by &quot; guess-work,&quot; and perhaps eventually involve a vastly larger expense in build 

 ing and grading, than a well-considered location would have cost. 



Our roads are neither laid out properly nor constructed as roads ought to be. The first 

 settlers pushed off into the forest to seek new lands, and naturally built in elevated situations 

 to avoid the miasms of swamps, and for the purposes of protection or greater safety. Their 

 ways were foot-paths or bridle-paths cut through the woods, till they could clear up and make 

 passable roads, and when a town finally grew up, the roads were naturally made to accommo 

 date its individual citizens. Of course it could not be expected that they would be laid out 

 in accordance with any fixed principles, or with any reference to the wants of a more 

 advanced civilization. The greatest good of the greatest number was sacrificed to individual 

 interest, or the convenience or caprice of a single person. It is time now that we had some- 



