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The Canadian Horticulturist. 



OUR COUNTRY ROADS. 



\^ OW that wheeling is such a popular and con- 

 "" venient mode of locomotion, the rough condi- 

 tion of our country roads becomes the more 

 conspicuous, and if the agitation of the 

 wheelmen for an improvement results in im- 

 proved roads, they will have the lasting thanks 

 of the farmers and fruit-growers of Ontario. 

 We are pleased to notice the interest now 

 taken in road improvement by the Ontario 

 Department of Agriculture which has ap- 

 pointed Mr. A. W. Alexander, Civil En- 

 gineer, Provincial instructor in road making. Road Bulletin No. 2 is just to 

 hand and we have pleasure in giving our readers the fo owing paragraphs and 

 illustrations from it. 



-Cross Section of Colntry Road. 

 Common field tile underneath open ditches. Gravel or broken-stone roadbed, eight ft. wide. 



Forming a Roadbed. 



In making a road the grading and draining should be carried on during the 

 same season, first the draining, then the grading. A road which is graded only, 

 and then subjected to the traffic of fall and spring before draining is undertaken 

 is generally a shapeless mass by the ensuing summer, and a large amount of 

 grading must necessarily be repeated. A road should also be drained and 

 brought to the grade which it is to retain permanently before the road metal 

 (gravel or crushed stone) is placed on it. Metal placed on an undrained road- 

 way is so mixed with mud in the spring and fall as to be almost wasted. The 

 natural soil under the gravel must be sufficiently firm to sustain not only the 

 gravel, but the weight of traffic upon the gravel. No soil will do this unless it 

 is sufficiently drained. 



The roadway must be crowned, or rounded up towards the centre, to shed 

 the water from the surface ; the surface must be kept smooth and free from 

 tracks, and it is as much the duty of gravel or crushed stone placed on a road 

 to form a smooth, hard surface that will permit the water to flow readily off from 

 it, as it is to form a durable covering to resist the wear of wheels. 



