208 ELEMENTAKY AGRICULTURE 



road to a quagmire. The first step towards making 

 permanent roads is to provide permanent drainage 

 by ditching and tiling where it is necessary. (Fig. 

 104.) 



Grading. Next in importance to drainage comes 

 grading. The narrower the roadbed the easier it 

 is to keep in order, because water will not so readily 

 collect in it, but roads must be wide enough for 

 teams to pass. The surface should be slightly 

 rounded to shed water quickly, and the ruts must 

 be filled as soon as they appear. Here is where 

 the care-taker gets in his best work by preventing 

 deep ruts from forming and keeping the roadbed 

 dry. (Fig. 105.) 



Surfacing Clay Roads. After drainage and grad- 

 ing comes the surfacing of the road. On a clay road 

 a fairly hard and inexpensive surface may be made 

 by thoroughly mixing gravel with the clay. This 

 packs well and makes a hard surface, so if the mix- 

 ture is of sufficient thickness the road will bear 

 lieavy traffic. 



Sand Roads. Sand roads may be greatly im- 

 proved by surfacing with clay. Sand mixed with 

 clay does not make so firm a roadbed as gravel and 

 clay, but it makes a fairly good surface. 



Loam Roads. There are tens of thousands of 

 miles of loam roads in the Central West and these 

 roads are almost bottomless in wet weather. Loam 

 takes water like a sponge, and on such roads it is 

 not an uncommon sight to see an empty wagon 



