EARTH ROADS 339 



requires four horses to pull up a grade with a rise of ten 

 feet in each hundred feet. 



Keep the center highest. The center of a road should 

 be arched so as to be at least five to eight inches above 

 the sides. Whenever ruts or depressions remain long un- 

 filled, mud-holes or washes occur. 



Made from a /O' fate' fag. 



FIG. 216. A SPLIT-LOG ROAD DRAG 



A cheap road drag. Ruts should be filled as soon as 

 formed. This can be done by running a split-log drag 

 along one side of the road and back on the other side. 

 The drag shown (Fig. 216) is made from a split log and 

 costs very little. 



A little work in filling ruts as soon as they form is 

 worth much more than the same amount of work after the 

 ruts have caused washes in the road. The best way to 

 keep earth roads good is not by having many men to work 

 them once or twice a year, but by having a few men, with 

 team and split-log drag, ready to fill the ruts as soon as 

 they form. This use of the drag arches the center, fills 

 ruts and low places, and hastens drying. There should be 

 a ditch on each side to carry off the water and to keep the 

 road-bed dry, 



