MISCELLANEOUS FARM CONVENIENCES 



223 



useless for showing how to operate them to do good 

 work. The eccentricities of a split-log road drag may 

 be learned in one lesson by riding it over a mile or two 

 of country road shortly after the frost has left the 

 ground in the spring of the year. It will be noticed 

 that the front half of the road drag presents the flat 

 side of the split log to the work of shaving off the lumps 

 while the other half log levels and smooths and pud- 



Figure 223. Split-Log Road Drag. The front edge is shod with 

 a steel plate to do the cutting and the round side of the rear log 

 grinds the loosened earth fine and presses it into the wagon tracks 

 and water holes. 



dies the loosened moist earth by means of the rounded 

 side. Puddling makes earth waterproof. The front, 

 or cutting edge, is faced with steel. The ridges and 

 humps are cut and shoved straight ahead or to one 

 side to fill holes and ruts. This is done by the driver, 

 who shifts his weight from one end to the other, and 

 from front to back of his standing platform to dis- 

 tribute the earth to the best advantage. The rounded 

 side of the rear half log presses the soft earth into place 

 and leaves the surface smooth. 



Unfortunately, the habit of using narrow tired wag- 

 ons on country roads has become almost universal in 



