THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



207 



Mart Patrie and associates, heads at the foot of the 

 Crater Buttes, which are extinct volcanoes, and waters 

 a large tract surrounding Market Lake, famous for wild 

 ducks and mosquitos. A few miles below the town of 

 Market Lake the lava reefs close in upon the river, but 

 swing away again a few miles above Idaho Falls and 

 from the western boundary of the New Sweden irriga- 

 tion district. 



East of Idaho Falls, near lona, sc large new beet 

 sugar factory stimulates the industry of the community 

 and the prevailing crop is sugar beets. 



At Ammon a peculiar and somewhat disconcerting 

 situation arises from the fact that the large drifting 

 sand hills to the south axe threatening to overwhelm 

 the town. These immense mounds of sand keep comb- 

 ing over and over in the strong winds and are moving 

 gradually northeasterly. Senator Steele, who has lived 

 near lona for twenty years, remembers when these sand 

 dunes were at least half a mile farther south and west. 



CARE OF EARTH ROADS. 



Mr. J. A. Sager, road supervisor of Climax town- 

 ship, Mich., has prepared an excellent pamphlet on 

 Earth Roads. He treats the subject in the light of 

 personal experience in such a practical way that we 

 take this privilege of making a few extracts which at 

 this time of the year are pertinent and seasonable. 

 EDITOR. 



I went over the whole of District No. 1 in Cli- 

 max, Mich., with the road machine at two different 

 times this season, with one-half of the road tax re- 

 served to pay for the machine, only having one-half 

 of the regular tax to be performed in labor. We put 

 the road grade and side ditches of about three miles 

 of poorly repaired road, and a portion of the same 

 without any grade, in good condition, with straight, 

 uniform outside ditches, with outside slope and inside 

 slope. In some portions, where there is no grade, it 

 should be made higher, and in others it should be 

 rounded up fuller on the sides, and we have left plenty 

 of well-rotted soil, without sods to interfere, to com- 

 plete the grade with next year. 



In the winter there frequently come times when 

 the road is full of holes and ruts, while the surface 

 soil is dry and mellow. This condition occurs most 

 frequently when the ground below the surface is frozen. 

 If at this time a harrow is run over the road, it will 

 fill up the ruts and holes, and leave the surface smooth. 

 This improves the road for present travel, and gives 

 a smooth surface, which will greatly decrease the de- 

 terioration of the road by subsequent rains. 



TREATMENT IN THE SPRING. 



In the early spring, just after the frost goes out 

 of the ground, earth roads are usually full of deep 

 ruts. At this time the roads can be greatly improved 

 by running over them with the road machine. It is 

 much more economical to make the road smooth than 

 to wear it down by travel. This early work should 

 be done to prepare the road for travel before the over- 

 seer gets his road warrant. Do not wait to wear the 

 road smooth, but scrape it lightly to a smooth sur- 

 face, not moving any more earth than is necessary to 

 fill up the ruts and uneven places. 



It is somewhat unfortunate that this tool (road 

 machine) is ordinarily called a road grader, since the 

 name has possibly led to a misconception as to an im- 

 portant use of the machine. As an instrument of road 

 construction this machine is used to give a crown to 



the road, but as an instrument of maintenance it 

 should be used only to smooth the surface and restore 

 the original crown. Apparently, some operators as- 

 sume that the machine is not to be used in this way, 

 and they run the blade too deep in maintaining or 

 repairing the grade, and a big ridge of loose earth 

 and sod is left in the middle of the road, which 

 only slowly consolidates and which is likely to be 

 washed into the side ditches to make trouble there. 

 Since the introduction of the road machine there has 

 developed, in some localities, a strong tendency where 

 their grade is narrow, to increase the crown of the 

 road unduly. Doubtless, the object is to secure better 

 drainage of the roadbed, but piling up the earth is an 

 inadequate substitute for tile drainage. Side slopes 

 steeper than just enough to turn the water into the 

 side ditches are a detriment. Other things being equal, 

 the best road to travel on or. to haul a load over is a 

 perfectly flat one. 



THE SOIL SHOULD BE WET. 



In smoothing the road, the road machine should 

 be run over the ground lightly, so as to smooth down 

 the ridges and fill up the ruts. Only enough earth 

 should be moved toward the center of the roadway 

 to replace that washed down by the rains. The blade 

 of the machine should stand nearly square across the 

 road, and considerable earth should be shoved along 

 in front of the blade so as to have enough loose earth 

 to fill any depressions. The surplus of earth should 

 be evenly distributed along on the surface. This work 

 should be done early before the ground becomes 

 hard and difficult to work, before traffic has been com- 

 pelled partially to do the work of the road machine, 

 and while the surface is in condition to unite with 

 the loose earth left by the machine. Unfortunately, 

 this work is often postponed until the ground is so 

 hard that it is impossible to do a thoroughly good job. 

 If the ground is a little too wet for agricultural til- 

 lage, it is all the better for road making since it will 

 pack better than if it were drier. 



CARE OF ROAD AND DITCHES IN FALL. 



Finally, during the fall the roads should be re- 

 paired with special reference to getting them into 

 good shape for the winter. Any saucer-like depres- 

 sions or ruts should be filled with earth like that of 

 the roadbed. The material should be solidly tramped 

 into place. Holes and ruts should never be filled 

 with stone, bricks, or coarse gravel. The hard ma- 

 terial will not wear uniformly with the rest of the road, 

 but will produce bumps and ridges, and usually re- 

 sult in making two holes, each larger than the origi- 

 nal. It is a bad practice to cut a gutter from a hole 

 to drain it to the side of the road. Filling it is the 

 proper course, whether the hole is dry or contains 

 mud. The holes most requiring attention are found 

 at the end of bridges and along the sides of small 

 wooden box culverts. 



The side ditches should be examined in the fall 

 to see that they are free from dead weeds and grass; 

 and late in the winter they should be examined again 

 to see that they are not clogged with corn stalks, 

 brush, etc., washed in from the fields. The mouths 

 of culverts should also be cleared of rubbish and the 

 outlet of tile drains should be opened. Attention to 

 side ditches prevents overflow and washing of the 

 roadbed, and will also prevent formation of ponds 

 at the roadside and the subsequent saturation of the 

 roadbed. 





