522 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



first formation of ruts, such a road will be worn by the wheels nearly alike on every part 

 of it : provided also that the ground on each side, for at least four or five feet, be mode- 

 rately flat, so as not to excite fear in the drivers of carriages ; but if there be deep 

 ditches close to the sides of the road, or if the circumjacent land fall off very abruptly 

 to the depth of two or three feet, whereby fear of approaching the edges would operate 

 on the minds of the drivers, every driver will instinctively avoid the danger on either 

 hand; and a road so circumstanced will, in spite of any care of the surveyor, inevitably 

 be worn into ruts in the middle. There is a remarkable instance of this kind in a piece 

 of road on Durdham Down, near Bristol. This road is a causeway over a piece of soft 

 ground ; and although it is from twenty to twenty-five feet wide, yet, as the ground 

 falls away abruptly on both sides of it, it has been found impossible, for more than 

 twenty years past, to his knowledge, to prevent deep ruts being formed along the mid- 

 dle of it ; notwithstanding the Down itself consists of hard limestone; and the other 

 roads upon the Down are as fine and even as any roads in England. Were this piece of 

 road widened out on each side, in an easy slope about five feet, by rubbish of any kind, 

 and by the scrapings of the road itself, whereby the instinctive operation of fear of ap- 

 proaching the sides of the present road would be obviated, that piece of road would be 

 found to wear as fairly as the other roads on the same Down. 



3353. In regard to the drainage of roads, Marshal directs to examine the site in 

 every part to ascertain whether offensive waters lodge beneath it, as quicksands ; or 

 land springs break out in a wet season. If defects of this kind be found, effectual 

 drains are td be run up to them, from the ditches or outer side drains of the site. 



3354. Wheyi roads run through marshy ground, Edgeworth observes, *' the substratum 

 must be laid dry l)y proper drainage ; and where the road is liable, from the flatness of 

 the country, to be at times under water, the expense of raising it above the water must 

 be submitted to in the first instance. All drains for carrying off water should be under 

 the road, or at the field side of the fences, and these drains should be kept open by con- 

 stant attention, and should be made wide at the outlet." 



3355. The side drains, Telford and Walker recommend to be in every instance on the 

 field side of the fence. In cases, Telford observes, where a road is made upon ground 

 where there are many springs, it is absolutely necessary to make a number of under and 

 cross drains to collect the water and conduct it into the side drains, which should always 

 be made on the field side of the fences. The orifices of these cross drains should be 

 neatly and substantially finished in masonry. 



3356. The method of draining which Paterson has found the most effective, is thus 

 described : " Before the materials are put on, run a drain along the middle of the 

 road, all the way, from two to three feet deep ; then fill it with stones up to the sur- 

 face, making those at bottom of a pretty good size, and those at the top fully as small 

 as the road materials. And, in order that the quantity of stones used for the said drain 

 may be as little as possible, and every way to save expense, it may be made as narrow 

 as it can possibly be dug. From this leading drain make a brancli here and there, to 

 convey off the water to the canals on the sides of the road." This mode of draining he 

 has found, from experience, to be so beneficial, that a road so drained would be better and 

 more durable with eight inches, than it would otherwise be with twelve inches of mate- 

 rials. And, not only so, but that on such a road there would be a saving on the incidental 

 repairs, ever afterwards, of about one-half of the labor, and at least one-third of the material. 



3357. All moisture from under the road materials must be carried off by such drains. 

 Then, if the materials are properly broken, they will become so firm and solid that little 

 or no water will get through them ; and if it should, this drain would carry it away. 

 So that, under any view of it, the utility of these drains must be very apparent : but 

 when we consider that, to have the ground under the road materials perfectly dry, is to 

 insure a good road, these drains become indispensably necessary, and the expense is a 

 mere trifle. There are two miles of road, which were made on this plan under Paterson's 

 directions, which have stood all the winter rains without injury, and which promises to be 

 one of the finest roads in the kingdom. There is another road of ten miles, that he has 

 lately planned, for the greater part of which he has specified two such drains, run- 

 ning parallel to each other, and five feet apart. And he would even recommend three or 

 four parallel drains where there is a great breadth of metals, excepting where the road 

 is formed over dry sand, or open gravel. Although the effect of such drains will be at 

 all times beneficial to the road ; in time of a thaw, after there has been a few weeks of 

 frost, it will be peculiarly so. In frost, the surface of the road, though wet before, be- 

 comes dried, the water being absorbed by the road, or otherwise condensed by the 

 frost. But no sooner is this succeeded by a thaw, than the alisorbed, or condensed water, 

 again makes its appearance all over the surface of the road. This is the time that these 

 drains are so peculiarli/ beneficial, 



3358. Where such drains are luanting, the road, on the return of a thaw, throws 

 up to the surface all the water it had imbibed ; and, in many places, the materials 



