548 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



and the same process isrepeated ; and in this way the most extravagant quantity of metals may be put 

 on, and yet never have the road in good order. 



3503. For the repair of an old road, the following directions are given by M'Adam, 

 in his Report to the Committee, <^c. of 1811, corrected hovi^ever to 1819. " No addition 

 of materials is to be brought upon a road, unless in any part it be found that there is 

 not a quantity of clean stone equal to ten inches in thickness. 



3504. The stone alreadi/ on the road is to be loosened up and broken, so as no piece 

 shall exceed six ounces in weight. The road is then to be laid as flat as possible ; a rise 

 of three inches from the centre to the side is sufficient for a road thirty feet wide. The 

 stones, when loosened in the road, are to be gathered off by means of a strong heavy 

 rake, with teeth two and a half inches in length, to the side of the road, and there broken, 

 and on no account are stones to be broken on the road. 



3505. When the great stones have been removed, and none left in the road exceeding 

 six ounces, the road is to be put in shape, and a rake employed to smooth the surface, 

 which will at the same time bring to the surface the remaining stone, and will allow the 

 dirt to go down. 



3506. When the road i$ so prepared, the stone that has been broken by the side of 

 the road is then to be carefully spread on it : this is rather a nice operation, and the 

 future quality of the road will greatly depend on the manner in, which it is performed. 

 The stone must not be laid on in shovelsfull, but scattered over the surface, one shovel- 

 full following another, and spreading over a considerable space. 



3507. Only a small space of road should he lifted at once ; five men in a gang should be 

 set to lift it all across; two men should continue to pick up and rake otF the large stones 

 and to form the road for receiving the broken stone ; the other three should break stones ; 

 the broken stone to be laid on as soon as the piece of road is prepared to receive it, and 

 then break up another piece ; two or three yards at one lift is enough. 



3508. The proportioning the work among the five men must of course be regulated by 

 the nature of the road ; when there are many very large stones, the three breakers may 

 not be able to keep pace with the two men employed in lifting and forming, and when 

 there are few large stones the contrary may be the case ; of all this the surveyor must 

 judge and direct. 



3509. But to lift and relay a road, even if the materials should have been originally 

 too large, would in many cases be highly unprofitable. The road between Cirencester 

 and Bath is made of stone too large in size, but it is of so friable a nature that in lifting it 

 becomes sand ; in this case I recommended cutting down the high places, keeping the 

 surface smooth and gradually wearing out the materials now in the road, and then re- 

 placing them with some stone of a better quality properly prepared. 



3510. ^ part of the road in the Bath district is in like manner made of freestone, which 

 It would be unprofitable to lift. 



351 1. ^t Egham in Surrey, it was necessary to remove the whole road, to separate the 

 small portion of valuable materials from the mass of soft matter of which it was princi- 

 pally composed, which was removed at considerable expense, before a road could be 

 again made upon the site. 



3512. Other cases of several kinds have occurred where a different method must be 

 adopted, but which it is impossible to specify, and must be met by the practical skill of 

 the officer whose duty it may be to superintend the repair of a road, and who must con- 

 stantly recur to general principles. These principles are uniform, however much circum- 

 stances may differ, and they must form the guide by which his judgment must be always 

 directed. 



3513. When additional stone is wanted on a road that has consolidated by use, the old 

 hardened surface of the road is to be loosened with a pick, in order to make the fresh 

 materials unite with the old. 



3514. Ruts. Carriages, whatever be the construction of their wheels, will make ruts 

 in a new-made road until it consolidates, however well the materials may be prepared, or 

 however judiciously applied; therefore a careful person must attend for some time after 

 the road is opened for use, to rake in the tracks made by wheels. 



3515. The tools to be used are : strong picks, but short from the handle to the point, 

 for lifting the road ; small hammers of about one pound weight in the head, the face 

 the size of a new shilling, well steeled, with a short handle ; rakes with wooden heads, 

 ten inches in length, and iron teeth about two inches and a half in length, very strong for 

 raking out the large stones where the road is broken up, and for keeping the road smooth 

 after being relaid, and while it is consolidating ; very light broad-mouthed shovels, to 

 spread the broken stone and to form the road. 



3516. Every road is to be made of broken stone without m.ixturc of earth, clay, chalk, or 

 any other matter that will imbibe water, and be affected with frost : nothing is to be laid 

 on the clean stone on pretence of binding ; broken stone will combine by its acute angles 



