Book IL REPAIRING ROADS. * 549 



into a smooth solid surface that cannot be affected by vicissitudes of weather, or dis- 

 placed by the action of wheels, which will pass over it without a jolt, and consequently 

 without injury." 



3517. TelforiVs directions for repairing roads differ little from his instructions for 

 forming roads, already quoted. Where a road 448 



has no solid and dry foundation, he bottoms 

 with soft stones or cinders, the former set by 

 hand with the broadest end down, in the form 

 of a neat pavement (fig. 448.); over this 

 foundation he, as usual, lays on six inches of 

 stones broken so as to pass through a ring, two inches and a half in diameter, &c. 



3518. Where a road has some foundation., but an imperfect one, or is hollow in the 

 middle, all the large stones appearing on the surface of it must be raised and broken ; 

 the eighteen centre feet of it must be so treated, and then covered with a coating of 

 broken stones, sufficient to give it a proper shape, and to make it solid and hard. 



3519. Where a road already has a good foundation, and also a good shape, no materials 

 should be laid upon it but for the purpose of filling ruts and hollow places, in thin layers 

 as soon as they appear. Stones broken small, as above described, being angular, will 

 fasten together. In this way a road when once well made, may be preserved in constant 

 repair at a small expense. 



3520. Partial metalling. Where the breadth of that part of a road, which alone has 

 been formed of hard materials, and over which the carriages commonly pass, is less than 

 eighteen feet, it must be widened with layers of broken stones to that breadth, first 

 *^'gg^"g away the earth, and forming a bed for them with pavement and broken stones, 

 at least ten inches deep. Near large towns the whole breadth of the road- way should be 

 covered with broken stones. 



3521. All labor by day ivages ought, as far as possible, to be discontinued in repairing 

 roads. The surveyors should make out specifications of the work of every kind that is 

 to be performed in a given time. This should be let to contractors, and the surveyors 

 should take care to see it completed according to the specifications, before it is paid for. 

 Attention to this rule is most essential, as in many cases not less than two-thirds of the 

 money usually expended by day labor is wasted. 



3522. The best seasons for repairing roads is generally considered autumn and spring, 

 when the weather is moist rather than otherwise. B. Farey prefers laying on gravel 

 when the road is in a moist state, immediately after the road has bad a scraping, in con- 

 sequence of there being upon the surface of the road a small quantity of dirty matter and 

 broken gravel, which then forms a sort of cement for the gravel to fix in. 



3523. Walker considers the best season for repairing roads, to be the spring or very 

 early in the summer, when the weather is likely neither to be very wet nor dry, for both 

 of these extremes prevent the materials from consolidating, and therefore cause a waste of 

 them, and at the same time either a heavy or a dusty road ; but if done at the time he 

 has recommended, the roads are left in good state for the summer, and become con- 

 solidated and hard to resist the work of the ensuing winter. 



3524. The seasons for rejmiring preferred by Paterson are also spring and autumn. *' Al- 

 though it is proper," he says, " at all times of the year, to put on a little metals whenever 

 any hole makes its appearance, yet in the drought of summer this will seldom be neces- 

 sary. In summer, the roads are less liable to cut ; but if, at some places, a little fresh 

 metals may be necessary, no more should be put on than is barely sufficient to bring 

 those holes to the level of the rest of the road. Metals that are put on in tlie drought of 

 summer do not soon bind together. Until such time as there is rain sufficient to cause 

 them to bind, they will keep shifting and rolling about, and make a very unpleasant road to 

 travel on. The most proper times of the year to put on any quantity of metals are about 

 the months of October and April, as they always bind best when the road is neither too 

 wet nor too dry. When they are put on about the month of October they become firm 

 before winter; and, with a little constant attention, the road will be easily kept in good 

 order until the spring : and if it has been the case that the road has not been sufficiently 

 attended to during the winter, and that it has got into a bad state towards the spring, by 

 putting on fresh metals about the month of April, sufficient to bring it into smooth sur- 

 face order, it will be very easily kept in this good state throughout the summer." 



3525. M^Adam, on being asked, " Would you prefer repairing old roads in dry weather 

 or in wet Weather?" answers : " In wet weather always; I always prefer mending a road 

 in weather not very dry." 



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