FARM DEVELOPMENT 



rial necessarily used for surfacing is such that capillary 

 water will rise through it and keep the surfacing moist. 

 In this case it will pay to go longer distances, or to 

 make special effort to purchase suitable material for 

 the upper layer of the substructure than will ordinarily 

 be necessary. 



Width of road. Since the road laws in most states 

 were made in pioneer times when lands were not high- 

 priced, provision was often made for the liberal width 



of four rods or more 

 for public highways. 

 In many cases these 

 could be cut down, 

 and thus add to the 

 area of the farmers' 

 productive fields. 



The width of the 

 surfaced grade depends 

 upon various condi- 

 tions. In case of a 

 much traveled road 

 the part available for 

 teams should be 24 feet 

 yen wider, the 

 ditch being outside 

 In case of cross roads 16 feet is a good 

 Farm roads entering private lands 



Figure 195. Both road and farms drained by a 

 deep ditch, A, B, made by road officials and farm- QJ- 

 ere co-operating, into which drains from the swamp 



this width. 



average width. 



usually need to be only 8 to 12 feet wide, and simple 



cartways to the fields only wide enough to accommodate 



the ordinary wagon, 7 or 8 feet, while for bicycle paths 



a width of 2 to 4 feet is sufficient. 



In some cases where drainage is extensively united 

 with road making, as in very flat lands where heavy 

 roadside ditches are needed, the crown of the road is 

 often made 40 or more feet wide, as a matter of con- 

 venience in throwing up earth necessarily taken from 



