THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



45 



Construction of Roads. 



Surry, County of Hancock, Maine, Jan, 29(A, 1840. 

 Hon Isaac Hir.L, — Sir: — Noticing in your Visitor for April an article 

 headed "Iliglnvays in New England ;" and from what I had seen, beingcon- 

 vinced there was less practical knowledge of the manner in which roads 

 ought to be made than on almost any subject of equal importance, I com- 

 menced a short communieation on (he subject for your paper. It was laid a- 

 aide to attend to some pressing business, and occurred not again to my mind 

 till in looking over some unfinished papers it caught my eye. i now avail 

 myself of a few moments of leisure to give you the result of some thoughts 



and experience on the subject, which if practised upon would give to the 

 public a good road at all seasons of the year — at not a great increase of ex- 

 pense. I will say more — that if durability is taken into account, the cost will 

 be less and a va.'it amount of money saved to the people. 



It is not sulTicient that a road when finished should present a uniform and 

 and well made appearance, but it mast be kept in sJiajje ail the time it is in 

 construction. Tha proper form of a road is the segment of a circle witu the 

 exterior sides of the ditches at an angle of forty-five degrees: if at a greater 

 angle, tlie earth will not keep its place. 1 am now sujiposing the road to be 

 what I should call a single one, and made in clayey land, generally supposed 



to be the most difficult to form into a durable road to resist heavy wheeling, 

 but which I am confident cnn be made as good and nearlv as permanent as if 

 Macadamised at a very small proportion of the expense. The surface ofclay-j 

 ey soils is generally a clayey loam about a foot in depth : this is the worst 

 material that can be used for a road ; but, as it would cost too much to remove 

 it at the expense of the road, (and the owners of the adjoining lands seldom 

 understand their own interest sufficiently to take it off themselves to use as 

 a top dressing or for a compost heap) and it can be made use of to advantage' 

 if properly managed: I will suppose the land on which tlie road is to be made 

 to be of that description — a clayey loam with a subsoil of clay. Tiie first 

 step will be to remove all stumps, roots, and stones. This when large or 

 heavy may he greatly facilitated by the use of a tackle with a double and tre- 

 ble block with this purchase, provided the lever be ten feet in length, and the 

 chain fastening it to the stone or stump be only two feet from the lower end 

 with the tackle attached to the upper : the power would be increased twenty 

 times, that is, one yoke of o.xen would be etjual with such a purchase to twen- 

 ty without. The very large stones may however be blown instead of remov- 

 ing them witli a tackle. 



After removing all the stones and stumps., the plough is to be put in ; but 

 if drains or causeways are required, 1 should recommend their being made 

 tirst, care being always taken to sink the culverts or drains so low that the 

 bottom siiould be at least six inches lower than the bottom of the side ditches. 

 Before cominenciijg ploughing, let the centre as well as the sides of tlie road 

 be marked by short stakes. The ploughing should be done by back furrow- 

 ing ; that is commencing a foot from the centre and turning towards it : the 

 furrow slice should be narrow that tiie ridge may be sharp. When ploughed 

 it should be harrowed lengthwise of tiie road, beginning on the outside or ne.xt 

 the ditch — let it then be scraped with a siiovel scraper crosswise, taking care 



I to put it as much as possible into proper shape. In other vrords, let the earth 

 Inot bo left by the scraper in lieaps, but delivered from it gradually. After 

 scraping let it be again harrowed as before. If the ground was not very 

 rough, the centre will not require to be ploughed again : but should it be ne- 

 cessary it must be again back furrowed, commencing as before about a foot 

 from the centre — again scraped and harrowed as before. Tlie ro.ad ought now 

 to present a good appearance. It will however not be quite high enough in 

 the centre, and the ditches not sufficiently deep ; but its most important de- 

 fect is, that the material of which it is now composed is loam. To remedy 

 these defects it will be necessary to run three furrows on each side of tlio 

 road and scrape them into the centre, taking care to preserve the shape of the 

 road : harrow again, then plough two furrows on each side, and scrape as be- 

 fore, and tlie road is ready to be finished with long Irish shovels. In this fin- 

 ishing great care mustbe taken to fill up all slags, to have the road perfect in 

 shape, a gradual curve from the outside of the ditch to the centre of the road. 

 If the work has been well done, the loam will now lie covered with a good 

 [thickness of the hard clay pan from the ditches, the bottom of which will be 

 deeper by at least six inches than the surface of the pan ; and if pains is taken 

 |to carry off the water from the side ditches by side drains,thc water will never 

 be able to soak into the road by running on the surface of the pan from one 

 side to the otlier, following its inclination ; and as the road has always been 

 kept in shape, the water that falls upon the road and whicli may penetrate a 

 few inches will on striking the next strata find its way into the ditch. The 

 road is now in coats like those of an onion ; and if the upper one be reii- 

 dered perfectly smooth and then covered with about three inclies of gravel, it 

 will become as hard as if Macadamized, and will bear any wheeling. 

 I To render ray description still plainer, I give a diagram of tlie same, 



Twenty-two feet. 



Where it can be afforded, and the amount of travel would warrant tlie ex- 

 pense, tlie ditches should be made suflicieiitly broad to admit of the passage 

 of a sled or sleigh. This would ensure good travelling at all seasons of the 

 year, as the enow and ice ivoiild remain in them till the crown of the roud lie- 



came perfectly dry, as a road thus constructed is never penetrated to any 

 great depth by the frost, ami will be dry in a few days after the snow is off' 

 On turnpiked roads, the snow will generally blow off from the crown, but 

 will be found in the ditches. 



In tlipse dioirranis I have given my roads more height than would be ne- 

 cessary or even proper, to shew more plainly the manner in which tiie road 

 is t,T be formed. The principal defects in ronds in this country are — they are 



too flat have shoulders to the ditches on tlie sides nest the road, and the 



ig-ater is very imperfectly carried off from the side ditches : tlie side ditche.--^ 

 are not deep enough. It is indispensable that they he belew llie surf'nce of 

 of the pan. The road is not kept in shape during its construction, and the 

 consequence is, that after the water has peiietrated the .surface of the ro:id,it 



is retained i.u hollows in the next strata instead of being able quickly to roach 

 the ditche.^, causing a moist spot in the road which is soon cut up by wheels. 

 In sandy soils I have but little e.xpericncc. Where they can be covered 

 with a slight coat of clay, I should construct the road in the same manner as 

 I have reconimended for loam. Uut if clay cannot be obtained without much 

 expense, I shcuild try hollow instead of crowned roads with preventer ditch- 

 es on the sides. 



