ROADS 479 



to advantage in learning what dirt roads are and how to 

 maintain them. 



A dirt road should be a slightly rounding surface of earth 

 which has been packed by traffic and other means to make it 

 hard and smooth. It is comparatively easy to make a dirt road, 

 but it is not so easy to maintain a dirt road, for this requires 

 patience and persistence. We are too apt to want to fmish a 

 thing and be done with it. We are never done with a dirt road, 

 if we are to maintain it properly. But this does not mean that 

 it is a hard task. A little intelligence and attention occasionally 

 at the right time, is all that is required. The only tool necessary 

 is the road drag, a rake and a shovel. 



The dressing of the road by the drag maintains the contour. 

 With wear, the road tends to flatten, and this gives a surface 

 which will hold water. The road must be well drained, for Avher- 

 ever water stands upon it, it becomes softened and ruts deeply 

 under traffic. 



The right use of the road drag keeps the road in the form of 

 a watershed. The drag should be used very soon after each rain 

 which soaks the roadway sufficiently so that ruts develop. The 

 time to use it is while the soil is still plastic, but does not stick 

 to the drag. 



The following instructions come from the experience of men 

 who made a success in dragging roads : 



1. Drive the team at a walk. 



2. Ride on the drag to give it weight. 



3. Begin on one side of the road and return on the other. 



4. Drag the road as soon after every rain as possible, but not 



while the earth w^ill stick to the drag. There is a time 

 when it is just right. 



5. Do not drag a dry road, as the additional dust created will 



either blow away or form mud with the first rain. 



6. The length of the chain regulates the hold taken on the earth. 



7. Making the chain longer is equivalent to putting weight on 



the drag. If the drag is too heavy, shorten the chain. 



8. To move much earth or cut small weeds, hitch close to the 



ditch end of a drag, and stand as near as possible to that 

 end of the front plank or cutting edge. 



9. On a soft spot, stand on the front end of the drag. 



10. If the drag clogs with straw, sod or mud, put your weight 



as far as possible on the end away from the ditch. 



11. To drop earth in a low place, step as quickly as possible 



from the ditch end to the opposite end of the drag. 



