ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. 447 



regular radius. This plan may occasion- 

 ally prove perfectly satisfactory on a 

 strictly level surface, but it will have quite 

 -an opposite effect where the ground is 

 greatly undulating. The curves, to be 

 pleasing, must be "eye-sweet" — not too 

 sudden or abrupt — and properly blended 

 at their points of junctions. 



EOADS AM) WALKS, Construction 

 of. — Very much of personal comfort and 

 pleasure in rural residences depends upon 

 good roads. A smooth, firm, dry road is 

 one of the greatest conveniences and 

 enjoyments; while a rough, soft, muddy 

 road is one of the greatest drawbacks and 

 annoyances of country life. Bad roads 

 form the greatest obstacles to progress 

 and permanent improvements in all the 

 neighborhoods that are blasted with their 

 presence ; they have a demoralizing effect 

 upon the inhabitants, and are a sure sign 

 •either of poverty cr mismanagement, or 

 both. 



Water is the worst enemy to good 

 roads. It is, therefore, a leading principle 

 in road-making so to construct them that 

 they may be kept dry. In absence of a 

 timely recognition of this principle, many 

 •costly roads have proved to be failures ; 

 but where it has had prominent recogni- 

 tion and its value has been properly 

 appreciated, good roads have been made 

 at a trifling expense. 



After locating the road and marking 

 out its course, the sides should be brought 

 to the proper grade and finished by a 

 layer of sod as a guide to further opera- 

 tions. In crossing a sloping surface it is 

 not necessary to have both sides perfectly 

 level, but the nearer this can be secured, 

 with due regard to getting rid of surface 

 water, the better it will admit of a neat 

 iinish and the more easily will it be kept 

 in repair. 



The road bed is then formed by ex- 

 cavating and removing the soil to a depth 

 ol six inches at the sides, curving slightly 

 higher in the centre, and made perfectly 

 smooth by rolling, producing a uniform 

 surface upon which the material of the 

 road is to be placed. 



The best stone for road metal is tough 

 granite. Hard brittle stone is more readily 

 reduced by pressure, but in a well-kept 

 road this difference is not important. It 

 is, however, all important that the stones 

 should be broken small. The largest 



should easily pass through a two-inch 

 ring, and if one-half of them are small 

 enough to pass through a ring of only 

 one inch diameter, the road will ultimately 

 become all the more compact. 



The road bed should be filled with this 

 broken stone to a level with the sides, 

 increasing in depth toward the centre at 

 the rate of one inch to the yard. Thus, 

 a road sixteen feet in width would have a 

 depth of about nine inches in the centre. 

 The utmost care should be applied to 

 regulating the surface, and the smaller 

 stones should be used on top, in order to 

 secure an even, compact, carefully-molded 

 grade, which should be compressed by 

 repeatedly passing a heavy roller over it, 

 wedging every stone, and making the 

 surface almost as smooth and solid as a 

 pavement. A thin layer, not more than 

 one inch in thickness, of fine clayey 

 gravel should then be evenly distributed 

 over the stones, and the roller again 

 applied until the surface becomes homo- 

 geneous, firm, and close. 



The surface of the road will thus be 

 higher than the sodded edges, water will 

 therefore pass readily from it, and one of 

 the main points of keeping a good road 

 will be secured. This will iorm a first- 

 class road for ordinary carriage drives, or 

 for all purposes required in public parks 

 or private grounds ; and, if kept in good 

 surface by frequent rolling, so as to pre- 

 vent the forming of ruts while it is 

 settling; and, if a facing of gravel is 

 applied when necessary, it will perma- 

 nently fulfill all requirements of a good 

 road. 



The quality of gravel deserves notice. 

 "Wash gravel, consisting only of sand 

 and rounded pebbles, should never be 

 used. No amount of pressure will render 

 it firm, and it is the most disagreeable 

 material to walk upon. The best gravel 

 is that to be found in banks composed of 

 pebbles mixed with reddish clay; and 

 the stones must be small. No detail in 

 road-making is of so much importance 

 as this. If a wagon wheel or the foot of 

 a horse press on one extremity of a stone 

 the other end of it will probably be 

 slightly raised, allowing small particles of 

 sand to fall into the crevice, when the 

 stone is loosened, and will roll on the 

 surface ; hence the necessity of using only 

 very finely divided stones on top, so that 



