SUBURBAN AND COUNTRY ROADS. 51 



ably than to retain grades, in places, so heavy that a team is unable 

 to haul more than half, or perhaps one-quarter, the load it can on 

 all the remainder of it. Roads which are steep in the line of their 

 axis are not only more severe on teams, but they are dangerous, 

 and much more expensive to keep in repair."* 



' ' The useful deduction from experiments and from practical 

 experience is, that for a well-made road, with a hard and compact 

 surface, the inclination ought not to exceed one in thirty, and for 

 ordinary gravel roads one in twenty. f 



' ' In treating of roads it often renders the subject much clearer 

 to divide them into three classes : first, second, and third class 

 roads, or, as we might also say, state, county, and town roads. 

 Accepting this nomenclature, we have this : for first-class or state 

 roads, the greatest inclination should not exceed from three to five 

 in a hundred ; second class or county roads, from five to seven in 

 a hundred ; third class or town roads, from seven to ten in a hun- 

 dred. A road rising ten in a hundred is not supposed ever to have 

 any heavy teams upon it. In ascending a hill it is well and proper 

 to decrease the grade as the top is reached, and in the same meas- 

 ure as the horses get tired."]: 



The transverse grade of the road-bed, or its cross-section, should 

 form an arc of a circle of about ninety feet radius. In other words 

 it should be just suflEicient to allow the rain-fall to run off at the 

 sides. If the inclination at the sides is greater, the travel will con- 

 stantly seek the centre, to the gradual injury of the superstructure 

 of the road-bed. 



The laying out of a road, both as to its direction and necessary 

 width, requires the best engineering skill. As a general rule, the 

 first should be as direct as possible from one given point to another, 

 the chief object in view being to carry the most in a given space, at 

 the least expense of either time or money. This rule is especially 

 applicable to all suburban roads and to those which may be classi- 

 fied as state or county roads. 



Under the term width, should be included that between the fences 

 or boundaries, and the width of the road-bed itself. Too great a 

 width of the latter is not desirable, as the cost of maintaining it is 

 much increased ; and it is far better to have a good road-bed of suf- 



* Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Agriculture for 1868, p. 358. 

 t Third Prize Essay, Mass. Agricultural Report, 1869-70, p. 289. 

 t First Prize Essay, Mass. Agricultural Report, 1869-70, p. 209. 



