ROAD MAKING. 



507 



ROAD MAKING. 



We have been permitted to make some extracts, in advance of publication, 

 from " A Mamial of Road Making," by Professor Gillespie of Union College, 

 wJiich is to be published early in May by A. S. Barnes k, Co. of tliis City. 



From the " Introduction" we take some exemplilications of the great differ- 

 ences in economy, Sec, between a good road and a bad one, as affecting the 

 profits of Agriculture, and the gain to farmers in their improvement. 



One important difference lies in the s^radea 

 or longitudinal slopes of a road. Suppose that 

 a road rises a hundred feel in the distance of 

 two thousand feet. Its a.'iccnding slope is then 

 one in twenty, and (as will be hereafter proven) 

 one-twentieth of the whole load drawn over it 

 in one direction, mu.it be actually lifted up this 

 entire hight of one hundred feet. But upon 

 such a slope a hor.se can draw only one-half as 

 much as he can upon a level road, and t\vo 

 horses will be needed upon such a road to do 

 the asual work of one. If the road be intrusted 

 to the care of a skillful engineer, and be made 

 level by going round hills instead of over them, 

 or in any other way, there will be a saving of 

 one-half of the former expense of can-iage 

 on it. 



Another great difference in roads lies in the 

 nature of their xurfaces ; one being hard and 

 smooth, and another soft and uneven. On a 

 well-made road of broken stone, a horse can 

 draw llnTe (i7nrs as much as he can upon a 

 gravel road. By making, then, such a road as 

 the former (according to the instructions in 

 Chapter IV.) in the place of the latter, the ex- 

 penses of transportation will be reduced to one- 

 third of their former amount, so that two-thirds 

 will be completely saved, and two out of three 

 of all the horses formerly employed can then 

 be dispen-sed with.* If such an improvement 

 can be made for a sum of money the interest 

 of which will be less than the total amount of 

 the annual saving of labor, it will be true econ- 

 omy to make it, however greijt the original out- 

 lay ; for the decision of all such questions de- 

 pends on considerations of comparative profit. 

 This part of the subject will be more minutely 

 examined at the end of Chapter I., in consider- 

 ing " What roads oiicrht to he ag to their coxt." 



The profits of such improvements are not con- 

 fined to the proprietors of a road, (whether 

 towns or companies remunerated for these ex- 

 penditures by tolls,) but are shared by all who 

 avail themselves of the increased facilities; 

 consumers and producers, as well as road-own- 

 ers. If wheat be worth in a city a dollar per 

 bushel, and if it cost 25 cents to tran.sport it 



thither from a certain farming district, it will 

 there neces.iarily command only T.^ cents. If, 

 now, by improved roads, the cost of carriage is 

 reduced to 10 cents, the surplus l.l cents on 

 each bushel is so much absolute gain to the com- 

 munity, balanced only by the cost of improving 

 the road. Supposing that a toll of 5 cents will 

 pay a fair dividend on this, there remain 10 

 cents per bushel to be divided between the pro- 

 ducer and the consumer, enabling the former to 

 sell his wheat at a higher price than before, 

 while at the same time the latter obtains it at 

 a less cost. 



Among the most remarkable con.sequences of 

 the im[)rovement of roads, is the rapidly in 

 creasing proportion in which their benefits ex- 

 tend an<i radiate in every direction, as impar- 

 tially and benignantly as the similarly-diverging 

 rays of the sun. Around every town or mar- 

 ket place we may conceive a number of con- 

 centric circles to be drawn, enclosing areas from 

 any part of which certain kinds of produce 

 may be profitably taken to the town, while 

 from any point beyond each circumference, the 

 expense of the carriage of the particular article 

 would exceed its value. Thus the inner circle, 

 at the center of which is the town, may show 

 the limit in every direction from beyond which 

 perishable vegetables, or articles very bulky or 

 heavy in proportion to their value, cannot be 

 profitably brought to market ; the next larger 

 circle may show the limit of fruits ; and so on. 

 If, now, the roads are improved in any way. so 

 as in any degree to lessen the expense of car- 

 riage, the radius of each circle is correspond- 

 ingly increa.sed, and the area of each is enlarged 

 as the square of this ratio of increase. Thus, 

 if the improvement enables a horse to draw 

 twice as much or to travel twice as fast as he 

 did before, each of the limiting circles is ex- 

 panded outward to twice its former radius, and 

 embraces four times its former area. If the 

 rate of imjjrovement be threefold, the increase 

 of area is mnefold. ; and so on. All the pro- 

 duce, industry and wealth, which by these im- 

 provements finds, for the first time, a market, is, 

 as it were, a new creation. 



The greater importance to farmers of common roads — the people's high- 

 ways — than the most perfect railroads, is shown in our next extract. 



The distinguishing characteristic of a modern is the projecting flanges of the wheels of its 

 railroad, as compared with a " tram-road," and carriages, by which they are retained upon the 

 that to which its peculiar power is chiefly due, raihs. But this peculiarity, in an equal degree, 



* In the abscDce of such an improvement, when the Spanish Oovernmnnt required a supply of grain to 

 be transferred from Old Castile tn Miulrid, rin.OOO hoiscs and mules were necessary for the iransportation 

 of 480 tons of wheat. Upon a broken stone road of the best sort, one-hundredth of that number could 

 eaaily have done the work. 

 (1027) 



