\QQ CALCAREOUS MANURES— PRACTICE. 



vines, and separated from the field to which it is to be carried by a high and 

 steep hill-side. The difficulty of cutting roads in such situations is much 

 less than any inexperienced person would suppose. We cannot get rid of 

 any of the actual elevation— but the ascent may be made as gradual as is 

 desired, by a proper location of the road. The intended course must be 

 laid off by the eye, and the upper side of the road marked. If it passes 

 through woods, it will be necessary to use grubbing hoes for the digging. 

 With these, the digging should be begun at the distance of four or five feet 

 below the marked line, and carried horizontally onward to it. The earth 

 so dug is to be pulled back with broad hoes, and laid over a width of 

 three or four feet below the place from which it was taken. Thus the upper 

 side of the road is formed by cutting down, and the lower side by filling 

 up with the earth taken from above. 





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The annexed figure will prevent these directions being misunderstood. 

 The straight line from a to b represents the original slope of the hill-side, of 

 which the whole figure is a section. The upper end of the dotted part of 

 the line is in the mark for laying off the upjjer side of the road. The up- 

 per triangle is a section of the earth dug out of the hill-side, and the lower 

 triangle of the part filled up by its removal. The horizontal line is the level 

 of the road formed by cutting in on the upper, and filling up on the lower 

 side. After shaping the road roughly, the deficiencies will be seen, and may 

 be corrected in the finishing work, by deepening some places and filling 

 up others, so as to graduate the whole properly. A width of eight or nine 

 feet of firm road will be sufficient for carting marl. 



If the land through which the road is to be cut is not very steep, and is 

 free from trees and roots, the operation may be made much cheaper by 

 using the plough. The first furrow should be run along the line of the 

 lower side of the intended road, and turned down hill; the plough then 

 returns empty, to carry a second furrow by the first. In this manner it 

 proceeds, cutting deeply, and throwing the slices far, (both of which are 

 easily done on a hill-side,) until rather more than the required width is 

 ploughed. The ploughman then begins again over his first furrow, and 

 ploughs the whole over as at first, and this course is repeated perhaps once 

 or twice more, until enough earth is cut from the upper and put on the 

 lower side of the road. After the first ploughing, broad hoes should aid 

 and complete the work, by pulling down the earth from the higher to the 

 lower side, and particularly in those places where the hill-side is steepest. 

 After the proper shape is given, carts, at first empty and then with light 

 loads, should be driven over every part of the surface of the road, until it 

 is firm. If a heavy rain should fall before it has been thus trodden, the 

 road would be rendered useless for a considerable time. 



These directions are mostly suited for greater difficulties than usually oc- 

 cur, though they are such as attended most of my labors in marling. In the 



