ROADS AND ROAD BUILDING 



267 



satisfactory and is certainly discouraging to teamsters who have 

 heavy loads to haul to market. As a rule on dirt roads the grade 

 should not exceed 7 per cent, or a rise of seven feet in every 

 hundred feet of the distance traversed. New Jersey and Con- 

 necticut excel all other States in the matter of the improvement 

 of their roads, and their extensive experience in this work is of 

 inestimable value to States just beginning any public improvement 

 of this kind. In New Jersey the grade ranges from 5 to 7 per 

 cent, while in Connecticut the general standard grade, for State 

 roads, is 5 per cent. It is estimated that an average horse can pull 

 1000 pounds on a level, or a zero grade, 900 pounds on a 1 per 

 cent grade, 810 pounds on a 

 2 per cent grade, 540 pounds 

 on a 4 per cent grade, and so 

 forth. 



In level country, roads may 

 be made to follow the bound- 

 aries of the farm without 

 inconvenience provided the 

 farms are not too large. A 

 good arrangement is where 

 there is a road around every 

 section and quarter section. 

 By this arrangement no one 

 would have to travel more 

 than half a mile to reach the 

 junction of the road he is traveling with the nearest cross 

 road. 



Drainage. Good drainage in many places is of more impor- 

 tance than location. A great deal of money is wasted every 

 year in trying to construct roads without proper drainage. Any 

 method of improving a road by placing upon its surface materials 

 of different kinds, without providing for proper drainage, must of 

 necessity fail. In providing for surface drainage, open ditches on 

 both sides of the road should be made, but in many cases a single 

 ditch, on the lower side of the road, will meet all requirements. 

 Different soils and conditions call for different kinds of ditches, 

 but in no case should they be of extreme depth and width. 



Diagram showing roads around each quarter 

 section. 



