580 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



mile, equal to two acres of ground, which, at the rate of three pouuds per acre, would, 

 if the road had been once well made, keep half a mile of such read as is here alluded to 

 in good repair. 



3599. The breadth of the road and the width of the metals, according to Paterson, 

 should depend on circumstances different from the former. For a few miles in the 

 vicinity of such cities as London or Edinburgh, the most proper breadth at which a road 

 should he formed, is properly from sixty to seventy feet, and the metals from twenty-five 

 to thirty-five feet. While in the neighbourhood of such towns as Newcastle or Perth, 

 it will be sufficient that it be formed forty feet broad, and that the width of the metals be 

 about eighteen or twenty feet. These are the breadths presumed to be the most eligible 

 in such situations. But rules cannot be given to suit every situation: the breadth ought 

 to be regulated according to the extent of the run of commerce, or traffic, upon the 

 road. As a general rule, however, for public roads over the different counties of Great 

 Britain, he " should suppose the following might, in most cases, be adopted. Take, for 

 instance, the road betwixt Edinburgh and Glasgow, or betwixt Edinburgh and Aber- 

 deen by the way of Dundee. These roads are formed in general from thirty-five 

 to forty' feet wide ; and the breadth of the metals is from fourteen to sixteen feet, for the 

 most part. Such roads as these would be found to answer very well, in general, over 

 the kingdom." A breadth sufficient for the general purposes of country travelling, 

 according to M'Adam, is sixteen feet of solid materials, with six feet on each side 

 formed of slighter materials. The Bristol roads, he says, are made with stone about the 

 width of sixteen feet. 



3600. The increased breadth which is now given to our public roads, according to 

 Stevenson, independently of the safety and convenience of the traffic, is favourable 

 to the more speedy drying of the road by evaporation, and is calculated to render 

 less injurious the rising growth of the hedgerows, and the ultimate erection of 

 buildings along the line. " The highways or great lines of road should, in no 

 instance, be formed of a less breadth than forty feet, and the metal bed not less than 

 eighteen feet broad, with at least one footpath of five feet in breadth along the side ; 

 especially within a few miles of all towns and villages. It would be difficult to 

 give any scale of breadths for public roads, the local circumstances of which vary so 

 much. But, without presuming to be fastidious, we notice, that, within six or eight 

 miles of all large cities or towns, the approaches should not be formed at less than sixty 

 feet between the fences. In such situations the whole breadth should be metalled, 

 or laid with broken stones. In the vicinity of towns of about 50,000 inhabitants, the 

 breadth should be at least fifty feet between the fences, and be in like manner metalled 

 from side to side. Where the population does not exceed 30,000, the statutory breadth 

 of forty feet may be adopted, the metalling being still continued of the whole breadth, 

 with paved side-drains. At intermediate distances, where it is not thought advisable to 

 have the metal of a greater breadth than eighteen feet, the compartments between 

 the metal bed and the side-drains may be laid with gravel or chips of stone to the depth 

 of not less than half the thickness of the central part of the road. In the vicinity of 

 London, and the capitals of Dublin and Edinburgh, and other great towns, as Glasgow, 

 Manchester, Liverpool, &c. it would be desirable that the principal approaches were at 

 least seventy feet in breadth, fully metalled between the side-drains, which ought to 

 be neatly formed, and paved, and the roads provided with a footpath on each side." 

 {Ed. Encyc art. Roads.) 



3601. Narrow roads, it is judiciously observed by Fry, are almost always in bad con- 

 dition, which is to be accounted for from the circumstance of every carriage being 

 obliged to go in the same ruts ; and as each rut is generally only six inches wide, one foot 

 of the road only is worn by the wheels instead of the whole breadth of it; which would 

 be the case if the road were of a proper width, and if it were well constructed. If a 

 road be laid out, from twenty to thirty feet wide, so flat as that a carriage may stand nearly 

 upright on every part of it, and if moderate care be taken by the surveyor to prevent the 

 first formation of ruts, such a road will be worn by the wheels nearly alike on every part 

 of it : provided also that the ground on each side, for at least four or five feet, be mode- 

 rately flat, so as not to excite fear in the drivers of carriages ; but if there be deep 

 ditches close to the sides of the road, or if the circumjacent land fall off very abruptly 

 to the depth of two or three feet, whereby fear of approaching the edges would operate 

 on the minds of the drivers, every driver will instinctively avoid the danger on either 

 hand • and a road so circumstanced will, in spite of any care of the surveyor, inevitably 

 be worn into ruts in the middle. There is a remarkable instance of this kind in a piece 

 of road on Durdham Down, near Bristol. This road is a causeway over a piece of soft 

 ground ; and although it is from twenty to twenty-five feet wide, yet, as the ground falls 

 away abruptly on both sides of it, it has been found impossible, for more than twenty 

 years past, to his knowledge, to prevent deep ruts being formed along the middle of it ; 

 notwithstanding the Down itself consists of hard limestone, and the other roads upon 



