132 



NEW ENGLAND FARRIER. 



INIarciv 



fall will carry off the water into side ditches, 

 which should always be kept open deep enough 

 thoroughly to drain the road. 



Bad Surface Material. 



One of the best authorities on Road Build- 

 ing has said that he cares nothing about what 

 is the foundation of a road, so that it be dry 

 and properly covered with surface material. 

 For common country roads, any soil or sand, 

 if well drained, is a sufficient foundation, if 

 there be one foot of good gravel or stone at 

 the top. Stones of various sizes, as usually 

 picked up, should never be put into a road. 

 They have a constant tendency to work up- 

 ward, especially under the action of frost. 

 Good coarse screened gravel is excellent, 

 where obtainable. It is essential that it be 

 screened, otherwise it will wear unequally, the 

 larger stones washing to the surface and lying 

 loose upon it. Where good gravel cannot be 

 obtained, stone broken by a machine, to the 

 size of common macadamizing stone is the best 

 substitute. 



A recently invented machine, in use in Wal- 

 tham and Cambridge, will thus break a ton of 

 common paving stones in an hour. In the 

 larger towns such a machine would be economi- 

 cal. Roads covered with such material are 

 nearly as hard and smooth as dressed granite. 



More has been expended within ten years 

 on many highways in Middlesex County, than 

 it would cost llius to cover them, and no per- 

 manent improvement has been made. 

 The Practical Keraedy. 



Since so much skill is required to maintain 

 good roads, the first step towards improvement 

 is to abolish the whole system of working out 

 taxes and of district surveyors, and to employ 

 a town agent whose position shall be per- 

 manent, and who shall make it his constant 

 and only business to maintain the roads of 

 the town in good condition. Let the town 

 own oxen or horses, carts and other imple- 

 ments, and let the agent employ, by the 

 month or day, the necessary help. This plan 

 is in operation in Waltham and Brookline and 

 other townt, and it is found that the roads are 

 greatly improved, and the cost is much dimin- 

 ished under this system. Let any of our read- 

 ers ask himself what course he would adopt if 

 he were obliged to keep in repair all the roads 

 in his town. Would he go to a town meeting 

 and ask the voters to elect a surveyor for each 



district each year, or would he select an active' 

 judicious agent who should give his constant 

 attention to the business ? Would he let every 

 man who chose, work on the road at the highest 

 day-labor price, or would he select afew hands 

 best adapted to the work ? 



We trust the towns of New England will 

 seriously consider whether they may not very 

 much imj)rove their highways, and save a 

 large part of their highway taxes, by adopting 

 the system which we have suggested. 



CORN BAR]\T— DRAINING A GARDEN. 



I am preparins to Imild a corn barn. I wish tc 

 iuquire which two of tlie four points of compass 

 you would have the optn crib for drying corn ? 



What do you think of draining a garden where 

 the soil is a wet, heavy, dark loam, and the 

 subsoil a very hard blue pan. After digging about 

 eighteen inches, I have to jjick it all up. I com- 

 menced my garden this fall, by digging al)0ut threa 

 feet deep and eighteen inches wide, and filling in 

 with stones up to wiihin sixteen inches of the top. 

 The ditches are about three rods apart, j. v. a. 



West Concord, N. H., 1868. 



Remarks. — Leave the open spaces in }our 

 corn crib on the sides least exposed to driving 

 winds. This will depend upon the location of 

 the building. Generally, the northwest winds 

 are the driving ones, that would send rain and 

 snow in among the com. This is not always 

 the case, because the peculiar location mav 

 shelter the side exposed to the northwest, and 

 leave others open. 



You cannot do a better work than to drain 

 such a garden as you describe. AVhy ? Be- 

 cause, — 



1. You can work it afterwards with about 

 one-half the labor. 



2. Because you will lengthen the growing 

 season from two to four weeks. 



3. Because draining will make the soil more 

 dry in wet weather, and more wet in dry 

 weather, or in a drought. 



4. Because it will warm the soil. 



5. Because it will improve the whole texture 

 of the soil, making it light and porous, instead 

 of being hard, and dry, and crusty on the sur- 

 face. 



6. Becatise draining manures the soil, as 

 well as warms and waters it. 



7. Because it deepens the soil and makes a 

 6ne bed for the roots of plants to run in at 

 will. 



8. Because draining prepares the so!l to re- 

 ceive manures from the air, such as ainmonia 



