1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEIklER. 



273 



ahead again, the difference in its flxvor, as well 

 marked and as striking as that caused by the 

 phosphate, in the barley. The clover was 

 thickest, tallest and heaviest. The second 

 crop of clover showed the same result in fiivor 

 of the bone. As some good farmers consider 

 it bad policy to cut the second crop of clover, 

 I eased my conscience by treating the ground 

 to a coating of well-rotted manure, in the fall, 

 directly after mowing. Now if that bone lets 

 go and don't "hoe its row out," in the forth- 

 coming crop of timothy, I trust I may live to 

 report it. 



"Do beans mixF" was a question asked in 

 the Fahjier, some three weeks since. Most 

 assuredly, they do. I have mixed them sev- 

 eral times by dropping alternate colors in same 

 drill. The Horticultural and Indian Chief or 

 Wax Bean will mis "with a perfect looseness," 

 on every chance they can get, with poles four 

 feet apart. 



What fertilizer shall I apply to land that 

 was heavily cropped with Swedes, the last 

 season, to render a good crop of beans proba- 

 ble ? Corn will not follow ruta bagas. 



J. B. Howe. 



Petersham, Mass., March 20, 1868. 



Remarks. — Accompanying the foregoing 

 were specimens of the crossing of the buff 

 and dwaif Horticultural Bean, showing a curi- 

 ous mixture and blending of colors, including 

 considerable dark red and white, neither of 

 which appear on the parent beans. We sup- 

 pose it is generally understood that beans are 

 very liable to mix. Who can satisfactorily 

 answer the last question? 



Ji'or the New England Farmer, 

 CONSTKUCTION" AliTD BEPAIR OF 

 ROADS. 



The following essay by Elijah Wood, Esq. of Con- 

 cord, Mass , though written with reference to the 

 roads of that town, and read before its Farmers' Cub, 

 contains principles and suggestions that are equally 

 applicable to other sections. 



To ride over a good road is an enjoyment 

 which everybody appreciates, who has suffered 

 the discomfort ^ of traveling on a bad one ; 

 and it is very surprising that peojile that have 

 the means should not make a greater effort to 

 improve them. If a road is once built well, it 

 will need but very little repairing for a long 

 time, unless injured by heavy rains, or spring 

 freshets. Our common roads are hardly ever 

 made with much care ; often being merely 

 plowed, and the soil and poorest sand from 

 the sides thrown over the centre, for the road- 

 bed. 



The idea should be kept constantly in mind, 

 that the best built roads are the cheapest in 

 the end, for a number of reasons : — the thor- 

 oughly made one costs but a trifle more ; the 



repairs are of small amount; much heavier 

 loads can be drawn with the same team ; much 

 wear and tear of teams and carriages are 

 saved, and much perplexity and hard language 

 from drivers avoided. 



In what I have to say on this subject, I shall 

 confine myself mainly to the form, the mate- 

 rials, and repairs. 



Roads that are much frequented, or near 

 large cities and towns, should not be less than 

 thirty, and sometimes forty feet in width, 

 with a side-walk of from five to eight feet, 

 for foot travel ; the exact width to be deter- 

 mined by the nature and extent of the traffic, 

 as every road should be sufficiently broad to 

 admit of the largest sized carriages which are 

 used upon it to pass each other conveniently. 

 There are many places where roads of twenty 

 feet in breadth would suit thepublic convenience 

 as well as if they were twice as broad. Now 

 if a road is made one rod wider than is actu- 

 ally necessary, th^re is a loss of two acres in 

 a mile. Still there is a serious objection to a 

 narrow road in latitudes subject to heavy 

 snows, for they are much more likely to be 

 drifted, and therefore the expense of keeping 

 them open in winter comes quite heavy on 

 the districts. Narrow roads, too, are almost 

 always in bad condition in the spring, which is 

 to be accounted for, from the circumstance 

 that all the carriages are obliged to go in the 

 same place ; whereas, if the road yas wide, 

 the teams would endeavor to keep away from 

 the ruts, and therefore the track would be 

 more evenly worn. 



With respect to the shape of the surface of 

 the road, every body agrees that it should be 

 crowned ; but people differ as to the degree 

 of convexity. The proper convexity is to be 

 varied by different circumstances : — First, by 

 the different material of which it is formed, — 

 soft materials being most likely to be worn 

 into ruts and hollows, require to be laid 

 more crowning, from their liability to wash, 

 than hard materials. Secondly, it must be 

 made more convex up a steep hill, as the fall- 

 ing water has a tendency down the track as 

 well as towards the sides, and following the 

 slightest impressions of wheels often wears 

 channels from the top to the bottom of the 

 hill. This may be avoided by bars, or water 

 tables, across the road, made of the best ma- 

 terial. These should be large and broad, ac- 

 cording to the width of the road and steepness 

 of hill, and at right angles to it, with their 

 sides gently sloping, to occasion as little ob- 

 struction to carriages as possible. 



The best material for a road surface is 

 broken stone, one and one-half or two inches 

 in diameter, covered with a layer of gravel ; 

 but as this process is expensive, we cannot 

 afford the cost in districts thinly populated, 

 and are obliged to use the material at hand, — 

 sand, gravel, clay, loam, road-wash, — and do 

 use them, without considering their utility or 

 economy in the long rim. Concord is very 



