THE GENESEE FARMER. 



119 



EEiXECTIONS ON POOE ROADS.— No. 2. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer : — The hurry of business, 

 and the "vexation of spirit" for the last three, 

 montlis, must be my apology for delaying No. 2 to 

 this late day. I will now take No. 1 for my text, 

 (September number,) and proceed, as ministers say, 

 as I may have ability. 



First, Too much plowing and heairing up. Now, 

 as we look and compare closely, we see plainly that 

 the amount of ruts and mud in the road is not in 

 the depth of the ditches, but in the quality of the 

 soil of whi-ch the surface of the road is composed, 

 it is indispensable, to be sure, to have ditches on 

 each side, not only to carry off the water, but for 

 other uses that I will explam hereafter : but they 

 should not be more than twelve or fifteen inches 

 lower than the top of the road at tlie center, unless 

 it is through a hill, where it is proper to connect 

 the water on each side of the hill, to let it pass off. 

 It astonishes me to observe how long the error of 

 digging so deep and so steep has been practiced, 

 and how heedless the great mass seem to be on the 

 thing even yet. The roads in our level or rolling 

 Western New York are no exception from this folly. 

 Now, the two great objects of a highway are, to go 

 unobstructed from place to place, and to do so with 

 safety and comfort; but, as roads are now made 

 and "kept in order," we are deprived of both, 

 "Who feels safe in driving along a team at night, 

 with a load of hay, for instance, where the track 

 of the roadway is only twelve or fourteen feet wide, 

 the ditches two or three feet deep, and the offset 

 nearly perpendicular, when he may meet another 

 team with the same kind of load or some other, 

 which might, and often does happen ? What would 

 you do? Try it before you answer. A volume 

 might be written on the loss of property in our 

 country, from this unpardonable stupidity in the 

 construction and management of roads, the anxiety 

 and fear we undergo, especially if we happen to be 

 •caught out after dark, to say nothing about broken 

 limbs or broken heads, the great bulk of which has 

 been caused by the want of system in this all impor- 

 tant matter. So much for the first part of the text. 

 Second, Too little care in constructing water- 

 courses across the road. On this point, I would 

 say tliat the permanency and durability of a road 

 depends, in a great measure, on the manner of 

 carrying off the water. All should be carried off^ 

 as well from the center as from the outside. Let 

 it run freely, both ways, into the ditches ; thence 

 to the lowest point, where it must unite by a sluice 

 across the road, and then depart. A mode is laid 

 down in No. 1. Be sure and have a stone or plank 

 floor placed, together with the sluice, (in all small 

 ones, at least,) entirely below the reach of frost. 

 The water will find its way through, if it w down 

 deep. 



Third, Not precision or mechanism enough in the 

 general features of them. The center of tiie road, 

 as said in No. 1, should be one foot or more above 

 the bottom of the ditches, with a convex surface 

 from ditch to ditch, tweaty-four feet, precisely in 

 the middle of the survey. These ditches should be 

 made with a regular concave surface, and wide 

 enough to admit a team and sleigh to pass along 

 comfortably in them. Particular care should be 

 taken to keep them clear .from all obstructiong at 

 sil times of the year, so that the water will pass off 



freely, and permit a sleigh to pass freely when the 

 snow is blown from the center of the road. 



A few words on the shape of roads at present, 

 and I am done. Let any one that thinlcs once a 

 day, take a look as he travels ten miles. He will 

 see that the track is sometimes close to one fence — 

 perhaps only room for such a ditch as he would cut 

 to put drain tile in, — then off to the other side, as 

 though to accommodate a drunken man — in many 

 places not more than ten or twelve feet wide, two or 

 three feet to the bottom of the ditch, and that right 

 up and down — the bank next the ditch always higher 

 than the track — the ruts "hub deep" and full of 

 mud, and nowhere tor it to escape except to dry up 

 or soak away — the crossways made of cobbles and 

 plank ten feet long — when he goes on a dry hill, 

 finds the ruts well stored with cobbles. Oh, the 

 safety and comfort in this "refined age!" The 

 more I reflect on it, the more I am convinced of 

 the importance of devoting the time (after getting 

 the roads in the proper shape) to gravelling. Draw 

 gravel, and make the track hard and rounding; 

 keep the middle the highest, so that the water will 

 run oft'. If a deep rut occurs, have it the duty of 

 some one to fill it up directly, and prevent it from 

 becoming a mud hole, which always grows worse 

 day by day. 



The reader of this may think that I am greatly 

 exercised on this subject. So I am, every time I 

 attempt to ride ; and let any one who has not tried 

 it, start out and try a fifty mile ride in a trough 

 road full of ruts, stones, and mud, and he will be 

 exercised too. joel doughton. 



AdamU Basin, 2f. Y., JarCy, 1658. 



FANCIED FACTS. -No. 1. 



Economy. — When I see a man plowing for corn, 

 six or seven inches deep, where the clover has failed 

 from neglect to plaster, early and late pasturing, or 

 is bound out with June grass ; or, what is worse, 

 where no clover has been sown at all ; I fancy that 

 lie is paying a dear price for corn. And then, late 

 in the fall, after the corn is got out of the way, 

 when the same ground is sown with wheat, I fancy 

 that a light harvest will be his reward. 



The fact but proves the fancy true, 

 As all such crops will plainly shew. 



If my friend thinks of sowing wheat then and 

 there, for the sake of a chance to seed to clover, 

 (which is the usual excuse for such mal-practice,) 

 I fancy it would savor more of economy to save his 

 seed wheat, and sow his clover with some other 

 crop, in the spring, with manure if possible; and if 

 not, then on early sown buckwheat, which, if it 

 fails to fill so as to be worth cutting, may be left on 

 the ground to rot. 



I fancy, too, tliat it would be no mis-economy for 

 my friend to take the Genesee Farmer, and read it, 

 and then thinh and dig., deep and thorough, and 

 less of the surface; and that he might thus reap 

 more grain from less ground, more profit from 

 better stock, and find himself in possession of a 

 swelling purse and an enlarging mind. 



When a farmer sells his crop for a high price, 

 and has money for which he has no immediate use, 

 and by paying which he can obtain credit for the 

 remainder of a proportionally high price for more 

 land, showy buildings, fast horses, or fine carriages, 



