THE GENESEE FARMER. 



145 



No. 3 concludes, on the whole, that the road in 

 his district will answer as it is ; and as he is in a 

 hurry with his own work, and does not travel the 

 roady much, he " lets it slide," and does nothing. 



Again, in village districts, there may be assessed 

 two or three hundred days' work on a road say a 

 mile in length ; and, in many back districts, of two 

 or more miles in length, there will be perhaps from 

 ten to forty days assessed. Many districts put off 

 their road work until after they have got through 

 with their summer's farming, and then, in October 

 or November, they will go to work, plowing, 

 scraping, and "muxing up" the surface soil, making 

 a perfect mud-hole until Jack Frost closes it ; and 

 in the spring it is mud, mud, until old Sol dries it 

 ap. On return day, some districts make full re- 

 turns, others partial returns, and others no returns 

 at all ; and so on to the end of the chapter. 



Now this is all -wrong. The law is far behind 

 the times. The manner of assessing the tax is 

 wrong ; the manner of working it out is wrong ; 

 and it is all wrong. I would recommend amend- 

 ing the highway laws so as to do away the district 

 system entirely, and put the supervision of the 

 roads under one commissioner only, who should 

 enter into bonds to his town for the faithful per- 

 formance of his duty, and who should have a com- 

 pensation adequate to the labor which he performs 

 for the public. Instead of a la^or tax, I would 

 have a money tax, to be paid to the commissioner, 

 who should expend it when and where most 

 needed. A money tax of twenty-five or thirty 

 cents on a hundred dollars valuation, properly ex- 

 pended, would do more good in making and repair- 

 ing highways, than all the labor now assessed. 

 The commissioner should have discretionary power 

 to let those who have considerable taxes to pay, 

 pay it in cash or do a specific job on the road at a 

 fair price for their labor. 



It is perfect folly to undertake to make a road >. 

 of surface soil on clayey or mucky land. On such 

 land, a permanent road can be made sooner and 

 cheaper by carting gravel two miles, first covering 

 the bed of the road six inches or a foot deep with 

 small stones, and then covering aU with gravel or 

 sand. 



The law requires that roads should be laid out 

 three rods wide. They are so laid out and re- 

 corded, though but a very small proportion of 

 them are open to that width ; in many places but 

 two rods; and I have seen them but one rod from 

 corner to corner of the crooked rail fence. Such 

 narrow roads are generally obstructed in the win- 

 ter by snow-drifts, when travelers are obliged to 

 take to the fields, throwing down fences, &c., to 

 the great vexation of farmers, who might remedy 

 the evil, in a great measure, by opening the road 

 to its proper width through their premises. 



Noi-th Ahnoncl, N. Y. WM. HOWE. 



There is but one true plan in making a good road 

 through arable land ; and that is, to ridge it well 

 up in the middle, and allow no water to remain on 

 either side. In general, this may be effected with 

 the plow, the harrow, and a road machine or scoop. 

 Some are of the opinion that after the work has 

 progressed so far, it should remain one winter, to 

 allow it to settle and become more compact. In 

 that case, it will most likely be barely passable in 

 the spring, should the frost get in very deep ; but 



it will afterwards be in the right state to receive a 

 good coat of gravel, and that should be of pure grit, 

 and if rather coarse, will wear all the better. After 

 that operation has been properly performed, you 

 are then in a fair way to have a good road, and a 

 little attention will keep it so for a number of 

 years. In a hilly country, cut down the hills and 

 raise up the valleys, as the nearer level a road is, 

 so that the water will run, the better. Where ruts 

 are allowed to form and remain open, of coarse the 

 water will settle ; but where a road is well attended 

 to, there will be no ruts at all, or at least only tem- 

 porarily. 



The road scraper is very serviceable, and should 

 be used much more frequently than ie the case ou 

 some of our roads. x. 



"When my father moved to this place from the 

 east, twenty-seven years ago, this was all a howl- 

 ing wilderness, with here and there a log house. 

 The roads were all in a state of nature, and lay 

 through low, timbered land. The soil was clay, 

 sand, and black loam. There was not a worse road 

 in the town than ours when it was new. The first 

 thing we did was to chop it out four rods wide. 

 We then commenced at one end of the district, 

 and grubbed out the stumps on as long a piece m 

 we could finish that season, plowed it up about 

 two and a half reds wide, and then scraped it up 

 until we got the ditches about eighteen inches or 

 two feet deep. We then let the water all out of 

 the ditches, so that none would stand by the side 

 of the road, and levelled off the road emooth. The 

 next year we would take another piece, and do it 

 up in the same way, until we got it all finished. 

 We not only worked out our road tax, but we gave 

 a good deal beside. We then commenced back and 

 scraped it over again where it needed it, and drew 

 sand upon the clay. Finally, not knowing what 

 else to do, we shoveled out some of the ditches 

 two and a half feet deep, to drain our farms. — 

 We now have the best road of any district in this 

 town ; andj taking everything into consideration, 

 I don't think it can be beaten in this State. 



Bay, Jfaemib Co., Mich. 'C. INMAN. 



In hot weather, all are ready to admit that 

 roads might be .greatly improved by being shaded. 

 How beautiful to travel along the highway im- 

 proved by a row of trees planted along each side, 

 thus forming a narrow lane, along which a gentk 

 current of air is almost constantly passing. Theii 

 many leaves are also in constant motion, like sc 

 many fans of nature, cooling the weary traveler oi. 

 his way. 



The above facts being admitted, th« question will 

 naturally arise, with what kind of trees shall our 

 roads be planted? I would answer, with some 

 kind that would be both ornamental and useful. 

 In old-settlements, where the forests are nearly all 

 cut down, the ma])le, the walnut, the locust, and 

 many others, would be both ornamental and useful. 

 The locust is very useful, being easily cultivated, 

 of rapid growth, and more durable than any other 

 timber for fence posts. But in newer settlements, 

 where the forest is yet in its beauty, fruit trees, 

 planted along the road through the farm, would be 

 more ornamental and useful — such as the apple, 

 the cherry, the plum, the mulberry, and many 

 others. What could be more delightful than tc« 



