83 



mate, the problem here is not so much the providing of 

 roads with the fine level surfaces such as are familiar to 

 those who have travelled in Europe, but rather the sup- 

 pression of bad parts, of holes, "lagunas," "pantanos," 



The bad state of the roads herte depends more 



on the weather than on the amount of traffic, although 



the condition of the traffic here does not tend towards 



facilitating good road surfaces, due to the enormous 



weights which it has to stand. Yet if heavy traffic is 



forced to be the rule, the need is more apparent than 



^ever for a good surface, at least in the bad parts. Again, 



if this heavy traffic is obligatory during a short time of 



the year, as it is immediately after the harvesting, it 



greatly impedes any improvement ; it adds to the cost 



<of maintenance without any corresponding permanent 



result. 



By regulating the traffic, the work of improving 

 the roads is much lightened, and since better roads im- 

 ply lessened costs of transport, every means towards 

 this end puts more money in the pocket of the farmer. 

 At present it is beyond the farmer to undertake the 

 moving of his crop by himself. He does not possess more 

 than the lightest of wagons, and with these, unless facili- 

 ties are existent for rapid unloading, he would lose far 

 too much time at every journey, even if he went him- 

 self. 



ROADS AS ADJUNCTS TO RAILWAYS. 



Elevators at the stations have greatly contributed 

 to the farmer using his own wagons in the United States 

 "where the road conditions are in parts very similar to 

 those common here in the camp; there the farmer finds 

 it more economical to fill in his time and that of his 

 peon by carting his own cereals to the station, even if 

 iie has to make considerably more journeys than would 

 be necessary if he handed the job over to the profes- 

 sional carter . The huge wheels of the * ' cfiata ' ' are not 

 necessarily destructive, for in truth the destructive ef- 

 fect of wheels on good macadam roads is greater as the 

 diameter decreases, but the use of lighter wagons and 

 the fact that in the majority of the cases the farmer is 

 himself the first victim of his own bad system, helps to 

 keep the roads in better repair, and since the farmer 

 is generally the first to appreciate any advantages 



