86 



than they are. This would do away with the appalling 

 magnitude of the plans for "caminos" or at least re- 

 duce the cost of acceptable figures, if not bring the 

 whole question down to its real necessities. 



In the wet parts and small "pantanos", a few 

 shovef ulls of earth from a trench alongside at the right 

 moment would reduce to minutes the bad quarter of 

 an hour, and under reasonable conditions this could 

 well be confided to the neighbours, especially if a sim- 

 ple undertaking were given that higher up the road 

 everybody was doing the same. 



The most onerous part of the programme for im- 

 proving our roads lies in-, the bridges and "terraple- 

 nes"; in this respect I should like to suggest that in- 

 stead of crossing above the water, where possible, cross- 

 ing below the water should be adopted. 



Bridges and * ' terraplenes ", except for wide riv- 

 ers and extensive "lagunas", (and these to-day, parti- 

 cularly the rivers, are generally speaking already pro- 

 vided for along the routes of any importance) should 

 be the last resource. With bridges go the * * terraplen ' ' 

 the bugbear of all who travel by road: anything which 

 would minimise the construction of earthworks should 

 have preference. 



FOEDS. 



From my own experience, which many a farmer 

 and carter will confirm, the greatest number of "ar- 

 royos" and the really bad parts of the roads could be 

 made transitable, by laying down a bed of concrete, or 

 of "adoquines", under the water, which would permit 

 the lightest and the heaviest loads passing easily in the 

 worst of times. Even for places with permanently run- 

 ning water, such fords should be a common feature, and 

 in any case, even if they are not so aesthetic as a high 

 and dry road they would prove eminently practical, 

 and above all scarcely cost one tenth of what bridges 

 and "terraplenes'' do, nor would they involve more 

 than a minimum of expenditure for maintenance, al- 

 ways one of the most burdensome items of any road ex- 

 penditure . 



As matters stand at present, even for the most en- 

 terprising farmer or land owner, it appears a well nigh 

 useless task to remedy the part of the road that touch- 

 es his property, when between him and his neighbour 

 he has an unsurmoun table stretch. Since one intran- 



