142 AGRICULTURAL ENGINEERING 



Benefits of Good Roads. The benefits of good roads to 

 agriculture are far-reaching and are worthy of careful and 

 extended study. The benefits are largely financial in char- 

 acter, and so the value of good roads may be estimated in 

 dollars and cents. There are other benefits which may be 

 styled social, and are those which tend to add to the comforts 

 of country life. 



FINANCIAL BENEFITS 



Cost of Transportation. The most important and funda- 

 mental benefit to be derived from a system of good roads lies 

 in the reduction of the cost of transportation of farm and 

 other products which must be hauled over them. 



Referring to Bulletin 49 of the United States Office of 

 Public Roads, it is found that during the crop year of 1905 

 and 1906 there were 42,743,500 tons of farm products, con- 

 sisting of barley, corn, cotton, flax seed, hemp, hops, oats, 

 peanuts, rice, tobacco, wheat, and hay, hauled over the 

 roads from the farms to the shipping points. This estimate 

 does not include the transportation of products from the 

 town back to the farm, nor does it include live stock, truck- 

 farm products, and fruit. A careful investigation by the 

 Office of Public Roads indicates that the present cost of 

 transportation is about 25 cents per ton mile, that is, the 

 cost of hauling one ton one mile. If a small saving could be 

 secured in this cost of transportation per ton mile, the aggre- 

 gate saving for a year would be enormous. 



With a system of good roads it is possible to make a great 

 reduction in this cost of transportation. The cost varies 

 with the kind of road. The investigation shows that over 

 broken-stone roads in good order the cost is only 8 cents per 

 ton; on broken-stone roads in ordinary condition, the cost is 

 11.09 cents; on earth roads, with ruts and mud, the cost is 



