372 PRODUCTIVE FARMING 



are farmers, and if they have bad roads to contend with dur- 

 ing the large portion of the year or during any portion 

 they are often isolated and lonely. They are cut off from 

 communication with neighbors. Children cannot attend 

 school regularly. Rural mail carriers are often forced to 

 abandon their trips. Profits are lost on produce that should 

 be marketed, but cannot be hauled. 



Reasons for Good Roads. The success of consolidated 

 schools, rural delivery of mail, rural churches, and the ques- 

 tion of hauling produce to market are probably the most 

 important things from the point of view of the farmer. But 

 good roads may mean quite as much to city dwellers, as they 

 depend upon farm produce which is often hauled to the city 

 markets. If not actually hauled to the city where consumed, 

 it is somewhere hauled to the train which takes it to the city. 

 In the peach-growing districts of New Jersey heavy loads of 

 peaches are started at night and hauled by wagon to the large 

 city markets, thirty or forty miles distant. This would not 

 be possible except for the fine macadam roads. 



Kinds of Roads. Improved roads are of various kinds, 

 one type generally being found hi a certain section of the 

 country. 



In California, for example, there is much concrete road. 

 One may travel for hundreds of miles on roads which are 

 made exactly like the cement sidewalks now so familiar in all 

 towns and cities. 



In Tennessee, and in other limestone regions, the roads 

 are macadam, or "stone roads." Many miles of the famous 

 "Dixie Highway" are thus constructed. 



In regions where gravel is abundant it is used as the basis 

 of the road improvement. 



Hundreds of miles of roads are graded and drained, then 

 are covered with clay loam free from vegetation. In Georgia, 

 Florida and elsewhere such are called top=soil roads. When 

 well dragged and rolled they are very durable. 



