62 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



one-fourth the cost per mile of the Brooldine roads, while the 

 material is no better and the travel quite as destructive as in 

 Brookline. 



The superintendent of roads in "Waltham describes the 

 method so successfully adopted in that town as follows : — 



*' The town ow^ns three good horses, with carts, snow-])loughs, 

 tools, &c., valued at the time the statement was made at $1,200. A 

 competent person is appointed to take charge of the work, hereto- 

 fore at a salary of 8600 a year. His duty is to manage the teams, 

 direct the men, &c. There have been usually employed eight men 

 in the summer months and six during the winter, at wages varying 

 from ^1 to 81.12^ in summer, and 60 to 75 cents in winter. Most 

 of the time in winter is spent in digging gravel, preparing it for 

 use, and drawing it to places of easy access, so that during the 

 summer season a street or way can be speedily and neatly repaired. 

 The preparation of gravel in winter I consider a very important 

 feature in our success. During the short days of winter the work- 

 men can excavate and prej^are more road material than during the 

 hot days of summer, and the stuif is ready for instant use, so that a 

 spot needing repair can be mended before it becomes very bad from 

 continued wear. In early spring, as soon as the frost is fairly out 

 of the ground, the workmen go over the road Avith picks and hoes, 

 filling ruts, cleaning out drains and water-courses, and picking off 

 the loose stones. Any bad spot is noted, and as soon thereafter as 

 practicable such a spot is mended. From April to December, at 

 intervals of about six weeks, the workmen pass over all the roads 

 and streets, and pick up and remove all the loose stones and i-ub- 

 bish found thereon. During the very hot weeks of summer it is so 

 managed as to employ the men aboixt culverts or other similar 

 work?, so as to relieve them from the very severe labor incident to 

 other work connected with the dejjartmcnt." 



It will be noticed that this plan insures a constant oversight 

 over all the roads, and this, after the roads arc once properly 

 constructed, is unquestionably the best' economy, and costs less, 

 in a series of years, than that of semi-annual repairs. It is 

 the only way, in fact, by which a road can be kept constantly 

 in good condition. 



Now after all, as I stated, the plans which I have suggested 

 arc what might be called only half-way measures, which might 

 be adopted as modifications of the present system, with the un- 



