KEEPING ROADS IN REPAIR. 233 



should be the same as the rough paving for the macadam road ; 

 some pieces were built in the Central Park, having a rubble 

 stone foundation but they are not recommended by their build- 

 ers. The gravel to be used for the top must be selected witli 

 some care ; it should be of a hard kind of stone, clean, that is, 

 free from clay, &c., of the right color, <fec. It is put on in two 

 layers, each rolled, and the top one made compact and firm, by 

 spreading and mixing in some good binding material, sprinkling 

 and rolling. There need be no fear of making a poor road by 

 using the smoothest, most water- worn pebbles, free from all sand, 

 &c., in making a road-top. The upper portions of the river 

 Rhine are remarkable for the clean, smooth pebbles that form 

 its bed to a very great depth. These pebbles are dredged up 

 and used in road-building, making an excellent road-covering at 

 a small expense. There are many miles of such roads in Baden 

 and in the Bavarian Rhine Provinces. 



Keeping Roads in Repair. — This subject properly finds its 

 place here, being a matter of skill and a thing of debate only in 

 the case of what we have called foundation roads ; pavements 

 and trackway roads, to be considered after this, need no special 

 directions as regards their repair or maintenance. 



After a road has been properly rolled, and the surface made 

 compact and smooth, it should always be maintained in that 

 condition, no matter how great is the amount of travel on it. 

 " A stitch in time saves nine," here as well as elsewhere. The 

 tendency is to produce ruts ; these gather water ; this soaks up 

 the road-bed and spoils the whole. The problem can be put in 

 this way : To have a good road, it is necessary that there be no 

 dust or mud on the same, and that there be no ruts ; therefore 

 remove the dust and mud as fast as they are formed, and fill up 

 the ruts as fast as they are made. The whole matter is here in 

 a nut-shell. It may be thought, at Uie first view, that this is too 

 expensive a system. Its principal beauty lies, however, in the 

 fact that it costs less per mile of road kept one year than the 

 pernicious system of annual or semi-annual repairs, as will be 

 shown and proved. The above two rules — sweep off the mud 

 and dust as fast as they are formed, and fill up the ruts and 

 bad places with new material as fast as they appear — are all 

 that is necessary to be carried out in order that there be contin- 

 ually a good road. Without continual repairs, there can be no 



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