258 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



and we are glad to say of one or two towns in this vicinity, — build 

 them, scarcely shows the effect of " the frost coming out of the 

 ground " in the spring, or of the early freezing in the fall ; and in 

 subsequent expense it is by far the cheapest. The traditional high- 

 way surveyor expects to find his roads badly cut up by the spring 

 travel, and repairs the damage at a heavy cost to his neighbors ; 

 the regular road maker provides a highway which is never cut up 

 while ordinary care is taken of it. 



The experience of the one or two towns to which we have re- 

 ferred, — of which Waltham is the best example, — has shown that 

 in the matter of annual expenditui-e, as a mere method of economy 

 to the town treasury, it is cheaper to have roads well built, and then 

 to keep them in high condition, than to undertake the annual re- 

 pairs which are so familiar throughout New England. That is, it 

 is cheaper to have a few men to watch for the beginnings of any 

 wear upon the roads, and to mend a defect when it first appears, 

 than it is to wait until the trouble becomes serious, and then set a 

 large force at work. One man, with a shovelful of broken stone, 

 can prevent what it may require half a dozen, with a team, to cure 

 after a few months' neglect. 



But the heaviest part of our highway tax is no doubt that which 

 is levied upon us by the destruction of horseflesh, the impeding of 

 public travel, the wear of vehicles, and the increased cost of trans- 

 portation over our poor roads. This is a tax which, without any 

 assessor or collector, is inexorably exacted from every barrel of 

 flour, every bag of grain, every box of goods, and every person, 

 passing over our travelled roads. As it is levied indirectly, and 

 more than all, as we have always paid it, nobody thinks of it. But 

 it is one of the heaviest burdens resting on the people of Massa- 

 chusetts and of New England, borne by those who rank among the 

 most thrifty and progressive jDCople on earth, and who, nevertheless, 

 in this every-day matter, are demonstrably rather more than two 

 thousand years behind the world. 



EXTRACTS 



From a Report of the Committee on the Appointment of Road Engineer, to the 

 Town Meeting in Newton, held May 3, 1869. 



Your Committee consider that the question of the employment 

 of a road engineer largely involves the question whether the roads 

 of the town of Newton shall continue to be repaired in the old-fash- 



