MARK THE DIFFERENCE. 261 



imparts a fresh zest of life. But to come back again to statistics. 

 MacNeill constructed a machine to test the amount of tractive 

 power required on different roads. This was carefully tested by- 

 many very eminent engineers. Their experiments showed, uni- 

 formly, that the force of traction is, in every case, nearly in exact 

 proportion to the strength and hardness of a^^road. They found that 

 on a i-oad made with a thick coating of gravel, a load, which re- 

 quired the power of one hundred and forty-seven pounds to draw 

 it, could be drawn on a broken stone road with a power of sixty- 

 five pounds ; and on a road of broken stone of gi-eat hardness, laid 

 on a foundation of large stones set in the form of a pavement, the 

 power required to remove the same load was but forty-six pounds ; 

 and this last road effectually resisted frosts. 



On the 6th inst., your Committee visited Waltham, and found the 

 broken stone road there dry and hard. It will sustain loads of six 

 tons without being cut into ruts. Returning, we came down through 

 Waltham street, and, observing the instant of passing from town to 

 town in the changed character of the road, we passed on to New- 

 ton ville over our fine old avenue ! The first road required scarce 

 any mending. The last was cut up with ruts and full of mud, and 

 workmen were dumping gravel four to six inches deep upon it. 

 On the Waltham road it required not more than one-fortieth the 

 weight of the load (say 20 lbs.,) in tractive force to draw it, while 

 on the main road of the good, rich old town of Newton, it would 

 have required one-eighth the weight of the load (100 lbs.,) in trac- 

 tive force to draw it. That this criticism is not especially in the 

 interest of persons driving in light carriages and for pleasure, may 

 be seen from the fact, — as demonstrated by careful and extended 

 experiment, — that resistance to the onward motion of the carriage 

 or cart, arising from roughness of the road, is always in proportion 

 to the weight of the carriage. A double weight will offer double 

 resistance, and a triple weight triple resistance, and so on. In truth 

 the principal objection of some, who have had little or no experience 

 with the broken stone road, is, that it is unfit to drive horses rapidly 

 upon ; such a road improperly made, or imperfectly hardened, is in- 

 deed unsuitable for rapid driving ; but it requires only a journey of 

 three hundred miles * to see millionaires driving the finest trotters 

 in the world, upon roads as smooth as a floor, made entirely of 

 stone. 



Can any measure be more likely to increase the popularity of our 

 town, or add to its population, than to construct roads as solid, 

 smooth and perfect as the nature of the case will admit ? 

 * To the Central Park, New York. 



