278 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



fill up the depressions as soon as formed, keep the ditches open, 

 sharply watch the bridges and culverts, and keep the whole in 

 perfect order. After rains, let him drag his scraper, made of 

 heavy timbers, V shape and shod with iron, over the road-bed 

 to fill up the ruts, cart on the deficiencies in material, and fol- 

 low with the roller, throwing out the large and loose stones. 

 Thus the periodical repairs would be comparatively small affairs ; 

 and, with no more expense, we should have far better roads, 

 and of constant excellence. Noiv, a season of repairs is much 

 dreaded by travellers, and it often takes several weeks to get the 

 roads into as good a passing condition as before. One man, by 

 the aid of a team and the implements named, can " keep up " 

 from three to five miles most of the time, provided it is first 

 well constructed. 



When general repairs are made, which should be in the 

 spring, and again in the fall, if needed, let the old surface be 

 disturbed as little as possible, as this is firmer than new mate- 

 rials, and let the best that can be obtained replenish the waste. 

 The customary way of scraping out the ditches, and placing the 

 wash of the roads and adjoining slopes in the centre of the 

 drive, is generally the poorest kind of road repairing, for it is 

 loam and sand chiefly that is washed into the ditches. The 

 fresh deposits on the road-bed should be selected, and placed, 

 and worked down, with the same care and labor as of first con- 

 struction, that the repairs may not for any time be a detriment 

 to the travel. 



Superintendence. 



It is a cardinal principle that all work should be managed by 

 experience and skill ; and this rule is seldom violated by men 

 of intelligence in the conduct of their own affairs. 



In Massachusetts, on her fifteen hundred miles of railway, 

 we are told yearly how many passengers and tons of freight are 

 carried one mile, and the average cost of each per mile ; but we 

 are left to guess at the amount and cost of highway traffic, 

 though it is not much, if any, inferior in amount, and in which 

 the whole population are directly and personally active partners. 

 When this whole business can be reduced to a science, like that 

 of railways, and the results given in tables with approximate 

 accuracy, showing the cost of building and repairing yearly 



