300 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



and the sides or centre, as the case may require, should be 

 reduced to obtain the proper cross-section. 



Shrubs and trees growing upon the borders, not intended for 

 ornament, should be uprooted, and the heaps of stones and rub- 

 bish that so commonly offend the sight and sometimes obstruct 

 the way, should be removed. 



The Cost op Improvements and their Benepits. 



No one acquainted with the present wasteful and thriftless 

 way of dealing with the roads, can doubt that they might, under 

 a more effectual system of management, be gradually brought 

 to a high degree of excellence, without an increased outlay of 

 expense ; and some facts will be presented hereafter, going to 

 show that they can be maintained, in a superior condition, at 

 even less than the present cost. 



The importance of bringing up the public roads to a high 

 standard of excellence, and of constantly keeping them in that 

 condition, has been sufficiently urged, and is perhaps gen- 

 erally well enough appreciated ; but the possibility of doing so 

 with reasonable economy, or without, as might be apprehended, 

 a largely increased expenditure, might, on the first thought, be 

 questionable. 



But we have seen how a great saving from the present expen- 

 diture of money and labor upon the roads might be made by a 

 proper application of the work, and that any additional cost con- 

 tracted for construction would be, as well for their better adap- 

 tation for use as for the purpose of making them, very much 

 more durable, and consequently as much less expensive to keep 

 in repair. 



Besides, the well-made and well-kept roads would be greatly 

 superior for the purposes of transportation and travel, since very 

 much heavier loads could be conveyed by the same expenditure 

 of animal power, and valuable time be saved by higher speed. 



It would be safe to say that a saving of twenty-five per cent, 

 in animal power alone would result from the proposed improve- 

 ment of the roads. In these considerations, the gain from 

 diminished wear of vehicles and harnesses, and the incalculable 

 saving of oaths, impatience and ill-temper, have not been taken 

 into account. 



There can hardly be a doubt, from these considerations, that 



