LAYING OUT NEW EOADS. 309 



The slopes of the cuttings and embankments, ought to be 

 neatly trimmed, and grassed over, and not be permitted to wear 

 the ragged look now too common. The cost of keeping the bor- 

 ders of the roads in this way would be trifling, and would influ- 

 ence the residents upon them to keep their grounds, and dwell- 

 ings in a better condition. A man will dress better, and use 

 choicer language, when among gentlemen than when among 

 clowns. 



This system is intended to apply only to the highways or 

 county roads. The care of the town roads, those established by 

 the town for local convenience, may be left, as now, if thought 

 best, in the hands of the town authorities. 



County Commissioners. 

 The present method of laying out new roads, or altering the 

 lines of the old ones by the county commissioners need not be 

 changed, except that for a projected new road or alterations, 

 the surveys, maps, profiles, estimates of cost, etc., shall be made 

 under tlie direction of the chief of division, or resident engineer, 

 of the county or district, and when ordered the new road shall 

 be constructed, or the old one rebuilt under his charge. At 

 present the county commissioners are liable to make mistakes in 

 the location of roads, sometimes involving needless expense in 

 their construction, and do so by establishing inferior routes, 

 with steeper slopes than need be, or with greater deviations than 

 are demanded by public interests or required by the nature of 

 the ground. Not appreciating the importance of employing a 

 competent engineer to ascertain the best route, and therefore 

 not feeling justified in incurring a slightly greater expense, or be- 

 ing willing to gratify an importunate neighbor, they generally get 

 a land surveyor, who knows nothing of road making, to mark out 

 the line and to determine (rudely perhaps) the elevations along 

 it, as well as calculate in a rough way the cubic contents of the 

 cuts and fills, and reserve to themselves the duty of drawing up 

 specifications which vaguely indicate the manner in which the 

 work shall be done. It is next to impossible in this way, to 

 avoid making mistakes. No one with an unpractised eye can 

 select the best ground, where there is any choice, upon which to 

 build a road, nor can any one with the use of instruments, with- 

 out skill acquired from practice, fix upon the most feasible line 



