612 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part 111. 



3761. In order to prevent any road from getting rutted, it is indispensable that it be kept free from water 

 by under-drainage. No rad, Faterson continues, " that has any tendency to rut, should be, for many days 

 together, from under the eye of one who has a general charge, and who is ready to withdraw a workman 

 to this or that part, as need may require. 



3762. So soon as newly put on metals begin to shift by the wheels, or form into ruts, they should be imme- 

 diately replaced, every little ridge broken down, and every rut, hole, or inequality, filled up ; and the 

 road kept in proper shape until the metals become bound and consolidated together. When the road is 

 attended to in this manner, it has the effect, too, of subjecting the whole of the metals to an equal fatigue. 

 Every time that a little nev/ metals are put on to fill up any hollow parts of the road, those parts being 

 then, from the new metals, a little rougher than the rest of the road, the horses naturally avoid travelling 

 on them for a while at first, until they have become a little smoother, or until the other parts begin to 

 get rutted. This shifting upon the road wears down the metals equally, and prevents those regular tracks 

 of the horse and of the wheels which would otherwise be the consequence. By adopting this method, it 

 will be found that less labour and fewer metals will be required in the course of tiie year, ajjrt the road will 

 always be in good order. But, on the other hand, to allow the road to get rutted, and then to fill these 

 ruts with new metals every time they get into this state, as is frequently done, raises the track of the 

 wheels, leaving hollow the track of the horse, and so gives the road a concave, instead of a convex, shape in 

 the middle : this retains the water, and injures the road very much. The same thing occurs again, and the 

 same process is repeated ; and in this way the most extravagant quantity of metals may be put on, and yet 

 the road never be in good order." 



3763. For the repair of an old road, the following directions are given by M* Adam, in 

 his Report of the Committee, ^c. of 1811, corrected however to ,1819 :, = 



376k " No addition of materials is to be brought upon a road, unlegs In any part it be found that there is 

 not a quantity of clean stone equal to ten inches in thickness. 



3765. The stone already on the road is to be loosened up and broken, so as no piece shall exceed six 

 ounces in weight. The road Is then to be laid as flat as possible ; a rise of three inches from the centre 

 to the side is sufficient for a road thirty feet wide. The stones, when loosened in the road, are to be 

 gathered off by means of a strong heavy fake, with teeth two and a half inches in length, to the side of the 

 road, and there broken ; and on n,6 account are stones tobq broken on the road. 



3766. IVhen the great stoties have been removed, and none left in the road exceeding six ounces, the road 

 is to be put in shape, and a rake employed to smooth the surface, which will at the same time bring to the 

 surface tlie remaining stone, and will allow the dirt to go down. 



3767. When the road is so prepared, the stone that has been broken by the side of the road is then to be 

 carefully spread on it : this is rather a nice operation, and the future quality of the road will greatly de- 

 pend on the manner in which it is performed. The stone must not be laid on in shovelfuls, but scattered 

 over the surface, one shovelful following another, and spreading over a considerable space. 



37<S8. Only a small space of road should be lifted at once ; five men in a gang should be set to lift it all 

 across s two men should continue to pick up and rake off the large stones, and to form the road for 

 receiving the broken stone ; the other three should break stones ; the broken stone to be laid on as soon 

 as the piece of road is prepared to receive it, and another piece to be broken up ; two or three yards at one 

 lift are enough. The proportioning of the work among the five men must of course be regulated by the 

 nature of the road ; when there are many very large stones, the three breakers may not be able to keep 

 pace with the two men employed in lifting and forming, and when there are few large stones the contrary 

 may be the case j of all this the surveyor must judge and direct. But to lift and relay a road, even if the 

 materials should have been originally too large, would in many cases be highly unprofitable. The road 

 between Cirencester and Bath is made of stone too large in size, but it is of so friable a nature that in lifting 

 it becomes sand ; in this case I recommended cutting down the high places, keeping the surface smooth, 

 and gradually wearing out the materials now in the road, and then replacing them with some stone of a 

 better quality properly prepared. A part of the road in the Bath district is in like manner riiade of free- 

 stone, which it would be unprofitable to lift. 



3769. At Egham in Sui-rey it was necessary to remove the whole road,, to separate the small portion of 

 valuable materials from the mass of soft matter of which it was principally composed, which was removed 

 at considerable expense, before a road could be again made upon the site. 



3770. Other cases of several kinds have occurred, where a different method must be adopted, but which it 

 is impossible to specify, and which must be met by the practical skill of the officer whose duty it may be 

 to superintend the repair of a road, and who must constantly recur to general principles. These principles 

 are uniform, however much circumstances may differ, and they must form the guide by which his judg- 

 ment must be always directed. "When additional stone is wanted on a road that has cohsohdated by use, 

 the old hardened surface of the road is to be loosened with a pick, in order to make the fresh materials 

 unite with the old. 



377 1. Ruts, Carriages, whatever be the construction of their wheels, will make ruts in a new-made road 

 until it consolidates, however well the materials may be prepared, or however judiciously applied; there- 

 fore a careful person must attend for some time after the road is opened for use, to rake in the tracks 

 mde by wheels. 



3772. The tools to be used are, strong picks, but short from the handle to the point, for lifting the road ; 

 small hammers of about one pound weight in the head, the face the size of a new shilling, well steeled, 

 with a short handle; rakes with wooden heads, ten inches in length, and iron teeth about two inches and- 

 a half in length, very strong, for rakjng out the large stones where the road is broken up, and for keeping 

 the road smooth after being relaid, and while it is consolidating; very light broad-mouthed shovels, to 

 spread the broken stone and to form the road 



3773. Every road is to be made of broken stone, without mixture of earth, clay, chalk, or any other matter 

 that will imbibe water and be affected with frost : nothing is to be laid on the clean stone on pretence of 

 binding; broken stone will combine by its acute angles into a smooth solid surface that cannot be affected 

 by vicissitudes of weather, or displaced by the action of wheels, which will pass over it without a jolt, and 

 consequently without injury." ,t- - 



3774. Telford's directions for repairing roads diflfer little from his instructions for 

 forming roads, already quoted. 



3775. Where a road has no solid and dry foundation, he breaks it up, lays bare the soil, drains it, and 



bottoms with soft stones or cinders, the former set by hand with the broadest end down, in the form of 



a neat pavement (_fig. 572.) ; over this foundation he, as usual, lays on six inches of stones broken so as 



^ to pass through a ring tv/o inches and a half in diame. 



572 ter, &c. 



3776. Where a road has some foundation, but an im- 

 perfect one, or is hollow in the middle, all the large 

 stones appearing on the surface of it must be raised and 

 broken ; the eighteen centre feet of it must be so treated, 

 and then covered with a coating of broken stones, suf- 

 ficient to give it a proper shape, and to make it solid and hard. ,. ^ i -^ 

 3777. Where a road already has a good foundation, and also a good shape, no materials should Xx laid 

 upon it, but for the purpose of fiUing ruts and hollow places, in thin layers, as soon as they appear, btones 



