248 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



should the brush and weeds be removed from the roadside, 

 but grass should be sown, trees planted and a sidewalk pre- 

 pared for the use of pedestrians. Country roads can be 

 made far more useful and attractive than they usually are, 

 with very little expense. Although such improvements are 

 not necessary, yet they make the surroundings attractive and 

 inviting, and add to the value of property and the pleasure 

 of the travellers. 



Secretary James Wilson in a recent article says : "It will 

 be good news to the whole nation to learn that road improve- 

 ment is to be made a special study, and wide inquiry is to 

 be set on foot among the several States as to the best ways 

 and means of placing the highways of the country upon a 

 superior basis." The Department of Agriculture has a little 

 road office, by wdiich a few thousand dollars a year are spent 

 along the lines of both educational and practical work. One 

 of these projects led to the sending out by the Department 

 of Agriculture, within the last year, of experts, to meet and 

 co-operate with different bodies in various States for the pur- 

 pose of carrying on practical experiments with steel tracks 

 that would enable the farmers to get their produce to market 

 without running the risk of the heavily laden wagons sticking 

 fast in the ruts of soft roads, soaked by continuous rains. 

 These experiments have caused such a demand to be made 

 for further and more extensive experiments to decide the best 

 plan for road improvement that it has been decided to organ- 

 ize an office on broadened lines, and prepare it for doing more 

 thorough work. 



To this end it is proposed to divide the United States into 

 districts ; secure an educated agent in each of these districts, 

 to study conditions, confer with scientists and practical road 

 makers, address students and educational institutions, and 

 make reports of work done and proposed to be done, that 

 will form the basis of road literature. To begin w^ith, it is 

 proposed to locate the agents in the eastern States and the 

 southern States, one in the prairie States and one in the 

 mountain States of the far west. The value of this plan 

 is that, as the conditions in the several localities are peculiar 

 unto themselves, by a system of intercommunication between 

 the various ac-ents we shall gather the best information as to 



