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CHAPTER XIV. 



ROADING AND DRAINING. 



THE presiding government is bound to make and 

 keep in repair the main thoroughfares of every 

 territory, usually levying a tax for the purpose ; but 

 the planter has to make his own local roadways. 

 The cheapest is what we call a dug-out road ; that is 

 to say, the hillside being very steep, soil is shovelled 

 away from the upper part and placed on the lower 

 side till the road comes level. Thus there is a 

 perpendicular wall on one hand and a steep scarp 

 on the other, and being smoothed, the fresh black 

 earth looks neat and nice, but requires some time 

 to settle down. At first, owing to half the breadth 

 being cut out of the solid, and half composed of 

 loose soil, it is apt to sink on the outer side, and 

 has to be repaired. Cutting through fallen logs and 

 rolling them away is a source of chief expense. On 

 the hillside the great stems will usually lie as they 

 have fallen, up and down the slope, sometimes two 

 or three deep ; and as the road runs along parallel 

 with the valley, it meets them all at right angles. 

 Since they are far beyond the planter's power to 

 move, even after the best of burns as they lie, he has 

 to cut through them at all costs. Charred stumps 



