ROADING AND DRAINING. 155 



Though " dug-outs" are, as we have said, the 

 cheapest, yet it is better and more " pucka " to dig 

 a road from the solid, going, say, one foot deep on 

 the level. On both sides there should then be good 

 1 8 in. by 18 in. drains, with occasional culverts 

 across the road covered in by logs or stones. 



Metalling is rarely attempted on these private 

 thoroughfares, and the same may be said of bridges. 

 If a bridge must be made it is usually constructed 

 of logs placed side by side, resting on broad stone 

 buttresses. We have traced a good many miles of 

 road with a surveyor's level and compass, but with 

 a little training the eye becomes sufficiently accu- 

 rate, and stumps can be "dodged," and fords much 

 more conveniently approached by the latter means 

 than when instruments are used. " He who traces, 

 clears, and partially cuts his roads at the earliest 

 possible time will save five per cent, on all the 

 work he has to do in the field." A mile of road 

 to every twenty or thirty acres is little too much. 

 These roads may be made narrow at first, and 

 afterwards (when the estate needs cart traffic) 

 widened out to ten or twelve feet. But if they are 

 left untraced and not begun until after planting is 

 over, there will be a reluctance to destroy flourish- 

 ing bushes, and roads will hardly be so wide or so 

 numerous as they should; i in 15, i in 20, i in 25 

 are fair gradients for an estate not very full of 

 rocks and nullahs. Care should he taken that the 

 road is not liable to be flooded by a sudden rise 



