86 RURAL CONVENIENCES 



water from the road, are even more important than \\ ;th 

 macadam roads. 



c. Maintenance. An ingenious device to keep dirt 

 roads in good condition is the "split-log drag." This 

 cheap and helpful contrivance was invented, not many 

 years ago, by Mr. D. W. King of Iowa. In its original 

 form the King road drag is simply a heavy log split through 

 the middle, the two pieces being then joined by stout bars 

 of wood about two feet long. This forms a double scraper. 



EFFECT OF NARROW TIRES. 



Horses are attached to this drag in such a way as to give 

 it a slanting movement. By drawing it along first one 

 side of the road and then the other, especially just after a 

 rain when the earth is soft, the loose dirt is scraped from 

 the side toward the middle. This fills ruts. At the same 

 time, ridges are smoothed away, and the surface is more 

 and more firmly compacted. 



This invention is improving thousands of miles of 

 dirt roads. A Massachusetts road official reports an an- 

 nual saving of five sixths of the road tax by its use. Mr. 

 King's idea has been copied in many kinds of iron drags; 

 and these have generally replaced the primitive split 

 log. 



