CHAPTER XVI. 



KOAD-MAKING. 



F stfALL consider the above under the following sections: 



1. The benefit of good roads. 



2. Farm-roads. 



3. Plantation-roads. 



4. Walks. 



5. Bridges. 



G. Stone-breaking machines. 



7. Eepairing and improving existing roads. 



SECTION 1. The Benefit of good Roads. 



One great hindrance to good farming is the want of good roads. On 

 a great many estates the farm-roads are very bad ; indeed I am near the 

 truth when I state that there are no roads at all they are merely tracks 

 formed on the surface-soil by the farm animals and conveyances. Bail- 

 ways have done much to open out the country, and where there are good 

 roads the value of estates has been very much increased. Even estates 

 lying at long distances from railways have been increased in value by 

 them, where the roads are good between the railway and the estate. On 

 the other hand, I know landed estates lying not more than six miles from 

 a railway station which have not been much benefited by it, solely from 

 the fact that the roads are so bad between them and the line of rail as 

 to be frequently almost impassable. But even where the parish roads 

 are in good condition, the roads leading from them to the neighbouring 

 farms are generally anything but good. Good roads must certainly ac- 

 company and form part of high farming. An improved system of farm- 

 ing must result in an increased produce, and this increase of produce 

 must be sent to a market of some kind or other ; therefore the expense 

 of conveying the produce over bad roads will \>e much greater than if 



