210 THE BOOK OF THE LANDED ESTATE. 



upheld by the proprietor of course excepting parish or other public 

 roads ; and they should be attended to by one or more men, according 

 to their extent, whose office should consist in keeping the roads clean 

 by scraping, and in filling in ruts and hollow places, whenever they 

 appeared, with properly-broken material. Each man would require a 

 wheelbarrow, scraper, shovel, pick, and broom. In the autumn, when a 

 thorough repair was necessary, they would need some assistance ; but 

 if the roads were constantly looked to in this way, they would not want 

 much done in the autumn, as a " stitch in time saves nine." 



It will be found less expensive to have a man or men to attend to 

 the roads, as I have stated, than to repair them at certain seasons of the 

 year only, as it is much cheaper to prevent anything getting out of repair 

 than to repair it when it is in a bad state. In scraping roads, the mud 

 should be removed at once, and all the ditches and drains attended to, 

 in order to see that they are" clean. 



If the roads were kept up by the proprietor in the way mentioned, it 

 would increase the value of the farms ; for which some addition of rent 

 could be paid, or the annual expense of maintaining the roads could be 

 paid in proportion by landlord and tenant. 



On small estates the roads might be attended to by those who look 

 after the fences. Scraping-machines are now generally employed on 

 well-kept roads ; they save a great deal of time and labour. The 

 machine consists of a number of small scrapers fixed to a frame. This 

 frame is mounted on wheels ; and when the front part of the machine is 

 lifted from the ground, all the weight is thrown on the scrapers, which 

 are then drawn across the road, and thus takes all the mud with it, 

 over a width of about three feet. 



Another machine has been invented for cleaning roads. It consists of 

 an endless broom. There are rollers attached to a cart, and the broom 

 passes round these rollers. There are cogged wheels attached to the 

 wheels of the cart, and when these cogged wheels are in motion, they 

 work up the endless broom, and in this way the mud is swept up an 

 inclined plane into the cart. 



When there is a great extent of roads on an estate, it is always advis- 

 able to have the work done by contract and indeed on any estate all 

 work should be done by contract as much as possible. The following is 

 a form of specification for letting the repairs of roads by contract : 



