212 ENGINEERING ON THE FARM 



value in future improvement, it is very seldom that such 

 work will add to the cost if the future is considered at the 

 time of construction. 



Maintenance. One of the most important elements of 

 road education is to recognize the need of systematic and 

 thorough maintenance, for roads, like nearly all other works 

 of men, require constant repair or they rapidly disintegrate. 

 The success of many of the cheaper road-surfacing materials 

 depends almost entirely on the care with which they are 

 maintained. If a community can be educated to prepare a 

 roadbed properly by draining and grading and then to adopt 

 a proper system of maintenance, the road problem is practi- 

 cally solved, and the road will be surfaced by the best 

 materials obtainable as rapidly as a demand arises for 

 better roads than natural conditions afford. 



Repairs. In repairing old roads, the grader should be 

 started in the spring and kept in continuous operation until 

 the end of the season. Units of work should be laid out in 

 advance such that they can be taken up successively. Other- 

 wise time is lost in moving from one location to another. The 

 same teams and operators should be kept on the grader 

 throughout the season. Wherever water stands in the 

 roadway or by the roadside, or wherever the ground remains 

 soft or swampy in the spring and fall, better drainage is 

 needed. Roads should be inspected after heavy rains and 

 during the spring freshets. The work of a few minutes in 

 freeing drains from obstructions or diverting the current of 

 water into a proper channel will prevent erosion which would 

 require the work of several days if neglected. Surface 

 water should be disposed of in small quantities if possible. 

 Large volumes along the road are destructive and hard to 

 handle. Drains should be led into natural water courses 

 as often as possible, and tile instead of open ditches should 

 be used wherever it is practical to underdrain. Culverts 

 should be given a free outlet such that water will not freeze 

 in them. 



