Apeil 6, 1900.] 



SCIENCE 



539 



ranging in different counties from four to 

 twelve miles. And he estimates the aver- 

 age cost of hauling one ton one mile in 

 Maryland at twenty-six cents, as compared 

 with an average of twenty-five cents for 

 the United States, from seven to twelve 

 cents in England, France and Germany, 

 and from seven to sixteen cents per ton 

 per mile in New Jersey. In a succeeding 

 chapter which must prove of great value to 

 the people of Maryland, Mr. Johnson dis- 

 cusses the methods of constructing and re- 

 pairing public roads. 



The question of road administration in 

 Maryland and in other States and countries 

 is discussed bj^ Dr. Eeid, and a large amount 

 of information concerning this subject, in 

 practically every State of the Union, has 

 been broiTght together in so careful a man- 

 ner as to make it .of permanent value to 

 the country at large. One is amazed to 

 see that in so few of the States have any 

 practical methods been adopted looking to 

 the permanent betterment of the highways. 

 In this great work New Jersey and Massa- 

 chusetts have taken the lead in building 

 important highways under State supervision 

 and in part at the State's expense. New 

 York is slowly following in their foot- 

 steps. But as we run over the list of other 

 States one is struck with either the practical 

 indifference manifested in the majority of 

 them, except in isolated localities, or else 

 the aimless sort of way in which spasmodic 

 efforts are being made toward the improve- 

 ment of the public highways over "which 

 our rural population must travel and must 

 market its products at a cost approximating 

 $600,000,000 per annum greater than this 

 cost would be if all these important high- 

 ways were in good condition. 



Many facts demonstrating the 'Advan- 

 tages of Good Eoads ' are brought out by 

 Dr. Eeid in a succeeding chapter. In Part 

 III. on thehighway legislation in Maryland 

 and its influence on the economic develop- 



ment of the State, Mr. St. George L. Lious- 

 sat has not only brought together a large 

 amount of information relative to highway 

 legislation and the early history of Mary- 

 land, but he has presented an ordinarily dry 

 subject in such a way as to make much of 

 it interesting, even to the general reader ; 

 especially would this apply to the last few 

 pages of his cliapter which treats of the 

 building of the national road, which was 

 constructed by the Federal Government' 

 from Cumberland, Maryland, to the Ohio 

 Eiver. 



At the end of the volume is an appendix 

 of 76 pages in which are brought together 

 the laws of Maryland relating to highways. 



The typography and illustrations of this 

 volume, like those of the preceding volumes 

 of the Maryland Geological Survey, are ex- 

 cellent in both selection and execution. 

 There are 3.5 half-tone plates and maps 

 illustrative of the various topics treated in 

 the report. The maps, which are excep- 

 tionally clear and free from crowding, show 

 the distribution of rainfall, temperature, 

 road materials and the main roads of the 

 State ; and in addition to the general maps 

 there are separate county maps which show 

 both the principal roads and the materials 

 which can be used best in improving them. 



In concluding this review, already too 

 long, I must call attention to another 

 phase of this good-roads problem, and one 

 which should be taken to heart in all por- 

 tions of the country. The good people of 

 Mai-yland, like their fellow citizens in other 

 states, have gone through a century or 

 more without a highway system. During 

 the past ten years they have expended on 

 their highways over $6,000,000, most of it 

 wasted in continually patching moi-e than 

 13,000 miles of ordinary dirt roads, most 

 of which are poorly located; all of them 

 bad at certain seasons ; many of them bad 

 at all seasons. Furthermore, as shown by 

 a careful estimate in this report, the travel- 



