Angnst 24, 1S71. ] 



JOUBNAL OF HOKTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



137 





WEEKLY 



CALENDAR* 















Day D.^ 

 Month Week. 



















Clock 1 Day 



AUGUST 24—30, 1871. 



ture near London. 



43 years. 



Eises. 



Sets. 



Rises. 



Sets. 



Age. 



Sun. i Year. 







Day. 



Nisht. 



Mean. 



Days. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



m. h. 



Days. 



m. 8. 1 



24 Th 



Malvern Horticultaral Show closes. 



7I.fi 



47.9 



69.7 



16 



1 af6 



3af7 



51af2 



2afll 



S 



2 17 , 236 



25 F 





74.1 



49.7 



61.9 



16 



2 5 



1 7 



8 4 



60 11 



9 



2 1 



237 



25 S 





72 5 



48.4 



60.1 



15 



3 6 



59 6 



11 6 



morn. 



10 



1 45 



238 



27 Son 



12 SCNDAY AFTEH TniNITT. 



73.8 



49.1 



61.2 



12 



6 6 



57 6 



2 6 



52 



H 



1 28 



239 



23 M 





72.7 



49.7 



61.2 



19 



7 6 



65 6 



40 6 



8 2 



12 



1 10 



240 



29 Tn 



Banbury Horticultural Show. 



71.2 



47.'i 



69.4 



16 



8 5 



63 6 



10 7 



27 3 



13 



63 



241 



80 W 



Metropolitan Floral Society's Show opens. 



74.5 



48.2 



61.3 



11 



10 5 



61 6 



33 7 



49 4 



O 



35 



242 



From observations taken near London during forty-three years, the average day temperature of the week is 72 8 



=, and its night tem- 



peratoro 48.7'. The greatest heat was 89', on the 25th, 1859; and the lowest cold 31°, on the 26l,h, 1861. The greatest fall of rain was 1 



1.92 Inch. 





1 



ROAD-MAiaNG UNDER DIFFICULTIES.— No. 1. 



[F making a road were to consist of simply 

 cutting a trackway and filling it with broken 

 stones, it would be hardly worth while to 

 devote a paper specially to the subject ; and 

 really, to glance casually at the matter, there 

 does not appear to be very much more to 

 be done. But this, like other work, when 

 taken seriously in hand, resolves itself into 

 numerous important details, all requiring 

 careful attention, and which, if the work is to 

 be brought to a successful issue, must be well studied and 

 clearly arranged into a regular plan, so that each part of 

 the process may be done in regular order, without one 

 operation clashing with another ; for, in such work, con- 

 fusion invariably implies waste both of money and time. 



When a road is to be made, the first thing to be done is 

 to survey the land through which it is required to pass, 

 in order to select the most favourable line. On an open 

 plain, or a flat or tolerably level district, this is an easy 

 matter, but in a hilly wooded country there are many 

 difficulties to contend with in order to secure as short and 

 du-ect a line as the gridients wiU admit of. Supposing 

 the road is to run along a steep hillside down into a valley, 

 to pass over a stream or river, and thence up and along 

 the opposite side of the valley — if both hillsides are 

 thickly clothed with underwood, interspersed with timber 

 trees, with numerous springs of water bursting forth and 

 forming tributaries to the main stream in the valley, and 

 with the surface of the slopes broken up into a variety of 

 inequalities, we shall have enough of difficulties to contend 

 with to afford subjects for a very useful and instructive 

 lesson. Let us proceed, then, to "grapple with these diffi- 

 cuHies, and see how we can overcome them. 



It is bjst at starting to tiy from some commanding point 

 to obtain a general view of both sides of the valley, in 

 order to note all its most prominent features, of which a 

 rough outline should be sketched in one's note-book for 

 reference. It is also advisable to ascertain if any of these 

 features are eventually to be brought more fully into view, 

 or if there are to be any ponds, waterfalls, or a lake in the 

 valley, because if parts of the road can be made to com- 

 mand fine or picturesque views of pleasing objects, without 

 going far out of the most direct line, it is highly important j 

 they_ should do so. The land through which the road is 

 required to pass must then be gone over and thoroughly 

 examined, notes taken of all important undulations, such 

 as abrupt ascents and deep dells ; streams and bogs should 

 also be noted, as they must be dealt with in due course. 

 This is an arduous undertaking, it being very difficult to 

 obtain a clear idea of the character of land covered with 

 a dense growth of underwood : my own practice is to go 

 over the land two or three times in order to make quite i 

 sure nothing of importance has been overlooked. i 



Next comes the important work of selecting and mark- 

 ing the line of road ; in doing this all unmeaning curves 

 should be avoided, and the road should proceed in as direct 

 a line from one end to the other as the nature of the ground i 

 No. 643.— Vol. XSI., New Seeies. 



will admit of. For this work there should be six or eight 

 men with ranging rods — that is, poles long enough to 

 reach above the tops of the underwood, and with a small 

 flag of white calico fastened to the top — also two men with 

 hand-bills, a short ladder, or, if there are not many tall 

 trees, a pair of high steps. Starting from one end of the 

 line, the surveyor either mounts a tree or the steps at a 

 suitable point for overlooking the whole of the first part of 

 the line, he then arranges the men with flags in single file, 

 and when this is done, one man starts from the surveyor's 

 post and another from the flag farthest from him, each 

 man cutting a slight track from flag to flag till they meet. 

 This process is repeated piece by piece till the entire line 

 is marked out. 



The nafrow track being made sufficiently clear, now comes 

 the most important part of the survey. The natural levels 

 are all taken with a theodolite or dumpy level, the last-named 

 instrument answering quite as well for this work as the 

 more expensive one, yet for general purposes the theodolite 

 is, of course, to be preferred. A sketch or map of the road 

 should be made showing all the inequalities of the line, 

 with the streams or springs, below each of which a note 

 should be appended, stiowing how the water is to be dis- 

 posed of; if through pipes, state size and number, or if 

 through a culvert, give its size, length, and form. The 

 road must also be measured, and divided into as many 

 lengths as there are to be gradients. The number of gra- 

 dients will depend upon the natural levels and the manner 

 in which they can best be reduced sufficiently. This part 

 of the work demands much careful thought and a thorough 

 knowledge of the dimensions of every mound to be levelled 

 or hollow to be filled. As a general rule no gradients 

 should have a greater rise than 1 foot in 18 ; in some in- 

 stances 1 in 12 may be ventured upon to avoid or lightea 

 heavy cuttings, but this rise should only be for short 

 distances ; for while aiming at economy of execution real 

 efficiency must not be forgotten. 



I should have said that the narrow track ought to mark 

 the upper side of the intended road, as then it is an easy 

 matter to measure off the real track. The eventual width 

 of the road wUl, of course, be our guide in deciding what 

 width is to be cleared of wood. For a grand avenue the road 

 may be 20 or even -30 feet wide, and the front, or principal 

 row of trees along each side, should stand back upon turf 

 quite 50 feet from the centre of the road. For ordinary 

 drives a space of 1.5 feet makes a wide handsome road ; 

 but when the line is beset with so many difficulties as to 

 render the preparation of the levels a costly undertaking, 

 the width of the hard road may be reduced to 9 feet : this 

 width is not enough for two carriages to pass, but that 

 difficulty is easUy overcome by making the level space 

 15 feet wide, or 20 feet where the slope is very steep. 

 Such a narrow road, although not suitable for a busy or 

 public thoroughfare, yet answers very well for an ordinary 

 private drive. 



The levelling of the road, and grubbing of the under- 

 wood and timber, should be done altogether, and by the 

 piece or yard. In deciding upon the price of the work aU 

 the inequalities of the entire line should once more be 



No. 1193.— Vol. XL VI., Old Seeies. 



