6 BULLETIN 284, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



spread in one course to a depth of 6 inches for a width of 8 feet and a length of 

 933 feet, making 829 square yards. About 138 cubic yards of material were 

 used with an average haul from the crusher to the road of 630 feet. Planks 

 2 by 6 inches were used at the sides to secure a uniform depth of 6 inches, and 

 against these planks shoulders were built. The surfacing material was loaded 

 into wagons direct from the elevator, hauled in farm wagons and spread with 

 shovels, and the surface given a crown of three-fourths inch to the foot. 



The equipment consisted of fourteen wheel scrapers, four drag scrapers, 

 two heavy grading plows, one heavy harrow, one rooter, one road grader, one 

 6-ton horse roller, one crusher, one 25-horsepower traction engine. 



Labor cost, $1.80, and teams, $3.60 per 9-hour day. The contract for the 

 engine at $10 per day included fuel. The total cost of the road was $1,190.43, 

 which is at the rate of $0,222 per square yard of graded area. The principal 

 items of cost were as follows: Plowing, at $0.14 per cubic yard, $315.02; 

 scraping, at $0.2685 per cubic yard. $609.60; trimming banks, at $0.0322 per 

 square yard, $38.70; blasting, at $0.6S67 per cubic yard, $20.60, including $8 

 for dynamite ; hand-breaking stone, at $1,282 per cubic yard, $42.30 ; trimming 

 shoulders, at $0,028 per linear foot, $26.43 ; spreading stone, at $0.0587 per 

 cubic yard, $8.10; crushing, at $0.5155 per cubic yard, $54.13; rolling, at 

 $0.0052 per square yard, $20.80 ; hauling stone to crusher, varying from $0.25 

 to $0.30 per cubic yard, $33.35; hauling crushed stone to road, at $0.2038 per 

 cubic yard, $2L40. 



GEAVEL ROADS. 



Coahoma County, Clarksdale, Miss. (Section 1).— A gravel road leading 

 from Clarksdale northwesterly toward Friar Point was begun on January 5, 

 1914, and completed January 19, 1914, with a loss of four days waiting for 

 materials. The adjacent land is level and the natural soil a buckshot clay. A 

 section 1,060 feet long was graded with 580 feet surfaced 20 feet wide, and 

 480 feet surfaced 16 feet wide, making the surfaced area 2,142 square yards. 

 The grade of the road was not. materially changed, and the average cut was 

 but 0.5 foot with a maximum of 1 foot. The material was loosened with 

 plows, loaded by hand into slat-bottom wagons, and hauled away. The sur- 

 facing material, which was Tishomingo gravel and novaculite, was shipped in on 

 the cars. The gravel weighed 3,000 pounds to the cubic yard, and the novaculite 

 weighed 2.400 to the cubic yard. The novaculite seemed to have better 

 wearing and binding qualities than the gravel. The material was spread to 

 a loose depth of 12 inches by means of rakes, shovels, and the drag. It was 

 afterwards rolled with a 5-ton horse roller until the material was compacted 

 to 8 inches. The average haul from the cars to the road was one-fourth mile. 

 The material contained particles of stone from the size of peastone to that of 

 cobblestone. The road was given a crown of 6 inches on the surfaced portion. 



The equipment consisted of a road grader, a 5-ton horse roller, wagons, and 

 small tools. Labor cost $1.50 and teams $4.50 per 10-hour day. 



The cost of the novaculite on the cars was $1.63 per 2.000 pounds, or $1.96 

 per cubic yard, and the gravel $1.47* per 2,500 pounds, or $1.77 per cubic yard. 

 The total cost of the road to the community was $1,722.72. which is at the 

 rate of $0,804 per square yard for the surfacing. The principal items of cost 

 were as follows: Excavation, $71; shaping, at $0.0217 per square yard, $46.50; 

 surfacing material, $1,191.22; loading wagons from car at $0,126 per cubic 

 yard, $94.50; hauling from cars to road, at $0,315 per cubic yard, $236.25; 

 spreading material, at $0.05S per cubic yard. $43.50; trimming shoulders, 

 $16.50; rolling, at $0,011 per square yard, $23.25. 



