2 BULLETIN 388, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



States, who furnished valuable assistance in compiling the infor- 

 mation for this bulletin, are as follows: For Maine, Lucius D. Bar- 

 rows; for New Hampshire, Frank W. Brown; for Vermont, M. E. 

 Shedd; for Rhode Island, Peter J. Lannon; for Connecticut, C. G. 

 Nichols; and for Massachusetts, W. D. Sohier and T. N. Waddell. 

 Similar bulletins have been prepared for pubhcation for the Middle 

 Atlantic States, the Southern States, and for the Middle Western and 

 Western States. 



WORKING PLAN AND SOURCES OF INFORMATION. 



The method pursued in obtaining the information contained in this 

 bulletin was as follows : 



A series of card inquiry forms covering conditions in each State 

 and designated A, B, C, and D, covering, respectively, mileage, taxa- 

 tion and revenues, administrative organization, and bond issues, was 

 furnished to each State collaborator, and correspondence was then 

 conducted by the collaborators under Government frank with the 

 respective county and town officials. On account of the absence 

 of detailed records in many of the towns, extreme accuracy is impos- 

 sible, and because of the large amount of correspondence necessary 

 to conduct the investigation considerable delay in the issuance of this 

 bulletin has been unavoidable. The data on mileage and revenues 

 should, therefore, be considered as approximate only. A summary 

 sheet of each of the forms A, B, C, and D was prepared for each State 

 as fast as the card forms were received from the State collaborators. 

 These summaries, when completed, were forwarded to the respective 

 State collaborators and to the heads of the State highway depart- 

 ments, who then prepared texts explanatory of the statistical tables 

 and of the administrative systems in effect in their respective States, 

 or approved the texts prepared in this office. The bulletin is issued, 

 therefore, m the form of a series of chapters, each under the author- 

 sliip or approval of the State official who has cooperated with this 

 office in assembling the data. 



ROAD ADMINISTRATION IN THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. 



All of the New England States have highway departments and apply 

 State funds to the aid of road improvement. This pohcy was inau- 

 gurated in Massachusetts in 1892, Connecticut m 1895, Vermont in 

 1898, Maine in 1901, Rhode Island in 1902, and New Hampshire in 

 1903. In Vermont the State aid law was enacted in 1898, but the 

 State highway department was not estabhshed mitn 1906. Maine, 

 Rhode Island, and Connecticut have trimk-line systems of roads built 

 entirely at the expense of the State. Massachusetts, New Hamp- 

 shire, and Vermont have trunk-hne systems of roads built by the 

 State, but the towns contribute toward the cost of their construction 

 and maintenance. 



