36 BULLETIN 393^ U. S. DEPAETMENT OE AGEICULTURE. 



team and driver was about $3 per day. On this basis the cost of 

 hauhng per ton-mile on the old roads was approximately $0.30 and 

 on the new roads $0.15. A saving of $0.15 per ton-mile on 833,136 

 annual ton-miles amomits to $124,970, which would be more than 

 sufficient to retire the bonds in one year. 



EFFECT OF ROAD IMPROVEMENT ON SCHOOLS. 



One of the most important results attendant upon the improve- 

 ment of the pubhc roads in Dinwiddie County was the increase in 

 attendance at the schools located on the improved roads. It was 

 ascertained that during the school year 1912-13 the average attend- 

 ance at 13 schools on the improved roads was 63.4 per cent of the total 

 enrollment, and that the average attendance at all other rural schools 

 in the county for the same year was 56 per cent. If the improved 

 roads serve no other purpose than to equip with an adequate primary 

 education 7- or 8 additional children each year out of each 100 enrolled 

 the building of the roads would be justified. 



Not only was the county school system affected through increased 

 attendance, but also through the erection of larger school buildings 

 (see PI. XI, fig. 1) and the consoUdation of small schools, while a 

 particularly striking feature of the present school system is the trans- 

 portation of the children to and from school. In 1914 several school 

 wagons were in use, at an expense of about $306 per annum for the 

 operation of each wagon with a capacity of 20 passengers. (See PL 

 XI, fig. 2.) About one-eighth of the children who attend school at 

 Petersburg live in the surrounding country districts, some of them 

 as far as 6 or 8 miles from town. 



LEE COUNTY, VA. 



Road improvement began in Lee County in 1908 through the con- 

 struction of a road between Jonesville and Ben Hur, a distance of 5.6 

 miles. This, the first improved road in the county, was completed in 

 1910. The work was carried on under the direction of a resident 

 engineer from the State highway department, labor was performed 

 by State convicts, and the funds were raised by private subscription. 

 The average cost of the road was $4,203.68 per mile. Convict labor 

 was furnished by the State to the extent of 10,035 convict working 

 days, at a cost of 67 cents per day. The road was graded to a width 

 of 30 feet, surfaced with macadam to a width of 12 feet, and a thick- 

 ness of 6 to 7 inches consohdated. 



The road served as a most successful object lesson to the people of 

 the county, and the result was the voting of $364,000 of bonds on 

 November 29, 1910, for the purpose of improving approximately 

 165.5 miles of road. 



