66 BULLETIISr 393^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGKICULTUEE. 



roads with this gang was $3,000 per mile, and of sand-clay roads 

 from $1,500 to $1,800 per mile, • The gravel roads were surfaecd 16 

 feet wide and 9 inches deep on road beds varying in width from 

 24 to 30 feet. 



HOW THE ROADS ARE MAINTAINED. 



The improved roads in the outlying districts are in excellent con- 

 dition, but for a mile or two out of Selma some of the roads built in 

 1911 are rough and need to be resurfaced. The heavy repair and 

 maintenance work is done by a gang employed contmuously through- 

 out the year, and composed of a foreman, 8 or 10 men, 10 mules, 2 

 road machines, 5 wagons, 2 drag scrapers, and some drags. The 

 foreman is paid $75 per month, labor $1 per day. No information 

 was obtainable as to mileage maintained and cost per mile. Some 

 small repairs are looked after by the man-and-cart patrol system. 

 Each outfit costs about $32 per month — $20 for the man and $12 for 

 the mule. There are no toll roads in the county. 



' EFFECT OF ROAD IMPROVEMENT ON LAND VALUES. 



As the road improvement was begun in 1910 the taxable valuations 

 for that year and for 1915 have been compared to ascertain whether 

 there has been an appreciable increase since the roads were improved. 

 The total valuation in 1910 was $12,692,800, and in 1915 it was 

 $14,068,610. As the effect of the road improvement would only be 

 reflected in the real estate values, it was ascertained that real estate 

 in 1910 was assessed at $7,604,440 and in 1915 at $8,534,445, an in- 

 crease of 12.2 per cent in 5 years. This is not a radical increase, but 

 is sufficient to indicate a normal, healthy development. 



Personal investigation of sale values along the improved roads 

 brought out the fact that the road improvement had added at least 

 $5 to the value of each acre of land within one-haK mile of the roads. 

 On this basis the aggregate increases due to the road improvement 

 would be $325,600. Of many specific cases recorded, it might be 

 mentioned that one farm of 100 acres, assessed before the road improve- 

 ment at $6 per acre, sold in 1914 at $48 per acre. The increase 

 was entirely attributed to the road improvement. Another farm 

 which was on the market at $10 per acre before the roads were 

 improved was recently sold at $50 per acre. Tracts of land on an- 

 other improved road which sold for $8 to $10 per acre before the road 

 was improved, were recently sold again at from $20 to $25 per acre. 

 Quite a number of instances were recorded of increases of from 50 to 

 150 per cent in value. 



EFFECT OF ROAD IMPROVEMENT ON TRAFFIC. 



The county is seK-supporting from an agricultural point of view, 

 and its outgoing shipments of general farm crops far exceed its in- 

 coming shipments, as indicated by the fact that in 1912 the outgoing 



