Geology of Se^'eca County. 119 



angular quarry refuse of all shapes and all sizes up to 20 pounds 

 that I have seen on a road in this country this summer, and not 

 have wondered whether such road-cobblers knew the value of a 

 horse's feet and legs? 



In places where the roadbed has a good natural drainage to 

 both sides, the simplest possible use of proper-sized material in 

 liberal amounts will produce a good road in two or three years 

 by repeated application of small stones in a thin top layer. 



Where drainage is impossible, the only resource left is to build 

 a bridge. Where a road lies in a swamp {e. g., Cranberry 

 swamp), a deep ditch on each side will hold the surplus water in 

 summer ; but drainage of the swamp solves the question for the 

 year round. 



A clay road, if allowed to remain wet, is plastic, and lets road- 

 metal sink into it ; if drained dry it is as firm a foundation as 

 can be needed. The solidity of dry clay is shown by adobe 

 houses; or, to take an illustration near at hand, by the new 

 embankments supporting the Lehigh Yalley railroad tracks 

 across the low grounds east of Geneva. 



The Telford road, at Willard, was built in the following man- 

 ner : A flat bed was first dug 15 inches deep, 21-J feet wide ; on 

 this were laid, in shallow trenches, lines of drain tile, placed 

 lengthwise, four feet from each side ; these were connected by 

 cross-drains every 25 feet, and outlets were made of tile every T5 

 feet each side to the edge of the road under the gutter and away 

 to some point of discharge. The first layer of stone is of largish 

 pieces, fitted together- and made 12 inches high in the crown, three 

 inches high at the sides. The second layer is of stones of the size 

 of an Qgg^ roughly ; four inches everywhere. The third, four inches 

 of much smaller stones. The second and third courses were 

 of crushed stone. The road was, therefore, 20 inches thick in 

 the middle, 11 inches at each side. It consists entirely of the 

 TuUy limestone, and has become so compact as to be " all one 

 stone," to use the words of my informant, Mr. Kitson, who 

 superintended its construction. It is not unlikely that the 

 impurities of the rock, which cause it to split and crumble in the 

 ledge at the surface, contribute somewhat to the compactness of 

 the structure ; for it has been found that when burnt, it behaves 

 like cement-rock, hardening too quickly and becoming too hard 



