46 ON ROADS IN PLANTATIONS. 
formation. I shall therefore only indicate what I have found 
the easiest mode of forming a temporary road sufficient under 
such circumstances. 
In some soils the surface vegetation forms a tough sward 
adapted for sustaining temporary traffic, particularly when it is 
not confined to the same tracks, but shifted by being spread 
over the surface of the roadway. In the absence of a firm or 
gravelly soil, which continues some time passable, advantage 
should be taken of frosty weather when the traffic is heavy. 
I have found that the best method of making a road with a 
soft surface passable, is to overspread it with a close thatching— 
of the branches of trees, each branch six, eight, or ten feet 
long ; larch, spruce, silver fir, beech, birch, elm, etc., all lie flat, 
and can be built into a compact cladding across the surface. 
Scotch fir is of use for this purpose, but inferior to many other 
sorts. Having placed the branches in this position, the sub- 
soil from ditches on each side of the road should then be cast 
up on the cladding of brushwood, giving the road a convexity 
of a few inches in the centre, and of a depth sufficient to cover 
over above the branches about two or three inches. If the 
subsoil is good gravel, this will make a strong and lasting 
road ; or if gravel is to be had in the close vicinity, it is gene- 
rally worth while to cart it; but whatever be the nature of 
the subsoil, the branches prevent the loaded carts from sink- 
ing to a great extent, and form a very passable road for the 
purpose, and at the smallest outlay, as the materials are always 
at hand. 
In plantations formed for the growth of hop-poles, prop- 
wood, or the like, that are to be cleared off at an early period, 
—-say ten, twelve, twenty, or twenty-five years—roads may be 
made narrower, or they may not unfrequently be omitted 
altogether ; but where extensive plantations are intended for 
heavy timber, roads are indispensable, and their advantages 
are well worth the space they occupy, as they impart a healthy 
influence by the admission of air, and open up the interior of 
the plantation, and allow the state of it to be ascertained. 
