ROAD. 



Marfhall thinks, that in this fort of work, the beft fervice 

 of the furveyor is to keep their furfaces fmooth and even ; 

 fa that rain-water may find a free and ready paflage to its 

 proper drain. Ruts and hollow parts are to be filled up, 

 level, or even with the general furface, as often as they are 

 formed, and perfectly free from water. This attention is 

 more efpecially requifite to a new made road, whofe bed 

 and foundation are not yet fully confirmed. But in every 

 cafe, and at all times, a folicitous regard is due to this moil 

 important, yet moil neglected part of road furveying. 

 Much expence of materials and labour may thereby be 

 faved, and the great end of road-making be fully obtained : 

 namely, that of rendering the road in all feafons eafy, fafe, 

 and pleafant to the traveller, as well as eafy in the convey- 

 ance of all forts of articles. Befides, he conceives, that 

 in this operation, as well as that of making new roads, 

 *ery much depends on breaking the materials evenly. For, 

 by doing this, the wear of the road becomes regular. 

 Where the heads of large ftones rife above the general 

 furface, they become obftacles to carriages, and Humbling 

 blocks to horfes ; befide their tending, by the jolting motion 

 which they give to carriages, to indent the furface on either 

 fide of them, and thus to increafe the roughnefs, and haften 

 the decay of the road. It is added, that by the law of 

 gravitation and the action of wheel-carriages, a pit or hol- 

 low place in the furface of a road is made deeper every 

 time the wheel of a carriage pafles through it. The peri- 

 phery of the wheel acts as a chiffel, and in falling into the 

 hallow receives an impetus or acquired force in addition to 

 the aclual weight it is loaded with ; and, in addition to this, 

 an undue proportion of the general load is, by placing it out 

 of its upright pofture, taken from the upper and thrown 

 upon the lower wheel. Likewife hard protuberances, be- 

 fide being dangerous or difagreeable to travellers, whether 

 en horfeback or in carriages, are injurious to a road, as 

 being the caufes of pits and hollow places in its furface. 

 Every hard protuberance, as the point of a ftone Handing 

 above the general furface of the road, or a large ftone 

 lying loofe upon it, is productive of four impreffions : 

 namely, two, by throwing additional weight upon the op- 

 pofite wheels (going both ways), and two more by the im- 

 petus or acquired force of the wheels (paffing both ways) 

 in falling on the furface of the road. He therefore con- 

 siders it to be the firft duty of the furveyor, not only to 

 fill up the ruts and hollows, from time to time, but to 

 pick out or to crufh with a heavy hammer the ftones, 

 whofe tops rife above the general furface ; as well as to 

 gather off thofe which lie loofe upon the road ; the latter 

 being an operation that is readily performed, yet frequently 

 neglected, and in fome places to a fliameful degree, efpe- 

 cially in the northern parts of the ifland. 



And in refpect to the fizes moft proper for road-ftones 

 it requires much latitude. Not only the intended ufe of 

 the road, but the nature of the material is to be confidered. 

 A road for broad-wheeled carriages of burden, only, may 

 be made of larger Hones than one for narrow wheels. And 

 hard ftones require to be broken fmaller than thofe which 

 more readily wear down, and form a travellable furface. 

 For when once the furface of the materials becomes united 

 and cemented together, and its rock-like texture efta- 

 blifhed, the ftones that are crulhed, and the fmaller frag- 

 ments which are fplintered on, in wear, ferve, he fuppofes, 

 to incruft and bind together the ftratum of ftones which lie 

 next, in fucceflion, beneath : efpecially if proper attention 

 be paid to the irregularities of wear, and to bring back the 

 furface, wherever it is requifite, to its original evennefs of 

 convexity where that form is adopted :— fo that it may, in 



every part, aft as an arch, and may be able to refift, with 

 the greateft firmnefs, the weight with which it may be 

 imprefled. It is, however, to be obferved, that, in forming 

 and repairing roads with ftones of fize, a confiderable ftiare 

 of the expence arifes from the labour of reducing the mate- 

 rials ; and, in confequence, the fmaller they are broken the 

 greater becomes the expence. This, on ordinary occafions, 

 is a ferious confideration. Hence, in conftrucYing and re- 

 pairing common roads, it is advifable, initead of°reducing 

 the iurface ftones to i'mall fragments with the hammer at a 

 great cod, to cover them with materials that are already 

 reduced ; as the rubbiih of ilone quarries, foft ftones, or 

 gravel, or the fcrapings of the road to be repaired. Such 

 cementing materials being warned and worked down by 

 rains, and the action of carriages, and the feet of travelling 

 animals, among the furface ftones, affift much in binding 

 and fixing them in a firm cruft ; and in making the 

 road immediately pafl'able by horfes and light carriages ; 

 motl particularly if the whole be compreffed, and united' 

 together with a heavy roller (fuitable to the purpofe), re- 

 peatedly pafied over the furface of it. And another good 

 method of faving expence in this way, where materials are 

 readily procured, is that of placing the coarfe unbroken 

 ftones or other hard materials in the bottom part or bed of 

 the road, covering them over with gravel, or other forts of 

 materials that are of a fmall kind. However, where the 

 hard materials are broken down fmall and evenly the roads 

 are found to wear tho beft. 



The proper materials for repairing roads are in a great 

 meafure the fame as thofe which are ufed for the makino- 

 of them in the firft inftance. The writer of the Agricultural 

 Report of Middlefex thinks the rounded ftony materials of 

 the nature of flint, found in gravel pits and river bottoms, are 

 in every refpeft more fit for roads than any other flinty 

 matters. The materials for the fupport of great public 

 roads mould, it is fuppofed, be felefted from among fuch 

 ftony fubftances as are tough as well as hard; for this 

 purpofe, hornblende is believed to be particularly fuitable, 

 to which may be added whinftone, bafalts, iron-ore, and all 

 fuch ftones as contain iron, as well as the flag, or the refufe 

 of furnaces. The comparative weight which ftones of 

 fimilar iize and figure can fupport without being broken, is, 

 it is imagined, the criterion by which to try them for 'this 

 ufe. 



Mr. Beatfon thinks, that if the above directions were 

 ftrictly attended to, and every appearance of a breach or 

 defect in a road at once repaired, the fame materials, when 

 difplaced, would very often, if properly relaid, and fit for 

 the purpofe, repair the part beginning to fail ; whereas, if 

 neglefted for fome time, and allowed to get much out of 

 repair, it will probably require a confiderable additional 

 quantity of materials, and thereby occafion a great deal of 

 expence that might have been faved. He alfo fuggefts, 

 that during the time of hard froil, it may be very proper 

 to drive materials, and lay them down for the purpofe of 

 being at hand to repair the roads when the feafon permits, 

 but fuch. a time is the moft improper of any for applying 

 thofe materials. And that in laying them down it is a 

 very general pradice to place them in fmall heaps alon-r the 

 fides of the road, and even encroaching fometimes & very 

 much upon the fpace allotted for travelling on. This 

 ought on no account to be allowed (unlefs thofe materials 

 are to be immediately ufed), for reafons fo obvious, it is 

 unneceflary to mention them. It would be much better to 

 have recefles at certain convenient places, for the purpofe 

 of laying the materials in till wanted ; by which means the 

 mconvemencies attending the common way would be totally 



avoided ; 



