ROAD. 



avoided ; and travellers might then, without interruption, 

 ufe any part of the road they found belt ; and befides, 

 there would then be lefs occafion for making the roads fo 

 wide as they arc generally made, which would undoubtedly 

 fave a great deal of money in keeping them in repair, or 

 proper condition. 



It is ftated, that rolling of roads with a heavy roller, as 

 dire&ed above, would be a very beneficial practice in keep- 

 ing them in good repair, efpecially if the hard materials, 

 that are worked out of place by the wheels of carriages, are 

 raked in again previous to the roller palling over them. 

 This would be an eafy and expeditious operation, and it 

 taken in proper time, would, in many cafes, be all that 

 is neceffary to put the road in repair. It is, however, an 

 implement that is very feldom made ufe of for this purpofe 

 by the overlookers of roads. 



And the ufe of machinery has probably been hitherto too 

 little attended to in the execution of this fort of work ; but 

 from the increafing price of hand-labour, it certainly at 

 prefeut demands the lerious notice of the managers of this 

 fort of bulinefs. For dragging over roads, when much out 

 of repair, in order to replace the Hones or gravel dif- 

 turbed by wheel-carriages, a fort of harrow has been in- 

 vented by Mr. Harriott of Great Stanbridge, in Effex, 

 for which he received a premium from the Society for the 

 Encouragement of Arts, &c. and of which he gives the fol- 

 lowing account. " Being appointed furveyor of the roads at 

 Michaelmas, 1 7 86, and finding them very bad, I provided 

 a fufficient quantity of Hones and gravel againft the next 

 fummer, to cover the roads pretty thick ; but when fo 

 done, I found the heavy loads of chalk, gravel, and corn, 

 foon turned the Hones out, and made almoft as deep a rut 

 or rake as ever. Stubbing the quarters in 1 found an end- 

 lefs job, as well as a great expence ; I, therefore, contrived 

 the road- harrow, and by the help of which I have, during 

 the lalt fummer, at a very trifling expence to the parilh 

 (after the ruts were again filled up witli Hones), kept 

 the roads in extraordinary good condition. A man, a boy, 

 and two horfes will do three miles in length in one day, 

 completely harrowing down the quarters, and drawing the 

 Hones together, which, by means of the mould-boards, 

 are dropped into the ruts, far better than a man can Hub 

 them in. Now, if a man was employed to Hub, he could not 

 do it for lefa than a penny per rod, ot fixteen teet and a half, 

 (the moH common is three halfpence, or two-pence per rod, 

 if they Hub the outfide as well as the infide quarter,) which 

 would amount to one pound fix (hillings and eight-pence for 

 one mde in length, confcquently to tour pounds for three 

 miles, which the road-harrow will do in one day ; and for 

 which I charge the paiilh for man, boy, and horfes, only 

 fight Ihillings." And it is further Hated by him, that it 

 does the work better, as well as cheaper ; that feveral 

 other parifhes arc tiling them, and he thinks the ule of them 

 will loon become general, elpecially where roads are mended 

 with gravel. The head of the harrow is three feet long, 

 from outlide to outfide of the bars. The bars four inches 

 fquare, and thelengthof them Eve feet. The mould-boards 

 extend eleven inch'., farther, which in necelfary to draw the 

 Hones (which the teeth of the harrow work up to the top) 

 nearer the middle of the road. The mould-boards are 

 four feet two inches long, ten inches deep, and two inches 

 thick ; they are lhod with a bar of iron, and lined about Cw 

 inches high with an iron plate. The teeth ( which (hould 

 be Heeled at the points) are one fool in length, from the 

 under (ide of the bars to their points ; they are one inch 

 and a quarter fquare, and are fixed with itrong nuts and 

 fcrevvs, with collars both on the under and upper fide of 



the bars. The bars are made to go lengthwife inflead of 

 acrofs, to prevent them from fplitting. The harrow is 

 drawn by two horfes abreaH, a boy leads the outfide horfe 

 on the outer quarter, the other horfe goes on the horfc-path, 

 the man Headying the harrow by the handles. Of courfe 

 they take one infide, and one outfide quarter as they go, 

 and the other two quarters as they come back. And as thio 

 harrow is certified, by feveral people in the parilh where it 

 is uled, to do more work with one man, a boy, and two 

 horfes, in one day, and in a much better manner than could 

 be effected by twenty men in the fame time in the ufual 

 way, it muH certainly produce a prodigious faving both of 

 time and money, and having been found to anfwer the pur- 

 pofe fo extremely well, renders it worthy of attention by 

 thofe engaged in this kind of work. 



Mr. Beatfon fuggefts, that after the ufe of this harrow, 

 the heavy roller, noticed already, would have a very good 

 effe£t, or there might be a roller of a lighter conitruction 

 faflened behind the harrow, to roll at the fame time ; al- 

 though the heavy roller would certainly make the belt 

 work. And hkewife that other implements, nearly on the 

 fame principle, have been conltru&ed, particularly one of 

 which he was fhewn a model by a gentleman near Chelter. 

 Its lhapc is in form of an ifofceles triangle, which is laid 

 upon the road, and drawn by lliafts at the bafe. The two 

 fides, by meeting in an angle oppolite the bafe, are fup- 

 pofed to draw the loofe materials towards the middle of the 

 road. It has two fmall wheels near the bafe or front, and 

 one at the angle in the rear, with different contrivances for 

 fixing the whole frame higher or lower as required. 



It is alfo fuggelted that a machine for the more ealily 

 breaking Hones to repair roads in the common way would 

 be of very great ufe, as at prelent this is a tedious and labo- 

 rious tafk. Under the article Machine, a very ingenious 

 contrivance for removing the mud and dirt from roads has 

 been defcribed. But, although feveral contrivances have 

 at different times been propofed for facilitating the repair 

 of roads, and leflening the expence, yet that expence, 

 Mr. Beatfon fays, is no doubt very great, efpecially in 

 thofe places where many heavy-loaded can iages are con- 

 tinually pafling. The ruts made by the wheels foon be- 

 come fo deep, and the materials of the road are thereby fo 

 much torn up, that it is almoft an impoilibihty, however 

 hard the materials, to keep the road for any coniiderable 

 time in proper condition, or Hate of repair. It is, there- 

 fore, fuggefted, that thefe eftedts fhould be attempted to be 

 remedied by fome means or other, as by a fort ot roller fo 

 fixed as to prevent the wheels from finking lo as to form 

 ruts. 



It is evident that the principles and directions which have 

 been given apply equally to private or parochial roads, which 

 in general are in a work- condition, from their being com- 

 monly worfe managed. The caufes of their being iu bad 

 condition fhould be attended to and removed, as much as 

 pofiible, in the manner already fuggelted, as it is evident 

 that they mull have a great effedt in promoting improve* 

 ments in agriculture, by leflening the expence ot labour, and 

 facilitating the means ot conveyance ot different articles. 

 The elicits of fome forts of wheels have been nunc deftrilC- 

 tive to roads than others, and of courfe ads ot parliament 

 have been formed witli the view of affording proper regula* 

 tions in tins rclpcct. See Wili:i:i. and WAGGON. 



In f peaking of the draft from friction on the roads, 

 Mr. Middletoii, after conlidering what happens on thole 

 made with gravel, and on iron railways, concludes, that, on 

 gravelled roads, friction is not more than one-fifth part ot the 

 entire draft ; the other four-fifths being occafioi '1 by 

 6 the 



