ROAD. 



the obttacle3 of dull, fludge, loofe fand and gravel. Hence 

 it follows, he thinks, that by removing thefe obftrudting 

 caufes, and keeping the roads conftantly clean and hard, the 

 draft would be fo much leflened, as to render the prefent 

 number of labouring horfes unnecefl'ary. It is fuggefted, 

 that many of thefe inconveniencies may be got rid of ; and 

 the roads be in the way of getting more dry, clean, and 

 hard, by removing the offending matter while in the itate of 

 duft, when it occupies the leaft pofiible fpace, and is in the 

 rood favourable condition for being taken away. A fmall 

 portion of duft, it is faid, when drenched with rain, becomes 

 a large quantity of fludge, in which ftate it requires much 

 labour to clear it away ; on which account it is very advan- 

 tageous to get quit of it before rain falls. This is, it is 

 fuppofed, beft effected by means of bufh-harrows wrought 

 every windy day. But fome might be taken away after 

 being fcraped together by fuitable machinery for the pur- 



pofe. 



It is intimated, that the time feems to be approaching, 

 when iron mutt be made to contribute largely towards the 

 public roads. It is thought that iron rails, or bars, may be 

 laid along the prefent turnpike roads, in inch a manner as to 

 afford the moit convenient track for all heavily laden car- 

 riages ; and that this may be done without any material in- 

 convenience to thofe of lighter weight and iwifter fpeed. 

 The great original expence of making filch roads will, it is 

 fuppofed, be fufficiently counterbalanced by their much 

 longer duration, and the trouble fully compenfated by the 

 fuperior pleafure of travelling over them. 



On the whole, it is fuppofed, that the keeping of roads 

 in the moit perfect repair is an objedt of high importance ; 

 for that until canals, or inland navigation, became general, 

 the fupply of the markets, and the price of every article, 

 will be in proportion to the itate of the roads over which 

 they have to pafs in their way to towns. Bad roads, it is 

 faid, require a greater number of horfes to draw any given 

 weight along them, than would be neceffary for the convey- 

 ance of the fame weight over good ones ; which extra draft 

 mull be paid for by increafing the price of the article to the 

 confumer. The fame number of horfes which, along bad 

 roads, could only bring a fcanty fupply of the produce of 

 the country from a fmall diftsnce, can, on good roads, con- 

 vey a more abundant fupply, and from greater diftances : 

 which is calculated to lower the price of the neceffarics of 

 life in the metropolis and other large towns, rather than 

 advance them in the diitant counties, and have a happy 

 tendency towards equalizing the prices between the lowns 

 and the country. 



And the author of the paper already noticed, thinks it a 



matter of great confequence to have proper regard to the 



nature of the fences on the fides of roads, as on thefe the 



goodnefs of them, and the expence of upholding them, very 



much depend. Where the form of the ground and fituation 



will admit of it, the funk fence from the road, that is, with 



the deepeft part towards the field, is by far the belt. A fence 



cf this fort, in the form of a ditch or drain, may be made 



of any depth without the leait danger or inconvenience, 



which is not the cafe when open to the road ; and the deeper 



it is made, the better effedt it will have in keeping dry the 



foundation of the road, if properly conftrufted ; nor will the 



road require to be fo wide as ufual, at the fame time there 



will be fully more room to travel on ; for if the fences are 



of this kind, the whole width of the road may with fafety 



be occupied, but when open to the road a confiderable fpace 



is loft, by the fear or danger of approaching too near them. 



And the fences on the fides may either be of ftone, fod, or a 



hedge or paling ; but ought not to be more than eighteen 



inches, or two feet above the level of the road (except a 

 paling), and the top of them, if broad enough, may, in fome 

 places, be made to ferve as a foot-path. Neverthelefs, the 

 fence towards the field may be fix feet in height, or as high 

 as the purpofe of it requires. The road will thus receive 

 the whole benefit of the fun, which is very effential towards 

 keeping it dry, as well as the depth of the drains or ditches 

 withinfide the field, to which there muft be proper openings 

 at certain diitances, as before recommended ; and in winter, 

 after heavy falls of fnow, there will be little chance of a road 

 fenced in this manner ever being blocked up, for it will be 

 obferved, when a ftorm of fnow is attended with a high 

 wind, that the drifted fnow lodges chiefly about the fences, 

 or where it meets with an obftacle to occaiion an eddy ; for 

 where high fences are on the fides of roads, they are almoft 

 to a certainty in fuch cafes blocked up, to the great incon- 

 venience of the whole neighbouring country or diitridt in 

 which it happens. The planting of trees on the fides of 

 roads mould always be avoided as much as poffible ; but 

 where rows of them are to be put in, it fhould never be done 

 at lefs than ten or twelve feet diftance from the fences, and 

 not lefs than forty or fifty feet from each other, being con~ 

 ftantly fo iituated as not to produce much fhade on the 

 road in the middle of the day. 



Road, in Ornamental Gardening, that fort of carriage-way 

 which is pecu'iar to residences of the country kind. They 

 are of many different forts, according to the nature, circum- 

 ftances, and fituations of the different places. But when 

 properly laid out and formed, they have moftly one of 

 the effedts of building, at leait, in a partial manner, which 

 is that of giving force and fpirit to icenes of verdure and 

 cultivation. They fhould be laid out according to the na- 

 ture of the iituatiwns ; their directions and widths being pro- 

 vided by their conveniences, propriety, and utility. The 

 methods of making and repairing of them are much the 

 fame as thofe employed for other kinds of roads ; but in the 

 finifliing, their furfaces fhould be laid over with a finer and 

 better coloured material of the gravel or fome other fort, 

 and they fhould be kept more perfectly rolled down and level ; 

 as the colours of luch furface materials and the margins of 

 fuch roads are principally what concerns pidturefque effedt, 

 or that which is to be produced by them. In fituations 

 where the fcene is avowedly of the artificial kind, the mar- 

 gins of them, according to the author of the work on 

 " Country Residences," fhould be parallel to each other, 

 and correctly defined ; as in that part of an approach-road, 

 which comes within the parapet or fence which inclofes the 

 manfion, or in thofe roads which are within the bounds of 

 the other more adorned parts of the ground. But in fitua- 

 tions where the roads are not in thefe fcenes, but are 

 either in pidturefque or natural plealure-grounds, pafture- 

 fields, parks, foreits, dingles, or other finnlar places, the 

 edges fhould be irregular, and more or lefs rough or fmooth, 

 blending or ragged, as is feen to take place in roads or 

 tracks through fimilar fcenery in wild nature. The excel- 

 lent effects and fuperior advantages which refult from the 

 adoption of thefe principles in the formation and conltrudtion 

 of roads of this nature, may often, it is faid, be feen in thofe 

 parts of much frequented approach-roads of refidences, 

 which are not thought proper or necellary to be fubjedted 

 to the operation of the paring-iron, and the formal trimming 

 of the gardener. And indeed, that one of the moft ltriking 

 deformities in pidturefque fcenery, is that of the formal, 

 itiff, and harfh edges of made roads, as they highly difguft 

 the fpedtator, and preTcnt the true effedt which fhould be 

 produced. 



All roads of this fort fhould, therefore, be laid out, and 



formed 



