American Gardening 



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XLhc Hmerican ©arDen— popular ©arDening 



JUNE, 1892 



No. 6 



OUR PUBLIC HIGHWAYS. 



PLANS FOR IM 



KOFESSIONAL fruit and vegetable 

 growers, florists and nurserymen 

 have every reason to take a deep 

 interest in the adoption and main- 

 tenance of a good road-system. The 

 condition of the highways frequently 

 f_« ^ affects them and their finances more 

 deeply than it does the ordinary farm- 

 er and his pocket-book. Some hor- 

 ticultural products are of delicate structure, and are 

 easily reduced in money value by long transportation 

 and rough treatment on the way. Berry-growers in 

 Niagara county, N. Y., for instance, usually haul their 

 produce in wagons to Buffalo, a distance of from 17 to 25 

 miles. It makes a material difference to them w-hether 

 the roads over which they must transport these fragile 

 articles are rough or smooth. The condition of the road 

 affects not only the time of travel, and the traveling out- 

 fit, but also the price of the berries. 



The road problem, without doubt, is of immense im- 

 portance and worthy of full and free discussion. Our 

 average "highways" hardly deserve the name. They 

 are only a makeshift, and a positive disgrace to a coun- 

 try of such wealth, progress and civilization as the United 

 States. Yet these poor apologies for roads, while not in- 

 volving much outlay for first construction, are very e.\- 

 pensive to maintain, and give the poorest service for large 

 expenditure of time and money. 



The road-tax, whether paid in labor or money, is an 

 infinitesimally small item compared with the amount 

 representing aggregate losses and expenses in time, de- 

 preciation of products, wear-and-tear of vehicles, har- 

 nesses, horses, etc. , which are direct results of our bad 

 road-system. 



This idea is well expressed in a recent report of the 

 Department of Agriculture : 



" While our railway system has become the most per- 

 fect in the world, the common roads of the United States 



PROVING THEM. 



have been neglected and are inferior to those of any 

 other civilized country in the world. They are deficient 

 in every necessary qualification that is an attribute to a 

 good road ; in direction, in slope, in shape and service, 

 and most of all, in want of repair. These deficiencies 

 have resulted not only from an ignorance of the true 

 principles of road-making, but also from the varied sys- 

 tems of road-building in force in the several states in the 

 Union, due to defective legislation. The principle upon 

 which several states have based much of their road- 

 legislation is known as the ' road-tax ' system of personal 

 service and commutation, which is unsound as a princi- 

 ple, unjust in its operation, wasteful in its practice, and 

 unsatisfactory in its results. It is a relic of feudalism 

 borrowed from the ' statute labor ' of England, and its 

 evil results are to-day apparent in the neglected and ill- 

 conditioned common roads of the country. 



"By the improvement of the common roads every 

 branch of our agricultural, commercial and manufactur- 

 ing industries would be materially benefited. Every 

 article brought to market would be diminished in price ; 

 the number of horses necessary as a motive power would 

 be reduced, and by these and other retrenchments mil- 

 lions of dollars would be annually saved to the public. 

 The expense of repairing roads and the wear-and-tear of 

 vehicles and horses would be essentially diminished, and 

 thousands of acres of land, the products of which are now 

 wasted in feeding unnecessary animals in order to carry 

 on this character of transportation, would be devoted to 

 the production of food for the inhabitants of the country. 

 In fact, the public and private advantages which would 

 result from effecting this great object in the improve- 

 ment of our highways are incalculable, not only to the 

 agricultural community as a class, but to the whole pop- 

 ulation as a nation." 



People acquainted with the condition and maintenance 

 of public roads in Europe will not accuse the Department 

 of being too extravagant in the use of language, or too 



